Curated by Laurence Kardish

“I am intrigued by the figure of the extra,” Dutch artist Aernout Mik has said apropos of the anonymous figures in his films—who, like extras, seem content simply to be on the screen, without being the center of attention, as they move through his ominous and dream-like scenarios that dramatize contemporary forms of power and control. This retrospective features eight of Mik’s pieces, ranging from his earliest film, Fluff, 1996, to Schoolyard, 2009, a two-screen video installation commissioned for the occasion. Mik’s enigmatic images of collective bodies in cinematic movement will be shown throughout the museum in both gallery and nongallery spaces, prompting visitors to negotiate the complex forms of continuity between the activity on-screen and that in the places where his work is shown.

— Ina Blom