Johan Grimonprez

Johan Grimonprez
22 May – 11 July 2010

45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF
Scotland
Open seven days. Always free.
Mon—Sat 11am—6pm, Sun 12—5pm

www.fruitmarket.co.uk
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Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez was propelled to international prominence when his highly acclaimed one-hour video Dial H-I-S-T-0-R-Y, a smart, visually complex and utterly compelling cultural history of aeroplane hijackings, was first shown at Documenta X in 1997. In 2008, a first version of his new film, Double Take, took the Basel Art Fair by storm. Like Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, Double Take is a montage of film, television and documentary footage, with a complex mix of meanings and counter-meanings. This film charts the global rise of fear-as-commodity in a tale of odd couples and double deals that casts Alfred Hitchcock’s work and persona as central to and reflective of a world in flux.

This exhibition is the first British gallery showing of Double Take, and presents it in the context of Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, the earlier film Kobarweng or Where is Your Helicopter, 1992 and the multichannel installation It Will Be All Right If You Come Again, Only Next Time Don’t Bring Any Gear, Except A Tea Kettle…, 1994–2001. A sustained presentation of the work of this important international artist, this exhibition offers the chance to trace the development of Grimonprez’s persuasive, ongoing enquiry into the doubled and troubled relationship the modern Western world has with its own social, cultural, historical and political identity, and with its representation of that identity to itself.

Talks and Events

Artist’s Talk
Saturday 22 May, 3pm. Free.
Johan Grimonprez in conversation with Fiona Bradley, Director of The Fruitmarket Gallery.

My Rendezvous with History Was Approaching: Documentary Film and Contemporary Art
Friday 28 May, 6.30–8pm. Free.
JJ Charlesworth (Associate Editor of Art Review), curator Kirsten Lloyd (Stills/University of Edinburgh), and writer and curator Mark Nash (Royal College of Art) explore the relationship between archival documentary film and contemporary art in light of the politics of globalisation. Chaired by art historian Angela Dimitrakaki (University of Edinburgh).

If You Meet Your Double, You Should Kill Him
Wednesday 9 June, 6.30pm. Free.
Art historian Dominic Paterson (University of Glasgow) and historian Fabian Hilfrich (University of Edinburgh) talk about Grimonprez’s Double Take and the Cold War.

To book for any of these events contact The Fruitmarket Gallery bookshop on 0131 225 23 83, bookshop@fruitmarket.co.uk

BED
As part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival and to coincide with his major solo exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Johan Grimonprez’s film BED (2005-2010) will be screened on BBC’s Big Screen in Festival Square, Edinburgh on Friday 18 June at 9pm and Wednesday 23 June at 10pm.
For more information go to www.edfilmfest.org.uk