There is as much sculpture and installation as performance and theater in the art of John Bock (D, 1965, lives and works in Berlin). His pieces plunge us into an outrageous, ludicrous world that is shot through with a peculiar humor. Since 2002 film has had growing importance in his work. The artist uses himself in his work and orchestrates scenes in which the figures at times become living sculptures.

Bock has taken part in the most important contemporary art shows, including Documenta XI in Kassel, the 51^st Biennial of Venice and the 8^th Biennial of Lyon. In 2007 Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle mounted the first show devoted exclusively to his films, which were screened in a corridor arrangement of individual cells that proved both radical and effective.

Films to be screened:

Salon de béton (2005, 22’ 37’’)
John Bock and the French actress Anne Brochet are enclosed in a mazelike cement cave. With a monumental stationary bike, a giant rolling pill, a vat filled with some threatening liquid and morphing objects, they elaborate a fantastic tale whose visual impact can be spellbinding.

Palms (2007, 58’)
Palms is the first film Bock produced in the United States. It tells the story of two killers who have come from Germany and are kitted out according to the stereotypes of the Hollywood film noir. Their odyssey through Los Angeles and the desert passes by two icons of the history of architecture, the houses of Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler.

With special thanks to Klosterfelde Gallery, Berlin.