Collection in Focus | Zidane, a 21st century portrait

In its first public presentation at the Guggenheim New York, Zidane, a 21st century portrait is shown on the occasion of the artwork's twentieth anniversary and the 2026 World Cup hosted in North America, with matches in the New York metropolitan area. The two-channel video projection by Douglas Gordon (b. 1966, Glasgow, Scotland) and Philippe Parreno (b. 1964, Grenoble, France) follows the legendary French soccer star Zinédine Zidane in real time over the course of a single match played on April 23, 2005, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Created by the artists and acquired by the Guggenheim in 2006, the ninety-minute piece will be screened on a continuous loop during museum hours in the Guggenheim's Peter B. Lewis Theater.

Assembled from footage shot by seventeen synchronized cameras placed around the stadium, the film captures Zidane from multiple angles and remains fixed on him even when the central action of the match shifts elsewhere. By splicing in footage from the live television broadcast, Gordon and Parreno challenge viewers' perception of spectacle and modern celebrity.

This video installation—one of seventeen unique versions of the work—introduces a further layer to the viewing experience. While one large projection displays the theatrical version of Gordon and Parreno's film, raw footage from one of the seventeen cameras plays beside it on a second screen. At moments, the two streams synchronize and show the same image. This doubling, a recurrent feature in Gordon's work, echoes the mass dissemination of the contemporary celebrity-hero and the role of collective memory in shaping iconic images from popular culture.

Connecting back to the history of portraiture, Gordon and Parreno reference artists such as Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez, as well as the more immediate precursor of Andy Warhol's real-time film portraits.

Zidane, a 21st century portrait marks the sixth installment in the museum's ongoing Collection in Focus series, which takes an in-depth look at an artist, movement, or artwork. The series aims to make the museum's world-renowned holdings more accessible to the public while providing new insights into significant works, artists, and artistic movements.

The exhibition is organized by Nat Trotman, Curator, Performance and Media.

Visionary support for Collection in Focus is provided by Aleksandra Janke and Andrew McCormack, with additional funding provided by The Achelis and Bodman Foundation and Laura Clifford.