Gerhard Richter's Immersive Installation Opens at Gagosian Rome After 45 Years

After 45 years, Gerhard Richter returns to Rome with 'Moving Picture (946-3) Kyoto Version' at Gagosian. The immersive audiovisual installation, a version of his Strip project, features a film made with Corinna Belz, a trumpet score by Rebecca Saunders performed by Marco Blaauw and Sebastian Schottke, and ten speakers. Richter began Strip in 2010 after discovering digital tools to extract data from earlier paintings, fragmenting and mirroring photographic images. This process also produced Strip paintings (2011-16), books, prints, tapestries, and the sculpture STRIP-TOWER (2023), exhibited at Serpentine London in 2024. The work builds on Richter's career-long exploration of photography, chance, and systematic processes, from his 1960s use of found photographs to his Color Chart paintings, 4900 Colors (2007), and Cologne Cathedral Window (2007). Pepi Marchetti Franchi, director of Gagosian Rome, calls the work 'the culmination of Richter's artistic research' and 'a total investigation of abstract painting through moving image and music.' The exhibition marks Richter's first Rome show since 1980 at Galleria Pieroni.