Abstract
Since the 1990s, moving image installations have become so prevalent in art galleries as to constitute one of the main modes of contemporary art. As filmmakers have migrated into the gallery from independent cinema and artists have taken up the moving image, new forms have emerged between the institutions of the cinema and the gallery. Using works by Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Steve McQueen as examples, this chapter makes the case for a new mode of moving image installation, historically distinct from video art and expanded cinema. Using the semiotic notion of ‘deixis’ I argue that these works engage with questions of location by playing on the ways that moving images in the gallery articulate disparate spaces and times together. The geopolitical concerns that predominate in these works can be mapped onto the proliferation of biennials and large-scale art exhibitions that bring moving images to travelling audiences.
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Notes
- 1.
Press release for Potentiality for Love at Marian Goodman Paris, 2 March–11 April 2018. Online at https://www.mariangoodman.com/exhibitions/eija-liisa-ahtila-potentiality-for-love/press-release. Accessed 1 December 2018.
- 2.
Charles Darwent, ‘Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy: Review,’ The Independent, 7 June 2009. Online at https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/venice-biennale-venice-italy-1698488.html. Accessed 1 December 2018.
- 3.
Catherine Hickley, ‘Documenta Deficit Caused by Athens Overspending Widens to €7.6 m in Final Audit,’ The Art Newspaper, 30 November 2018. Online at https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/documenta-deficit-caused-by-athens-overspending-widens-to-eur7-6m-in-final-audit. Accessed 1 December 2018.
- 4.
‘A Statement by the Artists of Documenta 14: On the Emancipatory Possibility of Decentered Exhibitions,’ e-flux conversations. Online at https://conversations.e-flux.com/t/a-statement-by-the-artists-of-documenta-14/7031. Accessed 1 December 2018.
- 5.
Catherine Hickley, ‘Documenta Obelisk, Dismantled Last Week, to Remain in Kassel After All,’ The Art Newspaper, 12 October 2018. Online at https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/documenta-obelisk-dismantled-last-week-to-remain-in-kassel-after-all. Accessed 1 December 2018.
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Butler, A. (2019). Introduction: Here and Elsewhere. In: Displacements. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30461-4_1
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