Christian Marclay's 'Doors' Video Montage and Sculptures Transform Mundane Objects at White Cube

Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay presents 'Doors' (2022), a video montage composed from hundreds of film clips, at White Cube Mason's Yard in London. The work runs from September 6 to 30, 2023. Installed in a darkened basement cinema, the video collage recontextualizes doors as sites of human drama, sound, and narrative propulsion, echoing his earlier work 'The Clock' (2010). The exhibition also features physical door sculptures on the ground floor, including 'Crosscut [Yellow Door]' (2023) and 'Horizontal Cuts [Pink Door]' (2023), which are reconfigured into forms resembling crosses, traps, and minimalist totems. These sculptures, absent of human figures, create an eerie, ghostly presence. The video emphasizes doors as instruments of sound—creaking, groaning, and banging—and as narrative devices that generate curiosity and anticipation. Clips range from Sidney Poitier in 'To Sir, with Love' (1967) to scenes of fear, horror, and love, stitching together a world where life is a series of transitions. Marclay's work transforms ordinary doors into extraordinary artistic subjects, challenging viewers' perceptions of these everyday objects.