When entering Pavilion 5's terrace, it seems as if you're looking at the houses from behind the scenes. Various walls have been placed alongside or behind one another as stage screens or backdrops. By compressing the residential houses, a multitude of architectural elements originate in a small area, thus evoking a sense of urbanisation as can be seen at half torn-down older houses in cities such as Brussels, Antwerp and Berlin.
With its vistas and cross-sections, the installation refers to the work of visual artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978), who made cut-outs in the walls and floors of empty buildings and thus transformed architecture into sculpture.
Cross Section is teasingly referring to stage design, which makes use of cardboard and other construction materials such as stone strips to create an illusion of space. This reference can be seen as a critical comment on contemporary architecture, where gesture and exterior often prevail over durability and user-friendliness.
A connecting theme within the work of Gabriel Lester is the meeting of various media, such as film, theatre and architecture. The exhibition also shows his movie Urban Surface (2005) featuring music from the film Pierrot le fou (1965) by Jean Luc Godard (1930). This movie, shot in nocturnal Stockholm, consists of inserts, atmospheric images that are often used in films to precede scenes. The music strengthens the suggestive nature of the – partly manipulated - images.
Gabriel has lived in Brussels, Stockholm and New York and studied audiovisual arts, amongst others, at the art academies in Breda and Brussels. He also studied at the Amsterdam State Academy.
Martine Spanjers
Gabriel Lester, Cross Section
Gabriel Lester, 1972, Amsterdam