Thierry Noir: Techno
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Event date 28 SEPTEMBER - 2 OCTOBER 2023 -
Event location London
Thierry Noir moved from France to Berlin in the 1980s and became the first artist to paint long stretches of the Berlin Wall on which he developed his distinct visual language. Since then, the artist became inextricably linked to the Berlin underground scene. Just as music is the heartbeat of the German capital, it pulses in every aspect of Noir’s life and work. He sees art as performance, often drawing parallels with the performative characteristic of a musician or a DJ. The colours, lines, energy and rhythm in his paintings mirror the hypnotic sound of techno music.
Unveiling new paintings created exclusively for Christie’s over the past year, journey into Noir’s vividly coloured visual universe and be transported to the booming techno scene in Berlin. The public exhibition is open between 28 September and 2 October with free entry at 8 King Street in London.
Charity and Partnerships
Thierry Noir, Perfect Light Over The Dancefloor, (180cm by 180cm, 2023)
This painting from the Techno exhibition will be offered in the First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online 3-17 October to benefit Girls Rock London (GRL). GRL is an award-winning Hackney-based charity providing accessible music education projects for marginalised girls, women, trans, and non-binary people.
GRL programmes challenge intersectional gender inequity in the music industry and society, and are evidenced to improve musical skills and re-engagement in formal education/training/employment, whilst increasing participants’ wellbeing and self-esteem.
Sale proceeds will enhance GRL's Youth Programmes, following increased demand from marginalised young people in need, due to the impacts of pandemic and cost of living crises.
Techno Q&A
What was the techno scene like in Berlin in the 1980s?
West Berlin had a strong community of underground artists, musicians, designers, writers. We were underground fighters all together. Then when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, we realised that just on the other side of the Wall, to the east, there were also lots of others like us. They weren't visible in the media, but they existed. The sudden combination of these two powerful groups created something special.
At that time the streets of East Berlin were full of abandoned or long-closed shops. All you had to do was open the door and set up your own nightclub, with no authorisation to open and no alcohol licence because the system of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had just collapsed. First it was acid house then very quickly this movement became known in Berlin as Teckno. Written with one K, two Ks or three Ks, depending on the strength of the music. These places sometimes only stayed open for 2 or 3 months, then disappeared to continue later under another name. We were always on the move.
Describe your relationship with music?
Music is my inspiration. Just like art, music can change the world. Ever since I discovered Led Zeppelin in 1971, I've been listening to my favourite songs over and over again. From 1984 onwards I was part of a music group called Sprung Aus Den Wolken. The track that I sang the vocals on in French, ‘Pas Attendre’, was included by Wim Wenders in the soundtrack to the 1987 film Wings of Desire. We did a lot of touring in Europe, sometimes with up to five members of the group. We had a lot of success, but each time when I went back to Berlin after two weeks on the road performing each night, I realised that I was always very tired. I decided to give up my music career in 1988 to concentrate fully on painting.
It is an honour for me to collaborate with fabric London on this project. In 2019 I painted some walls inside the club and then there is also a painting of mine hanging at fabric in the entrance. DJs are the heroes of the night. They jam with notes like I jam with colours.
Thierry Noir biography
Thierry Noir at the Berlin Wall, 1986
Thierry Noir was born in 1958 in Lyon, France, and moved to Berlin in January 1982. In April 1984, Noir began to paint the Berlin Wall and is credited as being the first artist to do so. Noir’s objective was to perform one real revolutionary act: to paint the Berlin wall, to transform it, to make it ridiculous, and to help destroy it, pre-empting its ultimate fall in 1989. Noir covered the Berlin Wall, more than 3 metres high, with bright, vivid colours, aiming not to embellish the wall but to demystify it. Noir’s iconic, bright and seemingly innocent works painted on this deadly border symbolised a sole act of defiance and a lone voice of freedom.
Painting on the wall was absolutely forbidden; it was built 3 metres beyond the official border so the east-German soldiers were able to arrest any person standing near it. Noir had to paint as quickly as possible, using the recipe of ‘two ideas, three colours’ as a celebration of the ‘eternal youth’. Despite their bright colours and playful nature, the murals left a lingering sense of melancholy: as Noir says, ‘I did nothing but react to its sadness’.
Since the 1980s, Noir’s exploits and highly distinctive visual language have become world famous and immortalised in popular culture such as Wim Wenders’ 1987 film Wings of Desire and the cover of U2’s album Acthung Baby.
Noir’s practice has a strong emphasis on lines and aims to simplify forms to their most basic elements. This simplicity reflected the necessity of painting quickly outdoors in a hazardous environment with very real risks to his personal safety. Noir reacted to his environment, and his monsters are a metaphor for the Wall itself, each one relating to his experiences or feelings of what he calls a ‘killing machine’.
Exhibition & Event
Join Thierry Noir at Christie’s for an intimate artist talk and tour of the ‘Techno’ exhibition by the artist. This is not a ticketed event. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Events
Thierry Noir: Meet the artist
Saturday, 30 September, 12pm
Exhibition Viewing
28 September–2 October
Thursday, 28 September, 9:00-5:00pm
Friday, 29 September, 9:00-5:00pm
Saturday, 30 September, 12:00-5:00pm
Sunday, 1 October, 12:00-5:00pm
Monday, 2 October, 9:00-5:00pm
Location
Christie’s London
8 King St, St. James’s
London, SW1Y 6QT
Contact
Victoria Gramm
VGramm@christies.com
+44 207 389 2182
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