Introduction

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's exhibitions have become famous in recent years primarily through her examination of "time" and "biographies". Since 1988, her works have essentially consisted of staged spaces. The space/exhibition as a medium of narration has since become the leitmotif of her work.

"Your spaces seem to develop their own idea of trans-disciplinarity by expanding the perception of the visual arts and integrating TIME and DURATION. An experience one usually only experiences when reading a novel, a biography, a narrative - or in a film".1

The earlier spaces often show a direct narrative staging of the chosen subject. For example, in the work RWF (1993), which was shown again last year at the Berlin Biennial, space becomes the medium of a "mise en scene" of her biographical interpretation. These stagings are not guided by the telling of anecdotal details, but by the production of individual images in the sense of an ambience. Analogous to a stage, one considers whether persons should also occupy these pieces. This ambiguity comes even more in to play in the more recent works. The new series of works is dominated less by a reference to the theatre than by an examination of film. As already in the work Sturm, the room appears for the first time as an empty film set, which is first animated by the visitor to the overall picture.

"I believe that your intention is not to transform every viewer into an actor, but rather to present an extension of space and visual constructions. This is done by expanding the possibilities of perception and creating new approaches to history to include meanings that remain closed to the usual processes of identification".2

The work Séance de Shadow thus becomes one of the most minimal forms of the cinematographic image, evoking the prehistory and early history of filmmaking. The choice of materials is sparse: halogen spotlights controlled by motion detectors, colored walls and carpets form the space. The lamps are mounted just above the floor and do not switch on until you enter the room. The long shadows of the visitors thus become part of the work.

"This simple form of projection and image creation extends the impression of absolute immersion in the process of creating a unity of situation-picture-moment. "3

1: Jens Hoffmann, in: Kat. Ausst. APERTO, 48. Biennale di Venezia, Venedig 1999, P. 252

2: ibid

3: ibid