March 29 - June 7, 2009
Curator: Marc Glöde
Cultuurcentrum Knokke-Heist
Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Artists
Robert Barry, Lothar Baumgarten, David Blamey, Marcel Broodthaers, Matthew Buckingham, David Bunn, Daniela Comani, Peter Downsbrough, Cerith Wyn Evans, Ceal Floyer, Andrea Geyer, Liam Gillick, Shumona Goel, Dan Graham, Tamar Guimaraes, Mischa Kuball, Hilary Lloyd, Mary Lucier, Anthony Mc Call, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jonathan Monk, Dennis Oppenheim, Pablo Pijnappel, Wolfgang Plöger, Erik Schmidt, Billy Sullivan, Lisa Tan, Sofie Thorsen, Markus Wirthmann, Florian Zeyfang
STILL / MOVING / STILL aims to initiate a debate on the history and contemporary status of slide projection. Slides are well known to a large number of people, particularly within family circles. Millions of people can recall watching slide presentations in private settings, typically holiday snapshots or family histories. Through the development of digital imagery and the digital "slideshow" on the computer, slide projection has since been in a rapid decline. Today we often look back on slide projections and the surviving images with a certain sense of nostalgia. Over the past twenty years, there has been considerable debate about the role of projected images in art institutions. 'The image' has been strongly influenced by experimental film, cinematographic installations, digital photography, and light boxes. Within this context, one medium has until now escaped the attention of theoretical inquiry, namely that of slide projection. It is the goal of this exhibition to change this situation, and to show how this medium always has been (and still is) a vital contributor to this ongoing discussion. The historic dimensions together with the resurrection of a contemporary following, makes this exhibition not only a stimulating exercise, but also a very necessary one. That an experience as this takes place in Knokke-Heist, which is a place that has played an important role in the history of the photographic and cinematic image, offers an extra dimension to this exhibition. The collaboration between the curator and Knokke-Heist was the occasion for a rarely seen dynamic in Europe with respect to a medium that has received little attention until now.