Office 2000 , C-prints, 2003-08
Office 2000 provides the stuff of an archeological dig: remnants of the inhabitants are evident through personal effects, humanizing the otherwise generic and mundane office environment. (Larry Glawson)
More interesting works at Thomas Kneubuhler.
A peek at the upcoming design documentary “Objectified”, by Gary Hustwit, the director of “Helvetica”. The trailer features the voices of Jonathan Ive, Andrew Blauvelt, Marc Newson, and Karim Rashid. The song is “I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool” by El Ten Eleven.
Objectified premieres at film festivals and events worldwide starting this March, more info here:http://www.objectifiedfilm.com
Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.
Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?
Read director Gary Hustwit’s post about the film.
Eichwald, Robert Zünd, 1859. Kunsthause Zürich
On your screen, this image may look like just a photo of a forest, and depending on your interest in ‘Nature’, trekking, or even photography, you may or may not spend more than a few seconds gazing at the image. But the original is a 77.7 x 104.2 cm painting – yes, a painting – quite impressive, so delicately painted, and demonstrating such a great study of light that I kept saying to myself ‘no way, impossible!’. Well, there it was, hanging in the Kunsthause Zürich, part of the Swiss Realism collection. While it is just a painting of a forest, a traditional realist landscape motive, there is something about this painting, when you are there in front of it, in a museum, suddenly observing no more than a few trees, ferns… and the light. And you start to wonder why that composition and not other, why didn’t he turn around and looked for some open in the forest to show distant lands, or why choosing those trees and no others. All this, supposing he didn’t painted the subject by memory at his studio. By now I don’t know much about this painting, although I can be sure that it must have been an exercise in light.
It reminded me of a photograph by Maria de la Iglesia, of a similar composition, taken in the Ireland’s Wicklow mountains, somewhere deep in the Devil’s Glen. I am attracted to the colours, the light, the textures, and I cant help to look for symmetry and parallelisms in the trees, as if I needed to justify the image itself in order to accept that it has been presented to me. As in the case of Zünd’s Eichwald, the ultimate reason to present such image has to be something like: “Look; stop for a while if you care, and look carefully, as I did. What do you see?”. The answer is Light. And then it becomes Realism.
Forest, Maria de la Iglesia, 2006.
Looking across the hall from Zünd’s painting, there is another very impressive painting, this time by Rudolf Koller, Die Schwester des Künstlers. Koller also belongs to the Swiss Realism. What really fascinates me about the painting is the light, again. The image here is not of great quality, hard to find a good one, but you can see how he chose to hide her face by placing her a step forward from, most likely, the studio’s skylight, and leaning her head forward. There is a warn light coming from the right, from outside the image, perhaps a brass or copper plate? And then there is the encoded body language, one hand pointing down, the other one holding the handkerchief, …and the unfinished background. All in a golden frame with rounded inner corners (one of the best frames I’ve ever seen). This is a beautiful photo-carte de visite!
Die Schwester des Künstlers, Rudolf Koller, late 1800s.
The ‘Sister of the Artists’ is hung in my favorite room in the whole Kunsthause building, and hexagonal room, covered in dark oak wooden panels, with a circular skylight keeping it bright, and a beautiful and simple patterned carpet. Perhaps, soon, I can post an image of this room here.
From October 17th to October 26th ILLUSTRATIVE´s 4th forum of illustrative an graphic arts will take place in the Zurich Messehallen. Conceived in 2006 by Pascal Johanssen and Katja Kleiss in Berlin, ILLUSTRATIVE is an annual forum, and the only one of it´s kind worldwide that presents the latest inclinations which run the gamut of illustrative and graphic art in one exhibition.
Illustrative art is fresh, humorous, and easily accessible: the scope of work displayed in ILLUSTRATIVE ranges from psychedelic wall paintings, to erotic neon pop art, while presenting monumental town views, as well as quasi photo-realistic drawings. The special sensitivity to artistic quality and a mix of analogue and digital techniques give a special progressiveness to the illustrative arts. This has decisively influenced the development of contemporary art for some time now.
The latest ILLUSTRATIVE has expanded in comparison to previous years. It now includes a central exhibition, section exhibitions, temporary workshops, and a forum for presentations and conferences.
