David Claerbout
The ambiguous relationships between photography and cinema, stillness and motion, historical past and perpetual present are the subjects and substance of David Claerbout’s contemplative video installations. The Belgian artist manipulates cinematic time, often depicting a single moment analyzed from multiple camera perspectives; at SFMOMA he presents a quartet of projections that explore the shifts in attention between the narrative scene in the foreground and the underlying social context of the architectural background. In its U.S. premiere, The American Room (2009-10) constructs and navigates the physical and political space of a formal concert. Also featured are Sections of a Happy Moment (2007) and Kindergarten Antonio Sant’Elia 1932 (1998), both built from photographic images of children’s play; and White House (2005), which repeatedly reenacts a 10-minute violent confrontation over the course of a day.
