A.K. Burns
Untitled (eclipse)
Presented in association with Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)
American artist AK Burns’ Untitled (eclipse) is a silent film of a total solar eclipse. Filmed in Nebraska in 2017, shots of the gradually eclipsing sun are superimposed on views of the sweeping, bleached desert landscape. To capture this natural phenomenon AK worked with 16mm film (as opposed to digital video), directly recording traces of sunlight on its photosensitive surface.
The artist's camera records the movement of grasses and yucca plants shaking in the wind. Gradations of changing light – as the moon slowly eclipses the sun and midday momentarily becomes midnight – shift our attention between what is happening in the film and the film’s materiality its distinctive grain, texture and luminosity. As the minutes pass, the senses become aware of the passage of time and everything being in constant flux. With no explicit narrative, Untitled (eclipse) is a subtle, atmospheric work.
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A.K. Burns is an interdisciplinary artist and associate professor in the Department of Art at Hunter College, City University of New York.
Using video, audio, responsive environments, sculpture, writing and collaboration, Burns troubles notions of value embodied at the nexus of language and materiality. In 2023 the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio hosted Of space we are…, a survey exhibition encompassing the last decade of Burns’ work and subsequently released the monograph A.K. Burns: Negative Space, co-published with Dancing Foxes Press.
Burns has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany; and New Museum, New York. Burns is a 2023 Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow.
| Time & Location |
Fri 9 Feb – Sun 31 MarPerth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), 51 James Street, Northbridge / Yandilup |
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| Pricing |
Free Event |
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| Gallery Opening Times |
Tue – Sun Exhibition Opening |
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Event Partner
Presented in association with
Image
- A.K. Burns, 'Untitled (eclipse)', 2019, 16mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Gallery, Paris/Brussels.