Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle)

In a world overflowing with media focus, scrutiny, and rumor, artist Douglas Gordon and filmmaker Philippe Parreno have collaborated for a new kind of mesmerizing singular portraiture. Zinedine Zidane—one of the greatest soccer players of the modern era—becomes the focus of a match between Real Madrid and Villareal as the film concentrates 17 cameras following the athlete’s every action from kickoff to the end of a regular season game.

Losing the “keep your eye on the ball” format of most TV matches, and paired with an immersive sound design that includes the cries of the crowd, the occasional Spanish commentator’s exclamations, Zidane’s sparse voiced-over thoughts, and an ethereal score by the Scottish band Mogwai, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait transfers physicality, time, pace, and perspective into a complex picture of an athlete playing a game.

The work of Glasgow native Douglas Gordon epitomizes a new fluidity between video and film in contemporary art. Gordon received the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 1997 Venice Biennale, and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. Philippe Parreno makes work that revolves around the nature of an image as well as the modes of its exhibition. He often draws on already-existing material and enriches it with his own, mostly narrative ideas. He lives in Paris.

Print courtesy of Katapult Film Services.

www.katapultfilms.com

This is portraiture in its purest form, as practiced by Titian or Rembrandt, only made with more recent technology for an audience that consumes its heroes on TV. The Guardian