project specially conceived for the cinema. No More Reality Whereabouts is a feature film in which excerpts from thirteen films produced by the artist over the last twenty years are re-edited to create a sort of “film of films”. Like most of Parreno’s projects, it has a hybrid form, between a retrospective and a new work in which the constituent parts create a new entity and enter into an unexpected dialogue. Parreno redefines the exhibition experience, explores the possibilities of the theatrical film screening through references to cinema’s roots. The projection is accompanied by pianist Mikhail Rudy, a long-time collaborator of the artist. The sensory and subjective event brings the viewer back to the dawn of cinema, and introduces magic and live rituals pertinent to this art form. While live music is the structure on which the event unfolds in front of the viewer’s eyes, it also gives cohesion to a whole, free of linear narrative development. Parreno’s projects question the boundaries between reality and fiction, and explore the realm in which the real and fantastic merge. This indefinite threshold is underlined by the presence of a Dhalang, master of Indonesian shadow pupptery, who introduces the perfomance by reading a text. The film also features 3D graphic elements created by Studio M/M, which contribute to the creation of a total work

of art for the cinema. No More Reality Whereabouts is a poetic journey that reflects on the role of the image in contemporary society, the impossibility of giving it a univocal meaning and on the non-coincidence between subject and its representation.

 

Philippe Parreno

 

Born in 1964 in Oran (Algeria), lives and works in Paris. Since the 1990s,he’s examined different approaches to narration through films, sculptures, performances and drawings. His work is in many important contemporary art collections. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at: Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2018); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2017/18); Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2017); Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto (2017); Hyundai Commission 2016 for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, London (2016); Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2015); Park Avenue Armory, New York (2015), among others.

Selected Filmograpy: