MARCO BRAMBILLA – DOUBLE FEATURE: THE EMPTY PROMISES OF THE HOLLYWOOD DREAM FACTORY

Images courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska Berlin
From October 11, 2024, to March 2, 2025, Fotografiska Berlin will host Double Feature, an exhibition by Marco Brambilla that immerses viewers in a dazzling spectacle of Hollywood’s obsession with glamour and celebrity.
From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla
From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla

In his two maximalist video collages, Brambilla re-contextualizes layers of popular imagery to reveal the empty promises of the Hollywood “Dream Factory”. His works both celebrate and satirize the excess of the entertainment industry, and our obsession with it. These works from his Megaplex series give us a window to challenge old ideals and conventions.

 

Double Feature brings back a nostalgic motion picture phenomenon: the programming of two films instead of a single feature. Fotografiska will exhibit both the first and latest work from Brambilla’s Megaplex series: Heaven’s Gate (2022) and Civilization (2008). The works share a common language and the use of the technique of video collage which Brambilla pioneered in 2008 with Civilization.

From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla
From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla

Heaven’s Gate takes you on a journey through seven levels of purgatory, each depicted as a fantastical landscape of looping samples from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The work references gaming, news, cinema and reality TV, brought together in a hyper-sensory parallel universe.

From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla
From Heaven’s Gate, 2022 ©Marco Brambilla

Civilization offers a psychedelic journey from hell to heaven, using a tableau of collaged film loops lifted from iconic moments of cinematic history. The digitally assembled video canvas depicts a hyper-realistic realm of clouds, meadows and burning cityscapes, serving as a backdrop for humanity’s frenzied production and consumption of its own media.

From Civilization, 2008 ©Marco Brambilla
From Civilization, 2008 ©Marco Brambilla
From Civilization, 2008 ©Marco Brambilla
From Civilization, 2008 ©Marco Brambilla

“Brambilla’s Megaplex series (Civilization, Evolution, Creation and Heavens Gate 2008-21) is – according to the artist – set between the birth and death of the universe. The visual overload makes clear that the history of art and cinema is over: all previous styles can be quoted infinitely.” – Daniel Birnbaum, Marco Brambilla’s Labyrinth of Labyrinths

 

Using state-of-the-art technology such as AI and Computer Graphics, Marco Brambilla brings his grand artistic vision to life. He transports us to a place where reality and fiction blend together – shining a light on the fictions we are consumed by, and the realities we may wish to escape.

Marco Brambilla (1960) is a London-based artist. With roots in Hollywood, he is known for his elaborate re-contextualization of popular and found imagery, as well as his pioneering use of digital imaging technologies in video installation and art.
Brambilla’s work has been internationally exhibited and is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Perez Museum (Miami), among many others.

 

Fotografiska is the contemporary museum of photography, art and culture. With locations in Stockholm, Berlin, New York, Tallinn and Shanghai, Fotografiska exhibits world renowned artists as well as local, emerging talent. Exhibitions change almost every month to continuously inspire new perspectives. From its restaurant and bars to its parties and talks, the museum offers a social and cultural experience – open late every day, from 10:00 to 23:00.