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5/9/2006

Dialog: The Helsinki School

Langhans Gallery, Prague

Forward-looking Photography from Finland

Artists of the exhibition

Wilma Hurskainen | Nanna Hanninen | Pertti Kekarainen | Ola Kolehmainen | Ville Lenkkeri | Anni Leppala | Niko Luoma | Jorma Puranen | Jari Silomaki | Mikko Sinervo | Santeri Tuori | Pernilla Zetterman

Finnish art photography is one of the most successful items of cultural export in Europe. The Helsinki School, more than a group of artists from a specific locality, represents an approach that has grown out of a teaching process at the University of Art and Design of Helsinki, where the emphasis is centered on critique, cooperation and exchange of ideas, and where theory meets reality.

The concept of "The Helsinki School" is not defined by a specific discipline, nationality or geographic region. It represents an approach, a way of thinking that has evolved out of a process of teaching at the University of Art and Design, where each generation is given the chance to invent themselves.

This exhibition is a dialogue between recent work of artists selected over four generations - students, postgraduates, old students and teachers - from the university. Thanks to the Helsinki School, photography in Finland evolved during the last 30 years from a documentary photo-journalism to a conceptual art photography with the highest technical and visual quality, resulting into a vibrant art scene and a cutting-edge cultural export.

Curator: Timothy Persons (Taik)
http://www.thehelsinkischool.com

Image: Pertti Kekarainen, Density, 2001 C-Print, Diasec 190 x 120 cm edition 3

Langhans Gallery Prague

The Langhans Gallery Prague is located in 37 Vodickova Street, where the Atelie'r Langhans was once based. From its founding in 1880 to its nationalization in 1948 Jan Langhans' studio was one of the most prestigious photographic studios in Bohemia. After the Communist government nationalized the studio in 1948 the authorities ordered the archive to be removed to a dump and destroyed. During the renovation and re-modeling of the Langhans building in 1998 the most valuable part of the archive, the "Galerie osobnosti'" (The Gallery of Celebrities), comprising about 9,000 glass negatives - with portraits of many actors, politicians, clergymen, writers, painters, sculptors, and musicians - was discovered.

The Langhans Gallery Prague is a private, non-profit institution arising from the Langhans-Meisner estate (Langhans Foundation, founded 2003). Apart from managing the archive of negatives and presenting it to the public, the Langhans Gallery Prague exhibits works by important photographers, including young international contemporary photographers. It collaborates both with free-lance curators, major international galleries, museums, as well as other cultural institutions.

During the 3 years of its existence the Langhans Gallery Prague has organized nearly 20 exhibitions - among them the works of Nobuyoshi Araki, Swedish photographer Anders Petersen, a selection from the F. C. Gundlach Collection, the Fotostiftung Schweiz, and Paris Gallery VU´. The gallery cooperates with the photo festival Noorderlicht and it arranges intersectional meetings. The gallery's independent program oscillates between finding new views on traditional photography and discovering of new talents.

Director: Zuzana Meisnerova'-Wismer.

Next exhibitions
Anna Fa'rova' - 50 years of work for photography
8.11. 2006 - 1.1. 2007

Hans-Peter Feldmann: Photography Works
10.1. - 25.2. 2007

Langhans Galerie Praha
Vodickova 37 . Prague 1
Czech Republic
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 12-6pm

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