Mircea Cantor
09 Dec 2010 - 06 Feb 2011
© Mircea Cantor
Vertical attempt, 2009
Mini-DV copied on DVD, 1 sec. (loop),
Courtesy Mircea Cantor and Museum
Abteiberg Mönchengladbach
Vertical attempt, 2009
Mini-DV copied on DVD, 1 sec. (loop),
Courtesy Mircea Cantor and Museum
Abteiberg Mönchengladbach
MIRCEA CANTOR
Holy Flowers
09.12.10-06.02.11
The works of Rumanian artist Mircea Cantor (*1977) tell of social utopias and individual dreams in our globalised world, where promises are not always kept and realities are often contradictory. Frequently, Cantor employs astonishingly simple gestures and means to create forceful, poetic images which concern the existential questions of life such as happiness, freedom, security or independence. In the video projection Tracking Happiness (2009), seven women dressed in white walk around in circles. Each one sweeps away the tracks of her predecessor with a broom, only to leave her own footprints in the fine sand. In this careful, ceaseless laying and erasing of tracks, Cantor conceives a poetic image of the search for happiness, but leaves the viewer space for his own interpretations and ideas. The new series of photographs, Holy Flowers, from which the exhibition takes its title, provides no clear answers, either. Twelve forms resembling stars or frost patterns are depicted, arranged like the images in a kaleidoscope. It is only after looking more closely that one realises the star-shaped motifs are created from parts of machine-guns ...
In addition to film and photography, Cantor employs a wide spectrum of different media, ranging from simple materials and old craft techniques to drawings made in candle soot, lipstick or fingerprints on the wall.
Holy Flowers
09.12.10-06.02.11
The works of Rumanian artist Mircea Cantor (*1977) tell of social utopias and individual dreams in our globalised world, where promises are not always kept and realities are often contradictory. Frequently, Cantor employs astonishingly simple gestures and means to create forceful, poetic images which concern the existential questions of life such as happiness, freedom, security or independence. In the video projection Tracking Happiness (2009), seven women dressed in white walk around in circles. Each one sweeps away the tracks of her predecessor with a broom, only to leave her own footprints in the fine sand. In this careful, ceaseless laying and erasing of tracks, Cantor conceives a poetic image of the search for happiness, but leaves the viewer space for his own interpretations and ideas. The new series of photographs, Holy Flowers, from which the exhibition takes its title, provides no clear answers, either. Twelve forms resembling stars or frost patterns are depicted, arranged like the images in a kaleidoscope. It is only after looking more closely that one realises the star-shaped motifs are created from parts of machine-guns ...
In addition to film and photography, Cantor employs a wide spectrum of different media, ranging from simple materials and old craft techniques to drawings made in candle soot, lipstick or fingerprints on the wall.