▲ Curtain Piece (Disobedient) 2023, Courtesy of the artists, Leeum Museum

The Leeum Museum of Art proudly announces the opening of "A Portrait," a new media installation by Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, commissioned for the museum's Media Wall.

This groundbreaking work features eight performers from diverse artistic backgrounds, including choreography, visual arts, and music.

Each performer enters the scene against the backdrop of a giant black faux leather curtain, seated on a simple chair to perform their portrait. 

▲ A Portrait, 2024, single-channel video, 32:9, 22min Courtesy of the artists, Leeum Museum

The installation explores various modes of appearing in front of the camera, questioning the nature of performance and authenticity: Are we witnessing genuine emotions or a performance of emotions? Are the movements natural gestures or choreographed actions?

Inspired by queer underground performance traditions, these portraits challenge the boundaries between performing and being, between props and bodies.

The moving portraits, simultaneously glamorous and vulnerable, silent yet unapologetic, reveal radical differences that defy easy description.

▲ A Portrait, 2024, single-channel video, 32:9, 22min Courtesy of the artists, Leeum Museum

The majestic curtain, titled "Curtain Piece (Disobedient)" (2023), serves as both a sculptural work from the video and a physical installation that transforms the museum’s lobby into a conceptual stage.

Displayed on an LED screen, the film invites viewers into a space where various modes of presence—simply being there, engaging with the work, and becoming performers themselves—coincide.

The performers featured in this installation include Jimmy Robert, Werner Hirsch, Julie Cunningham, Trajal Harrell, Aérea Negrot, Klara Líden, Peaches, and Ming Wong. 

▲ A Portrait, 2024, single-channel video, 32:9, 22min Courtesy of the artists, Leeum Museum

This project was commissioned by the Leeum Museum of Art and supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Culture.

The work is presented courtesy of Marcelle Alix, Paris, and Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam.

Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, established in 2007 and based in Berlin, are renowned for their film installations that combine performance and choreography.

Their work challenges normative narratives and artistic conventions by exploring nonlinear temporalities and complex modes of performance. 

▲ A Portrait, 2024, single-channel video, 32:9, 22min Courtesy of the artists, Leeum MuseumThey collaborate with performers from various fields, engaging in long-term conversations about the conditions of performance, the violent history of visibility, and the pathologization of bodies, as well as themes of companionship, glamor, and resistance.

Their solo exhibitions have been featured at Crystal Palace/Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid (2022), the Swiss Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), and the Julia Stoschek Collection in Berlin (2019).

They have also participated in group exhibitions at the 35th São Paulo Art Biennial, the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Whitechapel Gallery in London, Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com