Sergio Belinchón
12 Jun - 24 Jul 2010
SERGIO BELINCHÓN
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"
Opening June, 11th // 7 pm
Exhibition June 12th - July 24th
tues - sat // 12 - 6 pm
Somewhat over forty years later, Sergio Belinchón returns to the scenarios in the provinces of Almería, Burgos and Madrid where the Italian director Sergio Leone shot the spaghetti western The God, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). Interested in artificial venues that seem to be what they are not, Belinchón had already portrayed in his Western series (2007) the sets built on the Tabernas desert in Almería representing a typical town in the American West, which remain today as a theme and amusement park. This new piece complements the
previous work using a different strategy.
The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY is a remake of Leone ́s film, a minute, meticulous refilming shot by shot, with the peculiarity that in this new version no person appears in the image, an absence that is initially made clear by the words crossed out in the title. The only trace of human presence is restricted to the soundtrack of Leone ́s film, which is preserved totally unaltered here. It contains Morricone ́s famous score and the original sounds and dialogues, testing the spectator ́s film culture and memory. With no characters on the screen, the changes of shots, camera movements and frames seem to lack motivation, as if obeying incomprehensible orders. The empty space - from the human viewpoint, we should explain - thus becomes the film ́s true star. The landscapes and sets, which usually compose the background against which the story takes place, come to the fore here and demand attention.
Theoretically, Belinchón could have decided to digitally erase these characters, as he occasionally does with their names and faces in credits, but by refilming he has added an additional layer of interpretation to the work by documenting the place ́s current appearance. A hypothetical parallel screening would underline the differences in the same location after the years have gone by and the temporary props used in the fiction have been removed: some constructions have disappeared, whereas others remain standing, all spiffed up for tourists: today a row of electrical posts stands against the same horizon, a modern train travels rapidly along the route covered by an anachronistic railway in the film; an asphalt highway appears where before there was only a dirt road. But what has not changed is the profile of the mountains, which Belinchón frames from an identical viewpoint, the rock formations and the colours of the land; this virgin landscape is both malleable and fraudulent, the scene of multiple fictions, a mirage-filled desert.
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"
Opening June, 11th // 7 pm
Exhibition June 12th - July 24th
tues - sat // 12 - 6 pm
Somewhat over forty years later, Sergio Belinchón returns to the scenarios in the provinces of Almería, Burgos and Madrid where the Italian director Sergio Leone shot the spaghetti western The God, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). Interested in artificial venues that seem to be what they are not, Belinchón had already portrayed in his Western series (2007) the sets built on the Tabernas desert in Almería representing a typical town in the American West, which remain today as a theme and amusement park. This new piece complements the
previous work using a different strategy.
The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY is a remake of Leone ́s film, a minute, meticulous refilming shot by shot, with the peculiarity that in this new version no person appears in the image, an absence that is initially made clear by the words crossed out in the title. The only trace of human presence is restricted to the soundtrack of Leone ́s film, which is preserved totally unaltered here. It contains Morricone ́s famous score and the original sounds and dialogues, testing the spectator ́s film culture and memory. With no characters on the screen, the changes of shots, camera movements and frames seem to lack motivation, as if obeying incomprehensible orders. The empty space - from the human viewpoint, we should explain - thus becomes the film ́s true star. The landscapes and sets, which usually compose the background against which the story takes place, come to the fore here and demand attention.
Theoretically, Belinchón could have decided to digitally erase these characters, as he occasionally does with their names and faces in credits, but by refilming he has added an additional layer of interpretation to the work by documenting the place ́s current appearance. A hypothetical parallel screening would underline the differences in the same location after the years have gone by and the temporary props used in the fiction have been removed: some constructions have disappeared, whereas others remain standing, all spiffed up for tourists: today a row of electrical posts stands against the same horizon, a modern train travels rapidly along the route covered by an anachronistic railway in the film; an asphalt highway appears where before there was only a dirt road. But what has not changed is the profile of the mountains, which Belinchón frames from an identical viewpoint, the rock formations and the colours of the land; this virgin landscape is both malleable and fraudulent, the scene of multiple fictions, a mirage-filled desert.