Jean-Christian Bourcart, Mathieu Borysevicz
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Curated by Mathieu Borysevicz
Language: English with Chinese translation
Paralleling his exhibition Traffic in Shanghai Gallery of Art’s Project Space, Jean-Christian Bourcart will also present a screening of short videos and excerpts from his long format films. One of the video works Bourcart will introduce is It’s Today.
Jean-Christian Bourcart came to prominence in his native France for his 1992 series “Infertile Madonnas”, which documented life in a Frankfurt brothel. This series was later published with an introduction written by Nan Goldin. Bourcart’s training in both photography as well as psychology has been the foundation of this 2006 Prix du du Jeu de Paume winner’s photography and film work since. Bourcart’s provocative oeuvre reveals clandestine, sub-cultural worlds as well as the psychological tension of our daily reality.
It’s Today,DV 11 min. Cross Eyed production, 2005 (In collaboration with Marcus Burnett)
It is a special day in New York. A huge meeting is taking place at the United Nations; never before have so many heads of state come together. A lunatic woman believes that it will bring the end of the world suffering, while a man plans to explode a bomb in the subway. Two parallel events distilled in the density of a troubled city; one represents our hope, the other our fear. The acts performed in the movie have the sense of public happenings.Our actions are improvised, fiction seeds that reveal the new paradigm of our present time: real reality experienced as a virtual entity.
About the artist
In his long career Bourcart has produced films all over the world. From his first feature film Elvis, shot on location with found actors during the civil war in Sarajevo to his most recent work in the relief camps of earthquake devastated, Port-au-Prince, Haiti Bourcart’s work always probes the psychological aspects of social and political conditions. His film work can be considered both a psychiatric testimonial to and protest of our lives as political subjects. While much of his works are infused with aspects of documentary filmmaking they are equally dramatic, riveting and experimental.
Bourcart’s work has been shown worldwide and are in the collection of such prominent institutions as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Genève; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia; Bibliothéque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris; and the Soros Foundation, Obala Center, Sarajevo.
Jean-Christian Bourcart，马修•伯利塞维兹
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Art Topics系列讲座：Jean-Christian Bourcart
策划：马修•伯利塞维兹
语言：英语，中文翻译
Jean-Christian Bourcart的展览“Traffic”在上海沪申画廊的Project Space进行展出的同时，他也将于上海外滩美术馆呈现他的短片和长片电影节选， 其中Bourcart会特别介绍他的一件影像作品《这是纽约特殊的一天》（“It’s Today”）：这是纽约特殊的一天。一个大的聚会即将在美国上演，之前这个国家从来没有这么多人聚集在一起。一个精神错乱的女人相信全世界的灾难即将结束，于此同时一个男人计划在地铁里引爆炸弹。两件同时进行的事件在一个混乱密集的城市发生。一个展现了我们的希望，另一个则是我们的恐慌。在电影里的表演具有公开偶然性。我们的表演是即兴的，但我们的虚构不断繁衍，这些虚构揭示我们现在时间的新样式：真实的现实作为虚拟的实体体验。
Jean-Christian Bourcart 因1992系列“Infertile Madonnas”, 即记录法兰克福一家妓院生活的, 而在他家乡法国一举成名。之后出版了由Nan Goldin执笔的关于这个系列的介绍。摄影和心理学领域的研究使他在2006年Prix du Jeu de Paume摄影获奖，并为以后的电影创作打下了基础。他那些充满挑战的作品展现了隐秘的、亚文化世界和人们日常生活中紧张的内心世界。
艺术家简介
在长期创作生涯中，Bourcart已在全世界拍摄了影片。从他的第一部电影作品Elvis，在萨拉热窝的内战时期就地去找演员，到他最近在海地太子港的地震救援营地拍摄的大多数作品，他总是探索社会和政治状况的心理层面。他的电影作品能够被思考成对我们的生活作为政治议题的反抗和一种精神证明。许多他的作品融入了纪录片的形式，又同时充满戏剧性，精彩性和实验性。
Bourcart的作品已在全世界展出，并被一些顶级机构收藏，像纽约现代艺术博物馆（Museum of Modern Art, New York），日内瓦现当代艺术博物馆（Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Genève），弗吉尼亚的克莱斯勒艺术博物馆（Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia），巴黎国家博物馆（Bibliothéque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris）和萨拉热窝Obala中心索罗斯基金会（the Soros Foundation, Obala Center, Sarajevo）。