Candice Breitz

Overview

South African-born, Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz uses multimedia conventions like photography and looped video footage to explore identity and the way we are shaped by film and popular culture.

In between her day job as a Fine Arts Professor, she has exhibited her work in installations from São Paulo to Istanbul, New York, Johannesburg, Singapore, Venice and beyond. Now, for the first time in New Zealand, she will present three major series of works.

Traversing three continents, The Woods refers to three of the world’s largest film industries, Hollywood, India’s Bollywood and Nigeria’s Nollywood. It explores the on-screen and off-screen personae of professional child actors and of adult actors who have become famous playing children.

King (A Portrait of Michael Jackson) is a multi-channel video installation that portrays the King of Pop in his absence. Sixteen passionate Jacko fans re-perform the entire Thriller album, sampling and remixing his public persona in their own quest for individual expression.

In Factum, Breitz edits interviews with identical twins and triplets, playing on similarities and differences in what they say and how they say it.