Apollo Magazine

Tacita Dean: Antigone

At the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Swiss premiere of a work that celebrates the glory of 35mm film

Still from Antigone (2018), Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist; Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris; © Tacita Dean

Still from Antigone (2018), Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist; Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris; © Tacita Dean

This exhibition is the Swiss premiere of Tacita Dean’s hour-long 35mm film Antigone (2018), a celebration of early analogue film-making techniques. Named both after the Greek mythological figure and the artist’s own sister (‘Antigone’ was one of the first words she learned as a child), the film depicts a solar eclipse that Dean witnessed in Wyoming. When making the film, Dean left certain elements to chance – through masking and multiple exposure of the negatives – so that she would not see the final product until after it was printed at the lab. Antigone is being screened alongside a selection the artist’s other films, including Ear on a Worm (2017), and related slate and blackboard drawings. The exhibition runs from 28 August–9 January 2022; find out more from the Kunstmuseum Basel’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Still from Antigone (2018), Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist; Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris; © Tacita Dean

Still from Three Women (1987/2015), Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris

Still from Ear on a Worm (2017), Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris

Antigone (2018), Tacita Dean. Installation view, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2018. Photo: Marcus Tretter

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