Graham Farocki

Taking a titular cue from Roland Barthes’s S/Z, guest curator Chantal Pontbriand offers an unlikely and provocative pairing in Harun Farocki and Rodney Graham that seeks to trace “the Archive, the Nonverbal, the Machine (dispositif), and Montage” as concepts integral to both artists. Though tempting to cast German filmmaker Farocki as the “straight man” or documentary foil to Canadian conceptualist Graham’s often comedic guises, each is a master of the intertextual and sardonic, promising to open up suggestive readings of the other’s work. A far-ranging selection of their previous pieces—including eight single- and multi-channel videos from Farocki, and photographs, sculptures, and video installations by Graham—will complement new commissions. The accompanying catalogue is to include a general text by Pontbriand, contributions by the artists, and one essay each for the four angles of the show’s thesis.