Curated by Zoë Gray and Schafhausen

The works of French-born, Berlin- and Paris-based Saâdane Afif frequently include an audio or musical dimension. His best-known work, Power Chords, 2005, is based on a principle similar to synesthesia: The sound sculpture consists of a computer-programmed chorus of electric guitars, each playing a series of chords derived from the chromatic sequence of one of André Cadere's barres de bois rond. Melding the figures of viewer and listener in an ambiguous way, Afif always makes reference to some absent origin and thereby induces the sort of nostalgia—light and tenacious at once—that lends power to the best pop songs. Faithful to the idea of the “cover version,” the artist will revisit and rework more than ten of his previous productions in the show, organized by Zoë Gray and Nicolaus Schafhausen and occupying an entire floor of Witte de With.

Translated from French by Jeanine Herman.

— Jean-Pierre Criqui