Douglas Gordon: In My Shadow

Douglas Gordon’s highly contrasting universe filters through the entire museum in this to date most extensive exhibition in Northern Europe featuring the Scottish artist. The exhibition probes all the nooks and crannies of the human psyche, light and dark sides alike, manifesting itself throughout the museum. 

Douglas Gordon (b.1966) is among the most important video artists to appear in recent times and is a pioneer of modern video art. The exhibition, In My Shadow, at ARoS is a massive presentation of Gordon’s work from the past 25 years, primarily showing video installations, but also textual works, music, and photographs. In My Shadow examines the relationship between light and dark in an actual as well as a psychological sense, as Gordon’s artistic works address the struggle between light and dark.

“We haven’t seen an exhibition of this magnitude and nature from Douglas Gordon for many years, so it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to present this extensive exhibition here in Aarhus,” says Erlend G. Høyersten, museum director, ARoS. 

“Douglas Gordon is fascinated by the dark and grim sides, but there’s also a delicate and sensitive chink letting out glimmers of light and hope. This contrast, a basic ingredient in his work, hasn’t previously formed the conceptual basis for an exhibition,” continues Lise Pennington, chief curator, ARoS.

The exhibition presents works such as Phantom (2010), Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006), Something Between My Mouth and Your Ear (1994), Play Dead; Real Time (2003) and Through a Looking Glass (1999). Moreover textual works by Douglas Gordon adorn the walls and windows of museum.

About Douglas Gordon​
Douglas Gordon was born in 1966 in Scotland, and he now lives and works in Berlin, Paris, and Glasgow. Gordon graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 1988 and the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 1990. His breakthrough came in the 1990s where his striking video installations echoed through the art world, resulting in several prestigious prizes over the next years, including the British Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the Venice Biennale in 1997, and the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim in 1998.

Catalogue
In connection with the exhibition, ARoS has published a catalogue including a dialogue between the exhibition curator, Lise Pennington, senior curator, and Douglas Gordon. Also, the Danish writer Josefine Klougart has written a text inspired by Douglas Gordon’s works and his ideas about art and Anders Troelsen, professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture, writes about the relationship between light and dark, religious opposites, and how our relationship with good and evil is reflected in our language and turns of phrase.  

The exhibition has been made possible thanks to generous financial support from Beckett-fonden, Statens Kunstfond, Knud Højgaards Fond and Panasonic. 

Press and Communications contact:

Anne Riis: ari [​at​] aros.dk / T +45 2888 4464
Jens Henrik Daugaard: jehd [​at​] aros.dk / T +45 2888 4467