R.I.P. (Portraits)
As part of the collective exhibition SHOOT ! – Existential photography, Festival Images presented a piece by Alain Declercq from his R.I.P. (Portraits) series, for which the visual artist literally shot at portraits of controversial political figures. He surpasses the limits of photography by shaping their faces with thousands of 22 long-rifle bullet shots. Presented on the exploded side, his portrait of Silvio Berlusconi denounces the brutality of current administrations by addressing power structures and the resultant forms of oppression.
Castle
Conceived specifically for Festival Images, the Castle encouraged visitors to reflect on the art of concealment by covering the glass walls of the Vevey theater with one hundred or so images of facades of French Renaissance castles. By this act of photographic teleportation, Jeanne Susplugas (France, 1974) and Alain Declercq reinterpreted the outer architecture of the building and its medieval-like tower to reveal it to Vevey residents under a different light, like a set removed from the stage.
