Clément Cogitore

In his film works, Clément Cogitore explores the physical, social and political dimensions of the body and gestures.

Situated between cinema and contemporary visual art, Cogitore is interested in the conditions and circumstances of human coexistence, in its images and representations, in rituals and the individual and collective memory.

In videos like “Les Indes Galantes” (The Gallant Indies) and “Morgestraich” (Morning Prank), communal bodies and collective energy form, and are formed by, the movements of the individual bodies and gestures. Les Indes Galantes shows how the performers’ individual expression meets with ritualised and socially coded movements, challenging them again and again. In Morgestraich, the individual fades into a group of drummers and pipers who move mysteriously through the darkness, with faces hidden by masks and costumes.

Cogitore asks about the conditions of communities, the circumstances under which they come into being, and how binding forces and collective energies develop – emancipatory, rebellious, and at the same time also threatening the respective social and political structure.