Coulibeuf Pierre

filmmaker, director, videographer, visual artist

Born in Elbeuf (France). Lives in Paris. Film-maker and visual artist. (Doctoral studies in Modern Literature-thesis on Pierre Klossowski and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch). Pierre Coulibeuf uses contemporary creation as material for his cinematic and artistic work. In a cross-disciplinary relation to film genres (fiction, experimental...), as well as to modes of presenting the image in motion (35mm screening or DCP, video installation, photography), his works invent a place and a language on the borderline of the other arts, critiquing established forms and questioning representations of reality. The main concepts of his film works are doubling, simulacrum, metamorphosis, labyrinth, reality as fiction or mental projection. Since 1987, Coulibeuf has been developing a cross-disciplinary project. He makes experimental fictions that skilfully invest the field of art, and in which changes of identity, split personalities and metamorphosis affect the universes and artists who inspire his works. His numerous works, filmed in 16 and 35mm, are based on the mental universes of Pierre Klossowski, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramovic, Michel Butor, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Jan Fabre, Meg Stuart, Angelin Preljocaj, Maurice Blanchot, Iberê Camargo... His films are selected in many international film festivals (fiction, experimental, video art). In 1991, he had a first cinema retrospective at the National Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, in Paris. In 1993, he won a grant ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ for a residency in Italy. In 1995 and 1996, he was artist in residency at the Center of Contemporary Art of Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Brittany, France. A retrospective of his films : ‘The Demon of passage’ conceived by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been touring worldwide since 2004. Pierre Coulibeuf shows video-photo installations in the contemporary art network. In 2005, he was invited at the 5th Mercosul Bienniale, in Porto Alegre (Brazil). In 2006, he had a few solo exhibitions in Germany, especially at the Deichtorhallen-Haus der Photographie in Hamburg, at the Galerie der HGB-Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig and a cinema retrospective in eight German film libraries; in France, a solo exhibition at the Musée-Château of Annecy. In 2007, he took part at the opening exhibition of Berardo Collection Museum in Lisbon (Portugal) ; solo show in Switzerland, at the La Rada-Center for contemporary Art in Locarno. In 2008, solo exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum of Brest (France), and at the Stary Browar Art Center/Kulczyk Foundation in Poznan (Poland) ; ‘Focus Pierre Coulibeuf’ at the Invideo/International Exhibition of Video Art and Cinema Beyond of Milano (Italy). In 2009, solo exhibition at the La Casa Encendida in Madrid (Spain), and at the Iberê Camargo Foundation, Porto Alegre (Brazil) that commissioned him a 35mm short film and a video installation (Dédale), in the framework of the Year of France in Brazil. His solo exhibition In the labyrinth shown at the Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Etienne (France), went during spring 2010 to the Berardo Collection Museum, in Lisbon (Portugal), then, to the Fine Arts Museum of Yekaterinburg (Russia) at the invitation of the National Centre for Contemporary Art, in the framework of the Year France-Russia and the 1st Ural Bienniale of Contemporary Art. In 2011, solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Perm (Russia) and at the Contemporary Art Center Oi Futuro in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). In 2012, solo show at the MOCA/Museum of contemporary Art of Chengdu (China). In 2012 and 2013, he was part of the group exhibition ‘Goetz collection’ at Haus der Kunst, in München (Germany) ; solo shows at the MARQ in Clermont-Ferrand (F), and at the YUAN Space in Beijing (China). For this exhibition, Pierre Coulibeuf has been nominated for the AAC Award China 2013, Most Influential Foreign Artist in China (the other nominees are Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Araki Nobuyoshi, Shirin Neshat). In 2014, solo exhibitions at the New Media Art Center of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute of Chongqing (China), at Zhang Xiaotao’s invitation; and at the Times Museum of Guangzhou (China). Coulibeuf’s works are part of main public collections in the world. Selective Filmography Short and medium films: 1988 : Klossowski, peintre-exorciste. Divertissement à la maison de Balzac. 1990 : La Chambre des muses. 1992 : Samout et Moutnefret. 1993 : Le Bureau de l’homme noir. 1995 : Le Démon du passage. 1998 : Cartographie. 2002 : Lost Paradise. 2005 : Amour Neutre. 2006 : Pavillon Noir. 2008 : Magnetic Cinema. 2009 : Crossover. Dédale. Feature films: 1993 : C’est de l’art. 1997 : Le Grand Récit. 1998 : L’Homme noir. 1999 : Balkan Baroque. 2000 : Michel Butor Mobile. 2002 : Les Guerriers de la beauté. 2004 : Somewhere in between. 2013 : Doctor Fabre Will Cure You. Videos : 1995 : Rubato. 2003 : Lost Paradise 2. 2006 : Who’s who? series. Delectatio morosa. 2008 : A Magnetic Space 1993 Leonardo da Vinci Grant from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a residency in Italy (Cinema). Bourse Leonard de Vinci du Ministère des Affaires étrangères pour une résidence en Italie (Cinéma). 1995-1996 Artist in residency at the Center of Contemporary Art of the Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Brittany, France. Artiste en résidence au Centre d’art contemporain du Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bretagne, France. 2001 Knight of the Arts and Literature’s Order, France. Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France.