From his image archive An Ongoing Collection of Screengrabs with Reassuring Subtitles  with currently 1.200 screenshots from American TV series and movies,  Allan McCollum has chosen 400 motifs with subtitles such as “It will be  ok” or “Don’t worry, Babe” to be printed on canvas, each framed in a  black wooden frame and measuring 10.4 x 17.2 x 1.6 in (26.3 x 43.8 x 4  cm). This group of works is especially designed for Galerie Thomas Schulte to be offered to friends, supporters and interested clients as a  sign of consolation and to financially help two highly acclaimed art  institutions, the ICA Miami and C/O Berlin, to cope in these difficult  times. A selection of the works is on view at Galerie Thomas Schulte in  an individual exhibition from May 23 through July 11, 2020.   

Allan McCollum began this project in 2015 as a visual essay about the  meaning of closeness and comfort in our society. He wants it to serve  as a reminder that it is through the telling and sharing of stories that  we perceive the world. It is also a critique of Hollywood and populist  rhetoric which both instrumentalize our emotions by promoting the  narrative of a hero coming to the rescue, while in reality we depend on  being part of a community of family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.  All of the screen shots from films and movies amassed by McCollum depict  people in situations of great uncertainty and distress being comforted  with words of support that spell out in the subtitles. But while anxiety  and worry are feelings that are individually and subjectively felt and  experienced by all of us, the encouraging phrases on the screen through  endless repetition soon become somewhat meaningless. 

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