David Claerbout: The pure necessity

We are pleased to present a new solo exhibition by the Belgian video artist David Claerbout on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle. The pure necessity is the title of Claerbout’s latest video work, which explores the animated classic film The Jungle Book - which, incidentally, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
The pure necessity centers exclusively on the representation of animals, their sounds, and the noise of nature. Claerbout abstains from using dialog, music, or dance - and apart from a little girl with a water jug, there are no human beings in his version of the Jungle Book. Twelve animation artists collaborated with Claerbout on this large-scale project, creating individual color drawings to help him realize this 50- minute animation film, which omits the animals’ anthropomorphization and puts a new spin on the familiar story. The narrative is decelerated, the animals behave as such, and we, the viewers, are once again reminded of how we as individuals or species either coexist or exist separately in our own worlds here on earth - a notion that is representative of the modern individual.