A list of the artists exhibiting.
Here’s your ticket, and please, follow the line.
Martin Parr’s Lecture at the Ranelagh Multidenominational School, Sunday the 28th of September 2008, as part of the Ranelagh Arts Festival.
Duration: 52mins.
Thanks goes to Ramona Farrelly at Brightlife, for her technical support, and Maryrose Lyons for her help with the recording.
If you would like to get a copy of this video for educational purposes, just contact me.
Here’s award-winning photographer Chase Jarvis, a Hasselblad Master, litteraly running throw the steps of a commercial photo shoot, right from contract to delivery.
Another reason to keep subscribed to his podcasts.
Henri Cartier-Bresson | Marc Riboud | Jean Marquis | Werner Bischof |
Robert Capa | Inge Morath |
Ernst Haas | Erich Lessing
September 3rd – October 24th, 2008
The Flo Peters Gallery
Chilehaus C . Pumpen 8
20095 Hamburg, Germany
www.flopetersgallery.com
Monday to Friday 12pm-6pm
Saturday 11am-3pm
Magnum Photos and the Flo Peters Gallery present the sensational rediscovery of the first Magnum Group exhibition of 1955.
Research shows that the exhibition “Face of Time” was first shown in June/July 1955 in the French Cultural Institute in Innsbruck. Their existence forgotten, the 83 Magnum Vintage Prints lay hidden in two wooden boxes in the basement of the French Cultural Institute for more than 50 years. Only in 2006 was this treasure rediscovered and returned to Magnum Photos. This unique historical discovery revises the belief that the Magnum exhibition curated by Fritz Gruber for the Colonial photokina in the autumn of 1956 was the first.
This rediscovered original exhibition of 83 images from 8 photographers of the first Magnum-generation is now presented exclusively at the Flo Peters Gallery. Included are Henri Cartier-Bresson’s reportage on his encounter with Mahatma Gandhi shortly before his death, Marc Riboud’s picture series from the Balkans and Jean Marquis’ images from Hungary. Works by Werner Bischof and Robert Capa are also shown. Ernst Haas is presented with a series that emerged during the shooting of the Hollywood film “Country of the Pharaoes” under the direction of Howard Hawks while the London district of Mayfair is the subject of the works of Inge Morath. Erich Lessing’s pictures show the children of Vienna.
The catalogue “MAGNUM’S first” by Hantje Cantz, edited by Peter Coeln, Prof. Achim Heine and Andréa Holzherr with an introduction by Dr. Christoph Schaden, art historian, publisher and member of the executive committee of the German Society for Photography, shows a complete documentation of this historical exhibition.
As they put it in Screenfluent “the featured sites are handpicked and proposals are not accepted. as legend has it, remarkable designs will find their way to Screenfluent“. Therefore, one has to blow his own trumpet a bit when something like this happens.
Martin Parr discusses his long career as one of the most original and innovative photographers of our time. From the early days of taking black and white photographs of Ireland, notably A Fair Day (1984), Bad Weather (1982), the groundbreaking The Last Resort (1986) and up to his most recent work exploring globalisation and tourism. Martin’s unique perspective on the follies and vanities of our time has consistently enlighted, amused and even alarmed. A photograph by Martin Parr is instantly recognisable as his: in a world in which we are bombarded by the visual media, his image always engage and can never be ignored.
Entries are still being accepted for the Ranelagh Outdoors exhibition of street photography to be judged by Martin Parr. Further details at the bottom of this page.
Date –Sunday 28th September at 2.00pm
Venue: Ranelagh Multidenominational School
Tickets: €10
Tickets must be booked in advance at The Ranelagh Arts Festival web site.
Ranelagh Outdoors – Photo Exhibition
Date – Friday, 26th September – Sunday, 28th September
Venue: Ranelagh Multidenominational School
Time: On view from 11am – 6.00pm, entry is free.
This exhibition is of original photographs taken outdoors in Ranelagh. Street photography has inspired and been the subject matter of many of the great photographers including Martin Parr who will be judging the exhibition and awarding a prize. We hope to have a large contribution from local amateur photographers.
