Sanguine / Bloedrood

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    During the cultural city festival Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens Inspires, the M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, juxtaposes the spirit of the baroque masters with the vision of contemporary top artists. With the exhibition Sanguine/Bloedrood (Blood Red), curator Luc Tuymans aims to overwhelm the visitor by placing key works from the baroque of, among others, Francisco de Zurbarán and Caravaggio, in dialogue with works by classical contemporary masters, such as On Kawara and Edward Kienholz, as well as new works by contemporary stars such as Zhang Enli, Takashi Murakami, Michaël Borremans, Sigmar Polke and Tobias Rheberger. 

    antwerpenbarok2018.be

    Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque

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    Courtesy of the artist; Marian Goodman Gallery, New York; Hauser & Wirth, London; Esther Schipper, Berlin; and Anna Lena Films, Paris. (c) Pierre Huyghe, © SABAM Belgium 2018
    (Untitled) Human Mask, 2014
    Pierre Huyghe
    Film , 00:19:07
    color, stereo sound

    In Sanguine/Bloedrood, Pierre Huyghe is present with (Untitled) Human Mask from 2014. It is a staged reportage in which a small masked monkey undergoes the loneliness of existence in a post-nuclear environment. Luc Tuymans presents this artistic short film not only because of its pictorial precision and social urgency, but also because of its remarkable theatricality. It is of a more animalistic nature, made both human and anonymous through the use of the striking no-mask. The scenario, which is partly based on facts, takes place in a devastated landscape in Fukushima, where the hybrid creature seems to be waiting in an abandoned restaurant for customers who will never come. The animal was trained to serve in a restaurant and now moves impatiently back and forth into the ghostly space, listening to the sound of approaching footsteps or looking lonely through the window. The mix of fact and fiction leads to a surrealistic setting, a mix of routine behaviour, false hope and futile expectations. The film lasts 19 minutes and is projected onto the wall as a large horizontal image.

    Text: Hans Willemse
    Translations: Michael Meert

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