Joachim Koester
25 Jan - 29 Mar 2008
© Joachim Koester
Tarantism (2007)
16 mm black and white film installation (6.31 min)
Edition of 5 (+ 2 AP)
Tarantism (2007)
16 mm black and white film installation (6.31 min)
Edition of 5 (+ 2 AP)
JOACHIM KOESTER
"Tarantism + Pit Music"
January 25 - March 29 2008
Tarantism is a condition in Southern Italy resulting form the bite of the wolf spider, known as the tarantula. The bite causes numerous symptoms from nausea, difficulties in speech, delirium, heightened excitability and restlessness in the victims. Their bodies are seized by convulsions that previously could only be cured by a sort of frenzied dancing. This 'dancing-cure' emerged during the Middle Ages and eventually evolved into the highly stylized dance for couples which today is known as the The Tarantella. In his film Tarantism Koester has set out to explore the original promise of the tarantella phenomena: a dance of uncontrolled and compulsive movements, spasms and convulsions. The film is structured like a game, utilizing this idea to generate the movements of the dancers. In six individually choreographed parts the dancers attempt to map the fridges or "terra incognita" of the body.
For the project Occupied Plots Koester has revisited some of the sites of Ed Ruscha's seminal 1970 photo series Real Estate Opportunities. Rucha's vacated plots have since been sold, built and changed. By re-photographing these former 'opportunities' the artist engages in what he calls the "archeology of abandoned futures".
The title Pit Music refers to music coming from the orchestra pit and to the set-up of the installation, which consists of a stage and a pit. Apart from this, the work is video documentation of a concert in a gallery with a string quartet playing Shostakovich's string quartet No. 8 in C minor. The music continues uninterrupted all through the video, but due to the editing and images in slow and stop motion the music changes between being represented as what could be termed diegetic and non-diegetic - referring to reality vs. fiction, as well as the idea of showing art and causing a response. Pit Music was first filmed and shown at gallery Nicolai Wallner in 1996. Apart from Koester's above-mentioned intentions regarding performativity and documentation, there is another reason we have chosen to re-install this piece. Pit Music is also a micro narrative. Without nostalgia the video portraits a group of people, and evokes an art scene at a specific time in Copenhagen more than a decade ago.
Joachim Koester has shown extensively at galleries and museums in Europe, USA, and Asia including MCA (Chicago), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), PS1 (New York), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), and Louisiana (Humlebæk). His work has been exhibited at the Kwangju Biennale, Documenta Kassel, and Venice Biennale. He is currently shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize.
"Tarantism + Pit Music"
January 25 - March 29 2008
Tarantism is a condition in Southern Italy resulting form the bite of the wolf spider, known as the tarantula. The bite causes numerous symptoms from nausea, difficulties in speech, delirium, heightened excitability and restlessness in the victims. Their bodies are seized by convulsions that previously could only be cured by a sort of frenzied dancing. This 'dancing-cure' emerged during the Middle Ages and eventually evolved into the highly stylized dance for couples which today is known as the The Tarantella. In his film Tarantism Koester has set out to explore the original promise of the tarantella phenomena: a dance of uncontrolled and compulsive movements, spasms and convulsions. The film is structured like a game, utilizing this idea to generate the movements of the dancers. In six individually choreographed parts the dancers attempt to map the fridges or "terra incognita" of the body.
For the project Occupied Plots Koester has revisited some of the sites of Ed Ruscha's seminal 1970 photo series Real Estate Opportunities. Rucha's vacated plots have since been sold, built and changed. By re-photographing these former 'opportunities' the artist engages in what he calls the "archeology of abandoned futures".
The title Pit Music refers to music coming from the orchestra pit and to the set-up of the installation, which consists of a stage and a pit. Apart from this, the work is video documentation of a concert in a gallery with a string quartet playing Shostakovich's string quartet No. 8 in C minor. The music continues uninterrupted all through the video, but due to the editing and images in slow and stop motion the music changes between being represented as what could be termed diegetic and non-diegetic - referring to reality vs. fiction, as well as the idea of showing art and causing a response. Pit Music was first filmed and shown at gallery Nicolai Wallner in 1996. Apart from Koester's above-mentioned intentions regarding performativity and documentation, there is another reason we have chosen to re-install this piece. Pit Music is also a micro narrative. Without nostalgia the video portraits a group of people, and evokes an art scene at a specific time in Copenhagen more than a decade ago.
Joachim Koester has shown extensively at galleries and museums in Europe, USA, and Asia including MCA (Chicago), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), PS1 (New York), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), and Louisiana (Humlebæk). His work has been exhibited at the Kwangju Biennale, Documenta Kassel, and Venice Biennale. He is currently shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize.