calendario eventi  :: 

X

5/9/2002

Fotodocs

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

photography between commission and autonomy

'When does photography become art?' That is the question raised by the exhibition 'Fotodocs' in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum. Six separate presentations focus on the relationship between photography and art. The point of departure is the growing interest in photography as an (important) art-form over the past thirty years. Not only because artists have been resorting to photography more and more since the 1960s, but also due to the growing acknowledgement of 'pure' photographers' work as art (often retrospectively). 'Fotodocs' addresses both aspects: the status of photography between documentary and an autonomous art-form.

The presentation is framed by a survey of the heyday of books of Dutch industrial photography from 1945 to 1965 - work with a purely documentary character - and by highlights from the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum's collection of photography, a selection of photographs conveying an impression of how artists use the medium in an autonomous fashion. 'Fotodocs' consists furthermore of solo presentations of work by three generations of Rotterdam photographer/artists (Ine Lamers, Edgar Cleijne and the Wally Elenbaas/Esther Hartog team), and also of the project 'Solutions for Today' by the British designer/photographer Jeremy Edwards.

The heyday of Dutch industrial photography books, 1945 - 1965
Photographer Paul Huf once commented succinctly on his work as follows: 'They get what they ask for, but I deliver damn good work' - the very thing that makes an exhibition of industrial photography books so attractive. The books show work from a period during which photographers could not make a living as artists/photographers and depended on such prestigious commissions. With this highly professional approach, photographers like Violette Cornelius, Cas Oorthuys, Ed van der Elsken, Ad Windig and Paul Huf established their reputations and influenced our present-day impression of workers and entrepreneurs in the postwar Netherlands. Experimental poets and well-known writers also contributed to these books, fifty of which are on show. 'Het bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965. Professionalisering van fotografen in het moderne Nederland' appears concurrently with the exhibition.

Wally Elenbaas and Esther Hartog
The very versatile Rotterdam artist Wally Elenbaas (1912) is first and foremost a graphic artist, or as he himself puts it: 'A really good printer!' Photography has played an important part in his work too; in the 1930s he joined the workers/writers collective 'Links Richten' ['eyes left'] as a photographer. He and his late partner Esther Hartog (1905-1998) photographed themes reflecting their personal lives: each other, friends, journeys, still lifes and the nearby surroundings of Katendrecht. Published by Duo Duo Foundation/Publishers, the book 'De honderd gezichten van Esther Hartog' [the 100 faces of Esther Hartog], compiled by Wally Elenbaas himself, accompanies the exhibition.

Edgar Cleijne
After graduating from the Rotterdam Conservatory, Edgar Cleijne (Eindhoven, 1963) embarked on his African travels, living in Cairo, Kinshasa and Lagos. His photography brought him into contact with architect Rem Koolhaas in 1997, with whom he collaborated on the Harvard Project 'the city', set up by Koolhaas at Harvard University and pinpointing Lagos. In 2002, together with Bregtje van der Haak (VPRO TV), Cleijne made the film 'Lagos Live'. The photographs he took in Lagos over the past two years prompt reflections on human intervention. Aerial photos show the effect of such intervention on a macro-level as well as in people's everyday living and working environments, such as an office interior.

Ine Lamers
Ine Lamers (Wychen, 1954) integrates photography and film in a highly individual manner. The pictures she takes with photo and film cameras are ostensibly high-resolution snapshots of the world around us, but they are never unambiguous. The exhibition features a number of photographs from earlier series (1994 - 2002) and a new video and slide projection ' One or two things I know about Chisinau' (work in progress). It is a 'novel in pictures' about the desolate Moldavian capital, and an ode to a disillusioned generation of aimless nocturnal drifters. A book (NAi Publishers) about Ine Lamers' work accompanies the exhibition.

Solutions for Today by Jeremy Edwards
With his Solutions for Today in 'Fotodocs' Jeremy Edwards (Liverpool, 1960) adopts a totally individual stance as a documentary photographer, designer and artist in his search for material. For years he has been taking pictures in big cities of simple, makeshift solutions for practical problems encountered in everyday situations, such as an upturned oil-barrel as a barbecue, a milk carton as a penholder, or an old door as a tabletop. The pictures Edwards took in Rotterdam for this exhibition are an excellent demonstration of Rotterdam ingenuity!

