Joachim Brohm, Gelsenkirchen, aus: Ruhrlandschaften, detail, 1983, C-Print, 50 x 60 cm, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2007. |
Andreas Gursky, Paris-Montparnasse, 1993, C-Print/Mischtechnik, 180 x 350 cm, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2007. |
Photography and the Difference between the Jellyfish and Photography |
Stephen Wilks, Ohne Titel, 2002-2004, C-Print, 50 x 60, ML/F 2006/0016, Fotografische Sammlung Museum Ludwig, © Stephen Wilks.
Lee Friedlander. New York City, 1966, Silbergelatineabzug, 28 x 35 cm, ML/F 2001/0048, Fotografische Sammlung Museum Ludwig / Schenkung Locher, © Lee Friedlander.
James Coleman, Photograph, detail, 1998/99, Diaprojektion mit synchron, gesprochenem Text, 3 Diakarussells, 4 Lautsprecher, Verstärker, Synchronisierer, 44 x 134 x 85 cm, © James Coleman.
Alexander Rodtschenko, Treppe, 1930, Gelatinesilber, 27 x 40 cm, © Nachlass Alexander Rotschenko, Moskau 2007. |
Museum Ludwig What does the jellyfish want? Artist Christopher Williams raised this question during an interview in which he explained why he finds this aquatic creature so fascinating: with no shape, no skeleton, and no sex, the jellyfish is a creature without properties. As such this denizen of the seas is a metaphor for photography in contemporary art and acts as motto for the exhibition: What is Photography? Is it a copy of reality or data source to be altered as desired? Is it documentation or staged image? Found footage or elaborately made exposure? With its three historical references back to the avant-garde at the dawn of the 20th century, the exhibition shows the current developments in photography and their traditions. The exhibition has been divided, including historical review, presenting Surrealist photography around Man Ray, the photographs, photogrammes, and collages of Constructivists such as László Moholy-Nagy and A.M. Rodchenko, as well as August Sander’s Man of the Twentieth Century. These early approaches are juxtaposed with current works, grouped chronologically to underline major steps forward in contemporary art photography. These include rediscovery of photography in the context of actionism and concept art during the 1970s. Photography was not simply used to document an action, but integrated into the work as an element in its own right, with actions performed solely before the lens. In the context of Conceptual art, photography was used simply to record what was formulated by the concept. The result was chance exposures that led to small, simply made books that were perceived at that time as deliberately amateurish. By the late 1970s a new development is discerned — away from photo portrayals of reality to reflection on and reinvention of existing photographic images. Cindy Sherman for instance staged film stills from non-existent films, making her photographs seem like copies without an original. In the last ten years documentarism has been rediscovered as a specifically artistic avenue. The fundamental claim of visualizing reality visible through photographs, and of thus exploring and analyzing it is now also asserted by artists who, like Andreas Gursky, process the photographic material on the computer. Already by the mid-1970s, Museum Ludwig was pointing the way when it acquired the Gruber Collection and pivotal works of contemporary photography by Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, Douglas Huebler, Bernd and Hilla Becher — to name a few. Since then, the collection has undergone continual expansion in order to chart the overall development of art photography and to bring it right up to the moment. The collection’s historical treasures will be presented together with its latest acquisitions. Artists |
Louise Lawler, Two Pictures, 1992, Silber-gelatineabzug, 2 Fotografien mit Text, 71 x 81 cm, Fotografische Sammlung Museum Ludwig, © Louise Lawler. |
