Wolfgang Tillmans: Moon in Earthlight

Experience Wolfgang Tillmans’ first full-length album, Moon in Earthlight (2021). Produced primarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, when live music was rare, the album centres on the performative nature of music and its role in bringing people together. Composed of recordings made over the last four years, Tillmans incorporates spoken word, ambient sound, and pulsating electronic beats, among other sonic elements. The film accompanying the music opens on a set of lights, arranged on a table, that throw coloured shapes across the wall of a darkened room, followed by a range of subjects — from hermit crabs on a beach to someone playfully manoeuvring a power washer. The combinations of image and sound invite viewers to meditate on how music influences our understanding of photography. Tillmans has long been engaged with music as a musician and a documentarian, exploring its cultural significance and the listening experience, and creating images of raves, clubs, and concerts. For the artist, music is another form of communication and resistance, just like image-making. Moon in Earthlight is part of the critically acclaimed exhibition, Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear, running through to October 1, 2023, at the AGO. Moon in Earthlight, 2021, 4k video (colour, sound), 52:55 min. Insanely Alive, (Pet Shop Boys Radio Edit), 2022, 4k video (colour, sound), 3:33 min.