Highlights from the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum's photography collection
For a long time photography was generally regarded as a documentary medium, not as an autonomous one. It was not until the late 1960s (Christo and Pistoletto) and early 1970s (Dennis Oppenheim, Ger Dekkers, Jan van Munster, Man Ray, David Hockney) that the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum embarked on its collection of photographs - chiefly of Land Art projects and performances at first. Subsequently, photography as an autonomous art form (by artists such as Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets, Gilbert & George, Bas Jan Ader) came to occupy a distinctive position in museums; indeed, it is hard to imagine a museum collection without photography today. The selection includes early examples from the 1970s and traces the development to recent acquisitions which include work by Allan Sekula, Gabriel Orozco and Rineke Dijkstra.

_________

During the autumn half-term holiday (October 15 - 23) there will be workshops for children from 5 to 12 years old.

Autumn half-term holiday activities for children during the Fotodocs exhibition

Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum
October 15 - 27 2002

Today's solutions
Before starting on this activity we are going to look at photos taken by the artist Jeremy Edwards, who photographed situations he came across during a stroll through Rotterdam. Maybe he took a picture of your front door, or perhaps you will recognize something else in the photos. What strikes Jeremy Edwards and what he photographs are the things people do with their cast-off belongings. What do we do with things that don't work any more? Your bike, for instance: when it's broken, when it's been stripped of its tyres, when the handlebars are gone and the frame is the only thing left, you can use the frame as, say, a gate. Or you can cut the top off an empty milk carton and use it as a penholder. Or you can transform car tyres into stools, a shopping trolley into a stretcher, bedsprings into a fence. You can turn just about everything into something else. Our activity involves turning junk into something useful. So if you've got any junk lying around at home, bring it along and we'll make something new of it.

Participation in this activity is possible on the following dates: 15 - 20 October and 22 - 27 October 2002.
Two workshops will be held daily from 10 to 11.30 a.m. and from 1 to 2.30 p.m.
Cost: 4 per child.
Age: 5 - 12 years old.
Enrol beforehand at the museum's information desk.
Phone number: 010-441 94 75
There is room for 15 children per workshop. If you'd like to hear more about this activity you can phone the museum's educational department at 010-441 94 77 / 473

_________

Fotodocs Factsheet
Fotodocs is a part of "Another look at the city", the second week-end of September in Rotterdam (five weekends of art and culture.) Who wishes to discover Rotterdam through a new eye, also follows the expressive art-road of fifteen young artists from Rotterdam KunstXpress.

The following publications appear concurrently with Fotodocs:
* Parallel to the exhibition The Heyday of Dutch Industrial Photography 1945 - 1965, 010 Publishers (Rotterdam) issue 'Het bedrijfsfotoboek 1945 - 1965. Professionalisering in het moderne Nederland'. This is the first of a new series of Beeldcultuur in Nederland [Visual Culture in the Netherlands], edited by Professor Dr. Bram Kempers. The publication is an initiative of the Prince Bernard Cultural Fund. Illustrated. Dutch text, English summary. 39.50.

* Duo Duo Foundation/Publishers issue the first publication on the photographic work of Wally Elenbaas: De honderd gezichten van Esther Hartog [The hundred faces of Esther Hartog], containing a number of remarkably serene nudes. Illustrated. Dutch text. Hard-bound edition 32.50. Stitched edition 24.50.

* To mark the presentation of Ine Lamers' work, NAi Publishers issue 'Motives'. Ine Lamers' selection for this publication contains photo-works dating from 1994 to 2001 and a few examples of her new film installations. Authors: Chris Dercon (foreword), Frits Gierstberg, Maaijke Bleeker, Frank Vande Veire. Illustrated (in colour). Dutch and English text. 27 Euro.

Note to the arts desk:
for more information please contact Angela Riddering at the Publicity and Marketing department of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, phone 010-419543 or e-mail.

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark 18-20 3015 CX
Rotterdam

stampa

permanent link