MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, presents the exhibition The Castcurated by Giulia Ferracci and dedicated to Clemens von Wedemeyer, one of the international artists most committed to experimentation within a new idiom that concerns time as much as cinematic space. For this project the artist has collaborated with Paolo Caffoni, co-editor of the exhibition catalogue (Archive Books), with contributions from Marco Scotini and Avery Gordon.
Clemens von Wedemeyer presents a film show composed of three new works specifically conceived for the museum’s Gallery 5 (Afterimage; The Beginning: Living Figures Dying and Procession) and an installation composed of diverse forms and sculptures (Remains: The Myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha). The title The Cast alludes to diverse meanings including the production of sculptures (the casting of forms), the process of selecting actors (casting) and the gesture of throwing (casting a stone).
The exhibition is born out of the research conducted by von Wedemeyer over the last year spent in Rome and deals with a number of its symbolic, historic and contemporary sites such as the Cinecittà Studios and the Teatro Valle Occupato. Through a composite language and multiple video installations, The Cast compares the materiality of film and that of sculpture, the animation of props and the “pure presence” of the extras within the film. The display, configured in four chapters, opens to the public a multiple exhibition route in terms of forms and meanings that cannot be traced back to a natural sequential structure that is instead a characteristic of classic film.
The great merit of von Wedemeyer’s work lies in the exposition of that which is separate, as Marco Scotini commented: starting out from the remains of the performing arts and the fragmentation of the cinematographic dispositif, his work guides us towards a new immersive experience in which it is up to the spectator to reconstruct their own vision.
Clemens von Wedemeyer was born in 1974 at Göttingen (Germany) and lives and works in Berlin. In 2013 he is an artist in residence at Villa Massimo, the German Academy in Rome. His works have been presented in prestigious international reviews and exhibitions including dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, (2012); Sydney Biennial (2010); Galleria Civica, Trento (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2010); Barbican Centre, London, (2009); CGAC, Santiago de Compostela (2008); 4th Biennale of Contemporary Art, Berlin (2006); Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007); MoMA PS1, New York (2006); Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2005).
- Artists:
Clemens von Wedemeyer - Open:
Thursday, 26 September 2013 - Close:
Sunday, 26 January 2014 - Address:
MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Via Guido Reni 4A – 00196 Rome - Mail:
info@fondazionemaxxi.it - Phone:
+39 06 3201954 - Web:
MAXXI - Opening hour:
Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun | 11am – 7pm; Sat | 11am – 10pm - Closing day:
Mondays, 1 May and 25 December - Admission:
€11 | €8 - Photo credits:
Clemens Von Wedemeyer: The Cast, photo by Matteo Monti, Courtesy of Fondazione MAXXI
