Clown, 2005

Clown (Nr. 1–2)
2005
LightJet print, 182 x 180 cm
Edition 4 + 2 ap


The photo works were created in the context of the three-channel film installation Clown (2005), in which the absurd and slightly uncanny figure of
a clown emerges from the impenetrable lushness of the Brazilian jungle. His red nose contrasts with the green forest. Starting from the right-hand side, he passes through all three screens, stumbling towards us, following a streamlet, before finally disappearing back into the jungle. As often in Rosefeldt’s work, this film’s protagonist is an uncommunicative, self-absorbed monad: a wanderer in a world he either does not understand or – caught up in activities required by the closed circuit of his solecistic, madcap logic – wishes to ignore. As the essence of absurdity, this film work can

be read as a metaphor for modern man’s alienation from nature and an epilogue to Rosefeldt’s Trilogy of Failure (2004/2005).

Summarised from Stefan Berg, Katerina Gregos and David Thorpe, in: Julian Rosefeldt: Film Works (2008)


Exhibitions

Clown (Nr. 1):
– Julian Rosefeldt, Galerie West, Den Haag, July–August 2012
– Julian Rosefeldt – Making Of. Film Installations and Photo Works 2004–2010, DA2 – Domus Artium, Salamanca,
   October 2010–March 2011 (curated by Javier Panera)
– Julian Rosefeldt. The Ship of Fools, Phillips de Pury & Company, New York, January 2008
– Julian Rosefeldt. Lonely Planet, Arndt & Partner, Berlin, May–June 2006
Clown (Nr. 2):
– Julian Rosefeldt – Clown, Max Wigram Gallery, London, September–November 2006

Literature

Berg, Stephan, et al., eds. Julian Rosefeldt: Film Works. Ostfildern, 2008.