by Barbara Visser, Netherlands 2017, 70'
| SCREENPLAY: Barbara Visser, Bart Haensel | SOUND MIXING: Tijn Hazen | |
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Niels van Koevorden | PRODUCER: Monique Busman | |
| EDITING: Xander Nijsten | LANGUAGE: English, Dutch |
Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte Film Festival 2018
One of the worst crimes in contemporary art history was the destruction of Who is Afraid of Red, and Yellow and Blue III, a painting by American abstractionist Barnett Newman. In 1986, a man entered the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam with a knife and slashed the large canvas to shreds. The American Daniel Goldreyer was commissioned by the Stedelijk’sdirector to restore the painting, butwhen the work was returned to the museum nothing was left of its original splendor. Goldreyer covered the canvas of DIyPaint with a roller, irreparably destroying the painting.
More than twenty-five years later, Barbara Visser reconstructs the story, assembling archival materials with Newman's voice, period interviews with the museum's director, and interviews with critics, art historians, museum employees, and the vandal himself. More than denounce the gravity of this artistic "murder" the film aims to determine the exact moment of death. When does a work of art, or a concept, an idea, cease to exist? In partial answer this question, the director asks a young art student to make a copy of the famous "deceased" painting.
One of the worst crimes in contemporary art history was the destruction of Who is Afraid of Red, and Yellow and Blue III, a painting by American abstractionist Barnett Newman. In 1986, a man entered the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam with a knife and slashed the large canvas to shreds. The American Daniel Goldreyer was commissioned by the Stedelijk’sdirector to restore the painting, butwhen the work was returned to the museum nothing was left of its original splendor. Goldreyer covered the canvas of DIyPaint with a roller, irreparably destroying the painting.
More than twenty-five years later, Barbara Visser reconstructs the story, assembling archival materials with Newman's voice, period interviews with the museum's director, and interviews with critics, art historians, museum employees, and the vandal himself. More than denounce the gravity of this artistic "murder" the film aims to determine the exact moment of death. When does a work of art, or a concept, an idea, cease to exist? In partial answer this question, the director asks a young art student to make a copy of the famous "deceased" painting.
Barbara Visser
Born in Haarlem in 1966, she currently lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied photography and audiovisual arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, the Cooper Union in New York and the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. From 1992 onwards her work is shown internationally. In 2017 she was artistic director of IDFA.
She partecipated in the group presentation at the Dutch Pavillion of the VeniceBiennial in 2011. She has been exhibiting in numerous solo shows such as Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris (2014), KunsthalKade, Amersfoot (2014), Objectif, Antwerpen (2012), De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam (2013).
2018 The End of Fear 2012 C.K.