Wednesday 13 October 2010

Boltanski [+ Seven Heavenly Palaces ] at HB

Christian Boltanski's Personnes was exhibited this summer ( from 25 June to 26 September)  at Hangar Bicocca in Milan, so these pictures come a little bit late.

Anselm Kiefer, Seven Heavenly Palaces, 2005
The exhibition was located in the CUBE space, at end of the Hangar, so every visitor should pass alongside Kiefer's permanent exhibition the Seven Heavenly Palaces which helps to increase the emotional impact of Boltanki's work while passing through the long and dark passage that introduces the visitor to the CUBE with the sound heartbeats which Boltanski has been recording from 2008 as part of his project entitled Les Archive du Coeur. At the end of the path the large, illuminated space of the CUBE reveals an enormous pile of used clothes randomly grabbed by a red crane as an expression of the Hand of God that everyday chooses one to be removed from life.  Human existence , memory and death are themes recurrent in the whole production of Christian Boltanski.

At the end of the exhibition clothes a dispersal of the clothes has been allowed so each visitor could go and bring a piece at home.


2 comments:

  1. You mean that on the 26th september anyone could have gone and taken a "souvenir"?
    Anyway i would say that the whole atmosphere there was holy.
    Nice pics, by the way!

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  2. yes! there was something like a "dispersal party", nice! unfortunately we missed that!:( it would have been nice to have a boltanski little piece at home, maybe that red skirt hidden somewhere under the pile!

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