17 december 2024, Flor Linckens
Last chance: the hybrid practice of Lucile Desamory
Until 21 December, the exhibition 'Still Film' by Lucile Desamory will be on view at Ellen de Bruijne Projects in Amsterdam. This Belgian artist and filmmaker effortlessly navigates disciplines such as film, painting, collage, music, radio plays, installation, photography and performance. In this exhibition, Desamory offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between film and painting, exploring how cinematic narratives can live within another medium.
Desamory presents paintings closely tied to her latest film and television series De Wervelende Wirwar (2024) and her earlier work Télé Réalité (2020). Instead of adapting her films to a gallery context, she approaches painting as an alternative gateway to the stories told in her films. These paintings stand as autonomous works of art, integrating cinematic elements such as mirrors, picture frames, and the boundaries of the film frame itself. They not only demonstrate the interplay between painting and film but also reflect on the translation of emotions and intentions from a cinematic context into another medium.
At the heart of these works lies the concept of the ‘frame’ – both literally and symbolically. Frames function as representations of boundaries and transitions, while mirrors mark liminal thresholds between reality and fiction. They reflect moments suspended between the real and the imagined. In 'Still Film', Desamory explores how painting can condense, enrich and even reanimate the temporality of film, turning ‘frozen time’ into something dynamic.
A notable aspect of the works on display is that some paintings were created before the filming process, while others emerged afterwards. This approach highlights the dynamic interplay between the various disciplines in Desamory’s practice. The paintings are not mere illustrations of the films but rather autonomous material translations of the underlying stories and emotions evoked in the cinematic works. In these works, Desamory refers to the historical interconnection between painting and film as artistic forms of expression.
Desamory’s work is characterised by a fascination with forgotten or overlooked stories and explores themes such as the inexplicable, the ‘too much,’ the ‘false,’ and the ways in which we perceive reality. These themes often call for a shift in medium, making her multidisciplinary approach a natural outcome. By positioning herself within a feminist tradition of female filmmakers who combine painting and film, Desamory’s practice reflects not only an artistic search but also a response to the structural and economic challenges that female filmmakers often face. Under such conditions, they have found fertile ground to develop new forms of storytelling. In this way, Desamory’s work advocates for a multidisciplinary practice as an art form in its own right.
Lucile Desamory was born in 1977 in Brussels and currently lives and works in Berlin. Her work has been shown at institutions including BOZAR, Tate Modern, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Mu.ZEE Oostende, Kunstverein Leipzig, Kunsthalle Zürich, and during the Shanghai Biennale.
