#132: Clément Cogitore

Since the late 2000s Clément Cogitore has developed his artistic practice halfway between cinema and contemporary art. Combining film, video, installations and photographs, Cogitore questions the modalities of cohabitation between humankind and its own images and representations. Rituality, collective memory, figuration of the sacred, as well as a particular idea of the permeability of worlds are leading trends in his practice.

Clément Cogitore will show:
Travel(ing), 2005, 3:50 minutes
Elegies, 2013, 6 minutes
The Evil Eye, 2018, 15 minutes
An archipelago, 2011, 11 minutes
Les Indes Galantes, 2017, 6 minutes
The resonant interval, 2016, 24 minutes
Morgestraich, 2022, 4:10 minutes

Clément Cogitore (born 1983 in Colmar, France) is living in Paris and Berlin. His work has notably been screened and exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, MADRE (Naples), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Institute of Contemporary Arts ICA (London), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), MACRO (Rome), MoMA (New-York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), MNBA (Québec), SeMA Bunker (Seoul), Red Brick Art Museum (Beijing), Kunsthaus Baselland (Basel). In 2011 Cogitore was awarded the Grand Prize of Salon de Montrouge for contemporary art and the following year he became resident of the Villa Medici, French Academy in Rome. His cinematographic works have been selected and awarded prizes in numerous international festivals (Cannes, Locarno, Telluride, Los Angeles, San Sebastian).

In 2015, his first feature film Neither Heaven Nor Earth was selected at the Cannes international film festival—Critic’s week, awarded by the Gan Foundation, acclaimed by critics and nominated for the best first film at the César award ceremony. That same year he won the BAL Prize for contemporary art. In 2016, he won the SciencesPo Prize for contemporary art and the 18th Fondation d’entreprise Ricard Prize for contemporary art.In

2018, Clément Cogitore was awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize for Contemporary Art. Since 2018, he is teaching at the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris, where he directs a film director’s workshop.

To celebrate its 350th anniversary, the Opéra National de Paris has entrusted Clément Cogitore with staging Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera ballet, Les Indes galantes. The premiere has taken place in September 2019. Les Indes Galantes was selected by The New York Times as one of the best opera productions of 2019, nominated best opera production 2019 by the Giornale della Musica and won the Forum Opera trophy of the Best new opera production 2019.

Cogitore’s work is represented in several public collections (Centre Georges Pompidou, National Fund for Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Fund of the City of Paris, FRAC Alsace, FRAC Aquitaine, FRAC Auvergne, MAC VAL, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg) and private collections (Louis Vuitton Collection, Daimler Art Collection).

Clément Cogitore is represented by Chantal Crousel Consulting, Paris and by Galerie Elisabeth & Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart.

Videoart at Midnight is an artists’ cinema project founded in 2008. Monthly since, and always on a Friday at midnight, predominantly Berlin based artists are invited to show their work on the big screen of the legendary BABYLON Film Theater in the Berlin Mitte district.

Every night is dedicated to one artist who is present. It is their night. The artists often take the chance to celebrate premieres or to present works rarely shown before. They also stage live acts from time to time, including performances, concerts or lectures, which accompany the film and video presentations.

The goal of the screening series is to lend insight into contemporary video art production in Berlin’s unique international art scene and to provide artists working with film and video with their own bright platform. Positioned between the city’s institutions, such as art associations and museums on the one hand, and artist-run project spaces and initiatives on the other, Videoart at Midnight fills a gap in the Berlin art world. It is well embraced by artists—both big names and artists we don’t (yet) have on our radar—and warmly appreciated by the audience.

Videoart at Midnight is a private, independent, and non-profit initiative, admission is free.

Executive director and curator: Olaf Stüber