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28/2/2003

Jacqueline Hassink

Huis Marseille, Amsterdam

Mindscapes

This spring Huis Marseille is presenting for the first time in the Netherlands a broad selection from Dutch photographer Jacqueline Hassink's most recent project, Mindscapes (1998-2002). In it she makes a systematic photographic investigation of the boundaries between the private and public domains in American and Japanese multinationals. Mindscapes raises such questions as: How accessible are these corporations? Which spaces can be photographed, which cannot, and why or why not? How do employees differentiate themselves in companies where 'flexible workplaces' are the order of the day? According to Jacqueline Hassink (1966), who lives and works in New York, the desire for economic power is the central motivating force of our society. As an artist she is fascinated by the forms in which this economic desire reveals itself, and accordingly she investigates the closed world of the economic elite.

Mindscapes arises directly from two of Hassink's earlier projects: The Table of Power (1996) and Female Power Stations: Queen Bees (1999). For these, she photographed the conference tables of Europe's forty largest multinationals and made portrayals of twelve female top managers on the basis of their conference tables at work and dining tables at home. With both projects her starting point was that the conference or dining table and the interior surrounding it reveals the identity of the company - or in other words, that of its top manager. A characteristic feature of Hassink's methodology is the painstaking system with which she displays and describes her photos in order to compare these companies in the best possible way. The fact that she also indicates the instances when she was not allowed to photograph a selected space, and why not, is illustrative for this scientific method of working. In this sense she works in the tradition of inventorying photography as successively mapped out by August Sander, Karl Blossfeldt and Bernd and Hilla Becher. The composition of her photographs is functional: the space must be as visible and as readily experienced as possible. With a wide angle lens, a well thought-out use of colour and a great feeling for atmosphere she optimally achieves that effect. Namely, the viewer must be capable of imagining how power is staged in an environment that expresses this, an environment that confirms and makes the wielding of power possible.

Mindscapes consists of different series: 100 CEOs - 10 Rooms, USA & Japan (1998-2001), Training Center for Salarymen, Japan (2000), VIP Fitting Rooms, USA & Japan (2000-2002), The Shoe Project, USA (1999-2001), Personal Coffee Cups, USA (2000-2001) and Cubicles, USA (2001). For the first and most complex series, 100 CEOs - 10 Rooms, USA & Japan, Hassink approached one hundred chief executive officers from the most powerful multinationals in America and Japan and requested permission to photograph certain spaces in their corporations. She makes a distinction between a firm's more private spaces (offices in the company and at home, company limo, library/archive, living room) and its public spaces (business jet, lobby, garden, corporate dining room and the boardroom). In photographing each of these multinationals she indicates very precisely what she was, and was not, allowed to photograph. Training Center for Salarymen, Japan demonstrates a typical Japanese phenomenon: training centers in which Japanese employees are initiated into the 'company mores' of their prospective employers. In these centers they undergo a transformation from individual to constituent of the company. For VIP Fitting Rooms, USA & Japan Hassink photographed various fitting rooms in luxury department stores and exclusive clothing shops such as Chanel and Fendi in America and Japan, where the wealthy try on clothing. In contrast to normal fitting rooms, which in general are nondescript and at best functional, these VIP fitting rooms give visitors the feeling of having landed in a private space created exclusively for them, albeit in a public surrounding. The Shoe Project depicts the shoe collections of several American ladies who own over 100 pairs of shoes. Although shoes are generally bought for personal use and reflect personal taste, they are also used and worn in public. Finally, the series Personal Coffee Cups, USA (not exhibited at Huis Marseille)and Cubicles, USA show how employees of the multinationals Netscape and Cigna differentiate themselves and demonstrate their individuality through a personal coffee mug or screen saver in the cubicles they currently occupy.

In the
Image: Fendi, Shibuya, Tokio, 2001.

Publication
In connection with the exhibition, Birkhäuser - Publishers for Architecture in Basel is bringing out a richly illustrated book, Jacqueline Hassink, Mindscapes, with contributions by Els Barents and Sarah Anne McNear, and designed by Irma Boom, 196 p., 38,50 eurox{2019}s.

Opening
The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 1 March 2003, 17:00 - 19:00, by Paul A. Nouwen, former General Manager of the ANWB, currently a management advisor in Rotterdam.

Library and Extra Exhibition Space
As of March 1st, Huis Marseille opens to the public its photography library in the Back House and an additional exhibition space in the Front House. The foundation thus now has five exhibition rooms, a library, and a room for magazines and videos in the basement (the Media Kitchen).

Educational Program
This spring children in classes 3-8 can again take part in workshops in Huis Marseille, which introduce them to photography in a creative and playful fashion and make a connection with the theme of the exhibition. More information can be obtained by calling 020-5318980.

Guided Tours
Huis Marseille organizes guided tours for groups (maximum 25 people) upon request. The charge is euro35 for the tour and a reduced admission fee of euro1.40 per person. Further information: 020-5318980.
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Summer 2003
From 7 June through 24 August, Huis Marseille will exhibit the work of three young Dutch photographers, Charlotte Dumas, Marco van Duyvendijk and Gertjan Kocken, as well as selected works from its own collection.

Information
For further information, please contact Saskia Asser (020 53 18980). You are also cordially invited to preview Mindscapes by appointment on Thursday the 27th or Friday the 28th of February. Jacqueline Hassink will be present during the week of 24 February through 1 March.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11:00 - 17:00
Entrance: euro 2.80 / euro 1.40 (reduced rate)
Free: children up to 12, MJK, ICOM pass

Huis Marseille
Foundation for Photography
Keizersgracht 401
1016 EK Amsterdam
Netherlands
Telephone +31 (0) 20 5318989
Fax +31 (0) 20 5318988

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