Absence is the Highest Form of Presence

The ambitious exhibition project Absence is the highest Form of Presence brings together works by three long-established and internationally well-renowned artists: Robert Gober, Julião Sarmento, and Luc Tuymans. It is the last and incomplete project of curator Michael Tarantino, who died in 2003.

In the concise concept note that Michael Tarantino wrote for the project, he indicated several themes which could be touched upon in the exhibition: the enigma, the invisible, the off-screen space, and the fragmented or deformed representation of the human body. It is clear that Michael Tarantino aimed to unite both his passions – film and visual art – in this project.

Starting from the basic concept outlined by Michael Tarantino in 2002-2003, the artists and the museum collaborated on the actual realization of the exhibition. Old and recent works were brought together in an exhibition that combines film, painting, and sculptural installations.

The MDD believes that researching and contextualising the recent art historical past is one of its essential responsibilities as a museum. Much valuable information regarding recent fundamental developments in the contemporary art field is already at risk of being lost simply because it is not adequately managed or easily accessible. The realization of Absence is the highest Form of Presence is the first step in the research project that is the intellectual legacy of Michael Tarantino.

Michael Tarantino

After completing a degree in film aesthetics at the University of New York, Michael Tarantino (1948 New Jersey – 2003 Brussels) builds a career as a curator and film critic. He is one of the earliest advocates of video and film installations in contemporary art. His passion for film is the basis for a variety of exhibition projects in which he examines the relationship between film and the visual arts.

In 1988 he left the United States and moved to Brussels. In the 1990’s he collaborated with artists such as Antony Gormley, Sam Taylor-Wood, Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, Matt Mullican, and Jeff Wall, among others. He is head curator for the Oxford Museum of Modern Art from 1998 until 2001. He returned to Brussels in 2001 to take up the directorship of the still-to-be-founded Artesia Center for the Arts. This contemporary art centre, however, was never realized, and Michael Tarantino died in 2003 at the age of 55, after a long struggle with chronic disease.