Finite/Infinite

A black dog crosses a giant screen at a frantic pace, at ground level. This fragment of a high speed race plays in a loop, constantly restarting. This perpetual restarting, found in many of the video works by Sturtevant (1926-2014), suggests the repetitiveness and violence of the image in our consumerist society.

A figurehead of the appropriation movement, Sturtevant has questioned the status of the author and the originality of art work since the 1960s. A pioneer in the field, the American artist also applied this modus operandi to video. Finite/Infinite, which is also the name of a 2010 exhibition at London’s Serpentine Gallery, emphatically conveys the overwhelming power of the image.

Finite/Infinite was first shown by the Pinault Collection in 2011 at the "Eloge du Doute" (“In Praise of Doubt”) exhibition at the Punta della Dogana.