Christian Boltanski's 'Après' Exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery Confronts Mortality and Pandemic-Era Mourning
The Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris hosted Christian Boltanski's solo exhibition 'Après' from January 20 to March 13, 2021, which was his first individual showcase in France following his 2020 retrospective at the Centre Pompidou. The exhibition's title alludes to mortality themes. Notable pieces include 'Les Linges' (2020), featuring laundry trolleys that symbolize medicalized death, and 'Les Esprits', wall projections displaying children's faces. In the basement, 'Les Disparus' presents videos of serene landscapes interspersed with glitches that reference atrocities such as the Shoah and the Vietnam War. A crypt contains 'Les Vitrines', which reflect the faces of viewers. Boltanski humorously noted that a retrospective implies one is 'basically dead!', connecting to themes of mourning during the pandemic.
Key facts
- Christian Boltanski's exhibition 'Après' was held at Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris from January 20 to March 13, 2021
- This was his first French solo show since his 2020 retrospective at the Centre Pompidou
- Works were largely created during lockdown, absorbing the pandemic into Boltanski's material vocabulary
- 'Les Linges' (2020) comprises ten laundry trolleys with biomorphic forms covered in white cloth, evoking medicalized death
- A suspended white strip-light cable above the trolleys resembles an infection-rate graph or vital-signs monitor
- Wall projections 'Les Esprits' show black-and-white images of children's faces
- Basement installation 'Les Disparus' features videos with near-subliminal glitches of twentieth-century atrocities like the Shoah and Vietnam War
- A crypt houses 'Les Vitrines', three glass cases with white cloth and a mirror reflecting viewers
Entities
Artists
- Christian Boltanski
Institutions
- Marian Goodman Gallery
- Centre Pompidou
- The Brooklyn Rail
- artreview.com
Locations
- Paris
- France