David Claerbout at Garage Museum

Unseen Sound is the first solo exhibition of Belgian artist David Claerbout in Russia. His work is best defined as a hybrid, where media dissolve into one another using video, photography, film, and 3D to create images that question our perceptions and expectations.

The exhibition brings together four works that span a period of more than ten years, and show the artist’s increasing occupation with what he describes as “dark optics,” a term he uses to describe the contemporary state of the image. All of the works presented in Unseen Sound capture single moments stretched in time and space. This expansion reveals new layers of reality behind seemingly trivial images, and new characters emerge.

As the title of the exhibition—Unseen Sound—indicates, these works visualize sound as a central event that, nevertheless, remains beyond aural perception. Sections of a Happy Moment (2007) and The Algiers' Sections of a Happy Moment (2008) capture moments of a street ball game. The Quiet Shore (2011) is a series of beach scenes shot during a loud splash. Set at a grand reception, the “confetti” piece (2015–2018 ) shows the second when the fireworks of confetti rain down. For Claerbout, digital materiality will not remain as virtual reality but will attempt to penetrate as many aspects of life as possible, altering optical and material habits. Lens-based images are already part of the past, and will be replaced by dark optics.

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