27/6/2008
Beat Streuli
MAC's, Hornu
His work plays on a whole series of contradictions between the natural and the stylized, documentary and fiction, human dignity and mass alienation, glamorized poses and the cruelty of light. Above all, Streuli's photographs testify both to the singularity of the individual (and the uniqueness of different cities) and the endless repetition of the same in our globalized, late capitalist world.
Erna Hecey Gallery Brussels is pleased to announce
the upcoming solo exhibition by Beat Streuli at
MAC's, Musée des Arts Contemporains, Grand-Hornu,
Belgium, opening on Saturday 28th of June 2008.
Swiss-born photographer Beat Streuli trains his
camera on the modern city dweller: chance passersby, faces in the
crowd, details of hairstyle and clothing, a fragile or stern or
gregarious look. His photographic and video works examine the denizens
of various urban centers, from New York and Krakow to Tokyo and Tel
Aviv, focussing on visages and gestures out of the flow of street
life.
His work plays on a whole series of contradictions between the
natural and the stylized, documentary and fiction, human dignity and
mass alienation, glamorized poses and the cruelty of light. Above all,
Streuli's photographs testify both to the singularity of the
individual (and the uniqueness of different cities) and the endless
repetition of the same in our globalized, late capitalist world. Their
flatness and seriality recall the aesthetics of fashion photography,
while at the same time evoking the specter of anonymous surveillance
that increasingly pervades urban space. The remarkable regularity of
Streuli’s artistic practice might remind us of the famous
architectural studies of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
Streuli has conceived his extensive show at MAC's, Grand-Hornu (the
national Belgian museum for contemporary art of Belgium’s
francophone part) according to the specificities of the architecture,
in order to create large-scale environments of different types of
space, media and atmosphere. The artworks include wall-high digital
projections, wallpapers composed of patchworks of photographs, large
format photography, and video. The exhibition features his work of
recent years, focusing on Brussels, where the artist currently lives,
and to whose very mixed population he dedicates large parts of the
exhibition, as well as to the various locales of his recent travels:
Cairo, Sao Paulo and Guangzhou.
An artist's book, 'BXL', 26.5 x 27.5 cm, 168 pages,
with texts by Laurent Busine and Katerina Gregos in english, french
and german, will be published on occasion of the exhibition by jrp
ringier, Zurich. ISBN 978-3-905829-79-2
Opening Saturday 28 June 2008 4 - 8 pm
MAC's. Musee des Arts Contemporains,
Rue Ste Louise, Grand-Hornu, Belgium