The SCHIRN is presenting a new work by the award-winning video and instal­la­tion artist Neïl Beloufa.

For “Global Agree­ment” (2018) Beloufa will create walk­able sculp­tural instal­la­tions in the Schirn Rotunda, which is freely acces­sible to the public, as well as in an adjoining exhi­bi­tion space. An inter­view collage on film will be visible on various moni­tors in parts of the sculp­tures. The inter­view collage is dedi­cated to the human body and its discur­sive and polit­ical impor­tance. It shows Neïl Beloufa’s latest interest in the army, weapons, fitness, beauty, and the body cult as well as in the staging of power. Power is a central, recur­ring theme in his work—the social conflict between majority and minority, between domi­nance and oppres­sion, as well as the power of images for our percep­tion of reality. The video is based on inter­views that the artist conducted with male and female soldiers from different coun­tries via the video chat service Skype.

The film as an artistic medium constitutes the focus and point of departure in Beloufa’s oeuvre. He uses its production parameters, such as set, lighting, perspective, and editing, for the development of his videos, sculptures, and installations. These installations and spaces are forms of expression of the film narrative; the narrative is portrayed in and on them in each case. Fiction and reality fuse in Beloufa’s videos. Viewers become irritated by their own perception and eventually can no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood. In his works Beloufa also frequently examines art and his own activities as an artist. His works are produced collaboratively with the aim of eliminating the singular position and the subjective perspective of the actual author.

In “Global Agreement” the artist raises questions concerning physical presentation as well as the reception and involvement and/or positioning of the viewer. In doing so he works with strategies that defy clarity. The films, sculptures, images, and their artistic assembly in installations; the creation of a position for the observer; the manipulation of the artistic material; and hence the manipulation of the viewers, ultimately deconstruct the idea of an authority of the artwork. The statements in Beloufa’s works with regard to their artistic composition and references; the statements of content and discursive layers; the statements of a position in general, are contradicted by his work and lead nowhere. Like the film narrative in “Global Agreement,” apparently the video is not completed yet. Beloufa leaves the question regarding a continuation of the work open—it represents the beginning of an investigation instead.

“Neïl Beloufa: Global Agreement” is supported by the Museumskooperationspool der Stadt Frankfurt am Main.

Neïl Beloufa (*1985 in Paris) lives and works in Paris. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as well as the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, and the Cooper Union, New York, among others. His works have already been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including the K11 in Shanghai, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and most recently at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. In 2014 Neïl Beloufa took part in the Shanghai Biennale and the 55th Biennale in Venice in 2013, as well as at the Contemporary Art Biennale in Lyon. In addition he has shown his video works at numerous international film festivals and his first feature film at the Berlinale in 2017. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Meurice Prize for Contemporary Art 2013, the Audi Talents Award 2011, and the Agnès B. Studio Collector Award 2010.

PROGRAMME

Opening and Summer Party / 22 August, 2018, at 7:00 p.m
The exhibition “Neïl Beloufa: Global Agreement” will be opened with the annual Schirn summer party. Visitors can look forward to music by the DJane and producer Perel. Perel, whose real name is Annegret Fiedler, recently released her debut album with the New York Label DFA Records. On “Hermetica” she fuses dance music with powerful songs. At the Schirn summer party she will sing live to one of her DJ sets. The team from Badias Catering will be offering snacks and drinks. The exhibition will remain open on this evening until midnight.

Artist Talk with Neïl Beloufa  / 23 August 23, 2018, at 7:00 p.m.
Matthias Ulrich, the curator of the exhibition, will be speaking with Neïl Beloufa about “Global Agreement” and about the artist’s further video works. Admission is free, please register your attendance under: 069 29 98 82-112, fuehrungen@schirn.de

Museumsuferfest / 24 – 26 August 2018
During the Museumsuferfest, the exhibition “Neïl Beloufa: Global Agreement” will be open on Friday, August 24, from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.; on Saturday, August 25, from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.; and on Sunday, August 26, from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Public introductions to the exhibition will take place on Friday at 6:00 p.m., on Saturday at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., and on Sunday at 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Open-Air Screening of the featured film“Occidental” / 24 – 26 August, at 8:00 p.m
From Friday to Sunday, August 26, 2018, the feature film “Occidental” (France, 2017, 73 min., original with English subtitles) by Neïl Beloufa will be screened after nightfall at 8:00 p.m. on Wiesenhüttenplatz in Frankfurt. The events are being presented in cooperation with the Le Méridien Frankfurt on the occasion of the hotel’s ten-year partnership with the Schirn.

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