THE SINGLE SCREEN offers a unique insight into the series of performances that Joëlle Tuerlinckx and her That's it! team presented at Dia Beacon—a world-renowned museum in the United States—between 2015 and 2018, at the invitation of Jessica Morgan (Nathalie de Gunzberg Director, Dia Art Foundation). Conceptually playful and humorously incisive, Tuerlinckx explores the contrasting experiences of time and space in a museum setting versus a cinema. On-screen, space itself seems to expand, overflow, and fragment, revealing layers and multiplicities.

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THE SINGLE SCREEN is an "action film" of a highly performative nature, rich in sound, captured by two cameras that blend live and recorded elements. It is intended as a “Lecture on a work” by the artist herself, oscillating between documentation and fiction. Drawing from an immense archive of footage, the original version of THE SINGLE SCREEN compiles hours of live recordings that hover between documentary and fiction, using conventions such as music and voice-over added in post-production. The film chronicles key moments from 2015 to 2018, selecting excerpts that capture the essence of the 123+1 STUDIES That's it! Dia:Beacon, a series of choreographed engagements with works by artists of the Dia Foundation—predominantly white, male, and American. These performances unfolded within the Dia Beacon galleries, near New York, and explored, staged, and documented interactions with pieces by renowned artists.

 

Each new screening offers an opportunity to reveal different parts, scenes, or sequences of the work. The inaugural screening, THE SINGLE SCREEN 01.05.2022,  took place at Bozar in Brussels, beginning late in the afternoon at 5:30 p.m. and culminating in a brief performative piece. A special feature at the end previewed upcoming versions, highlighting notable movements such as STUDIES on the works of On Kawara, Sol LeWitt, Fred Sandback, and Blinky Palermo, among others.

 

Accompanied by a program designed for the audience, THE SINGLE SCREEN is an "Audio and Visuals Diary of Days" film that transcends traditional formats. It can be experienced like a piece of music, absorbed like a novel, interpreted like an opera, or followed at home like a TV show episode. In many ways, The Single Screen defies the conventions of classic cinema.

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The May 1st version of THE SINGLE SCREEN marks a beginning—a slow, deliberate journey into the mind of the artist (JT, notes on my exhibitions, 1993)—a performative work that is perpetually in the process of starting. The curtain keeps rising, the lights continue to shine, the band plays on, the instrument remains perpetually tuned, walkers move forward without pause, and viewers are forever observed. The artwork endures, unfolding over time, always present—like a film reel that never stops turning.