Le Guess Who: Richard Mosse - Broken Spectre

Richard Mosse shows in a layered way how comprehensive this destruction is. Powered by an enchanting soundtrack by Ben Frost, he alternates between close-ups of vegetation and satellite images that highlight the scale of deforestation and depletion.

Mosse’s multi-layered approach reveals the all-encompassing nature of this devastation. With a haunting soundtrack by Ben Frost, the film alternates between close-ups of the forest and satellite images that reveal the alarming scale of the deforestation.

Mosse, who worked for many years as a war journalist, recorded the footage for this impressive masterpiece between 2018 and 2022. The title Broken Spectre is a word play on the so-called ‘Brocken spectre’, an optical illusion in which mountaineers see their massively magnified shadow projected onto mist or clouds, often surrounded by a halo. The title suggests our inability to grasp mankind’s impact on the natural world. Through a visually overwhelming narrative, the film reveals the true scale of this ecological and moral disaster.

A fifth of the rainforest has been destroyed in the past fifty years. Mosse draws out our intense empathy with the plants, animals and Indigenous communities trying to survive amid the advancing destruction, driven by the economic interests of the meat and gold industries. Broken Spectre is this internationally acclaimed artist’s most ambitious work to date. His multi-channel video installation The Enclave (2013), shown at Centraal Museum in 2021 as part of Double Act – Masterpieces in Paint and Video, made a deep impression on the public.

This is the first time that the work has been shown in the Netherlands.

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Le Guess Who x Central Museum

Since 2019, the Centraal Museum and Le Guess Who? their powers to connect art and music. The collaboration brings fresh perspectives to light, for festival-goers and museum visitors.

Le Guess Who? is an annual international music festival in Utrecht that presents artists and sounds that are barely heard on other stages. Since 2007, the festival has taken place every November at various locations in the city, such as TivoliVredenburg, EKKO and Theater Kikker. During the festival, the Centraal Museum will also transform into a unique festival location. In the historic city museum, festival-goers discover a new, adventurous program at the intersection of visual arts and music every year - always free of charge upon presentation of an LGW wristband.

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Practical information

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Image credit

Installation view, Richard Mosse, Broken Specter, 2024

Jack Shainman Gallery, 46 Lafayette Street, New York, NY

© Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo: Dan Bradica.

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