Closer at Kunstverein Düsseldorf | frieze | review

In their essay ‘The Guild of the Brave Poor Things’(2017), artists Park McArthur and Constantina Zavitsanos ponderwhether true privacy is still a viable reality. This is an especially pertinent question for McArthur, whose own impaired mobility requires her to maintain proximity to others to carry out basic daily tasks and for whom the question of visibility can equate to a ‘life or death situation’. It is likewise a concern in the digital realm, from which in seems any familiar notion of intimacy has been extinguished. The six filmic propositions in Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen’s current group show, ‘Closer’, expand on this vision, presenting screens as portals that allow or deny access to personal narratives.