SOFACQ Gallery

David Claerbout is a Flemish artist born in Kortijk. He lives and works in Antwerp.

 

Claerbout is fascinated by the way we observe the world and by the functioning of our visual memory. He questions how we perceive our environment and how we deal with the passage of time.

 

With his work, the artist explores the boundaries between photography and film, between still and moving images, between animation and digital image manipulation. Existing photographic or cinematic material such as old black and white photos are often the starting point.

 

For example, David Claerbout brings highly magnified black-and-white images in video installations to life by subtly activating details. Using the latest techniques, he adds minimal movements to the original still image. Conversely, he stops video images.

The passing of time is important in this: by looking at Claerbout's work, the viewer becomes almost physically aware of the eternal movement of time. Small changes in seemingly frozen images, the slow creeping of light and shadow over a still landscape, the repeated repetition of actions or the revival of archive material remind us of the time that nothing or no one can stop.