© Douglas Gordon: Sharpening Fantasy, 2012 360_04, Still
Blain Southern Potsdamer Straße 77–87 10785 Berlin Allemagne
Blain|Southern Berlin is delighted to present a new group of video works by Douglas Gordon during the 63rd Film Berlinale, 2013. Gordon is one of the most important and influential artists of his generation. In addition to films and video installations, his work embraces photography, the written word, sculpture and music.
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Sharpening Fantasy, 2012
moon_01, Still
© Douglas Gordon
For Sharpening Fantasy, 2012 Gordon travelled to Tangier, where he filmed traditional knife grinders in different locations within the Kasbah of the seaport city. The viewer watches as the effortlessly repeated movements of the men are set to the soundtrack of their daily work. Following the recent large-scale, site-specific works by Jannis Kounellis and Lawrence Weiner, the installation transforms the former production hall of Der Tagesspiegel newspaper into an experiential, audio-visual space.
Sharpening Fantasy, 2012
spoon 02, Still
© Douglas Gordon
The work presents collisions between Europe and the ‘Orient’, perception and prejudice, desire and fear. Unlike the films of snake charmers in Natural Historie on the Parapet and Natural Historie on the Altar, which Gordon recorded in Marrakech four years previously, Sharpening Fantasy, 2012 blurs the boundaries between the different sensory perceptions, between reality and fairy tale, between dramatic imagination and a more muted gaze. The sound of metal on grinding stone and the sum of the city’s noises at sundown evoke imaginary spaces opening far beyond what is actually to be seen.
Sharpening Fantasy, 2012
twins 01, Still
© Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon: "I was interested in the idea of 'muscle memory' in regard to certain bodily actions. By removing the 'object' from the 'action' the movements become gestures, not at all empty of meaning, despite the missing elements. Lets say this, we might 'hear the knives being sharpened' but this doesn't mean that we are about to be stabbed in the back..."
Douglas Gordon has long been affiliated with Berlin; he won a DAAD scholarship in 1998 and has lived and worked there since 2008.
Photos and visuals © Douglas Gordon