Thomas Struth
dal 19/7/2013 al 23/8/2013
Segnalato da
19/7/2013
Thomas Struth
Foundation for the Promotion of Contemporary Art in Weidingen, Weidingen
In the past fifteen years Struth has expanded his photographic repertoire continously to include landscapes such as jungles, deserts and forests, ultimately themes like industry, science, energy and globalization have been added. The artist's ongoing photographic series are characterized by a careful observation and a relation between viewer and the viewed, reconciling forms of documentation and contemplation.
We are happy to announce the first summer exhibition of Stiftung zur Förderung zeitgenössischer Kunst in
Weidingen (Foundation for the Promotion of Contemporary Art in Weidingen), featuring new photographs by
Thomas Struth.
The artist’s ongoing series are characterized by a careful observation and a relation between viewer and the
viewed, reconciling forms of documentation and contemplation: In his initially black-and-white, later coloured
cityscapes he accurately observes the unique character of streets in Japan, Europe and America; his portrait
series of individuals and families exemplify his belief in photography as a tool of scientific origin for psychological
exploration; the well-known Museum Photographs (1989–2005) emphasize the museum visit as a complex social
ritual of seeing and being seen and examine the survival of works in public collections.
In the past fifteen years Struth has expanded his photographic repertoire continously to include landscapes such
as jungles, deserts and forests, ultimately themes like industry, science, energy and globalization have been
added. These latter aspects are subject of a series, developed from 2007, from which recent works will be pre-
sented in this exhibition. The large-scale photographs give insight to ‘hidden’, publicly inaccessible places of tech-
nology, industry and science. Although these locations are recognizable as places of industrial and technological
progress, their concrete function remains mostly unknown and a clear identification seems to be impossible.
Thus, in Blowout Preventer, Mountrail County, North Dakota 2010, it is not directly evident that the depicted
machinery is a plant to prevent gas eruptions which is employed with the recently discussed fracking method. Also,
the measuring device for electronic structures of typological insulators, correlated materials and superconductors
which achieves results of particularly high resolution, shown in the photographic work Cluster Trap, Helmholtz-
Zentrum, Berlin 2012 may not be part of the general knowledge of an uninitiated viewer.
The documentary aspect thereby fades into the background. The viewer’s eye rather orients itself on the form and
colour structures of the photographs. Especially in the context of the gallery space, they become abstract, nearly
painterly compositions or images of anonymous sculptures. At the same time they remain impressive manifests of
the present, which document human ambition and the progress of today’s industries.
Thomas Struth (* 1954, Geldern) lives and works in Berlin. Comprehensive solo exhibitions have included Kunsthalle Bern
(1987), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1994), Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art contemporain de Nîmes (1998), National
Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto (2000), Dallas Museum of Art (2002), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2003)
as well as Museo del Prado, Madrid (2007). A recent retrospective ultimately toured Kunsthaus Zurich (2010), Kunstsammlung
Nordrhein-Westfalen K20, Dusseldorf (2011), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2011) and Museu Serralves, Porto (2011/12).
More information at: www.thomasstruth32.com or www.thomasstruth25.com
Image: Cluster Trap, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Berlin 2012 Pigment print, 138.2 x 93.6 cm
Press contact: Daniela Esposito, mail@kunst-in-weidingen.de
Preview: Saturday, July 20, 2013, from 4 pm
The Stiftung zur Förderung zeitgenössischer Kunst in Weidingen
Gartenstraße 12, D-54636 Weidingen/Eifel
daily 2–7 pm