Voges + Partner Galerie

Johan Grimonprez

Johan Grimonprez

“Hundred of birds crashed into New York’s tallest skyscraper, the Empire State Building, and plummeted to the street“ – an event that took place in September 1948 as cited by The New York Times.

Truth is indeed often stranger than fiction and DOUBLE TAKE, a film essay by Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez and written by Tom McCarthy, starts off with this real-life incident that makes the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Birds” seem less fantastic. Grimonprez takes Hitchcock’s classic film as his guiding theme and catastrophic metaphor with the aim of targeting the global rise of fear-as-commodity, in a tale of odd pairings and hilarious double deals. It’s a story about personal paranoia reflecting political intrigues. Paying tribute to the themes of double and mistaken identity, DOUBLE TAKE creates a unique interpretation of Hitchcock’s illustrious television and film appearances. The film covers the post-World War II period, characterized by prosperity and consumerism, as well as the institutionalization of fear as a political tool.

DOUBLE TAKE is an ambiguous reflection on the relationship between Terrorism and Tourism, schizophrenic doublings and also questions how our view of reality is held hostage by mass media. With a good portion of humour, DOUBLE TAKE invites the viewer to question today’s hegemony of the image, the truth and lies of reality and its influence on our society, politics and culture.

A selection of drawings and photographs by Grimonprez complete the exhibition. In addition, there will be the projection of a Ron Burrage video. Ron Burrage is a Hitchcock lookalike, who plays the leading role in Grimonprez’s film essays.

Belgian-born artist Johan Grimonprez already achieved international acclaim with his film essay Dial H-IS-T-O-R-Y (1997), shown at documenta X and Looking for Alfred (2005), which won the International Media Award (ZKM, Germany) besides others. Grimonprez’s work is included in numerous collections such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, The Tate Modern London or the Neue Pinakothek, Munich.