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Michael Schmidt, w.t., aus der Serie >FRAUEN< | | |
"It´s transcendent, you feel it. It´s there, the vanished transcendent; and instance of chance, action and fortuity. It´s there and you can´t unfeel it." * (Walker Evans, 1971)
The great American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975) clearly stated what distinct possibilities are inherent in his medium: the ability to reproduce the visible phenomena in the world and yet simultaneously offer the chance to select and compose an image which is accomplished by aesthetic means. Photography is unique in the way that it has quickly become a popular and accepted artistic medium. Its discovery has made the art of the 20th century distinct from previous periods.
The Sprengel Museum Hannover has always devoted part of its collection to photographic art. With the millennium this year, it has chosen the occasion to assemble an exhibition devoted to highlights of 20th century photographic art and to combine this with work by young photographers to allow viewers a glimpse of the possible development of the medium in the future. The presentation will concentrate on artworks which visually reflect the world around us in a recognisable manner. The focus will not be on individual photographs; on the contrary, each artist has conceived series of photographs to allow the relationship of each image to the others to function dramaturgically, and provide layers of meaning therein.
Common themes in these photographs are politics, economics, the landscape, urban reality and, the ever-present human being. This allows the exhibition to function on another level by relating to the theme of the Expo 2000, ´Humankind, Nature, and Technology´ and providing a cultural and historical dimension to the World Exhibition through the perspective of these artists´ lenses. The result will be a panorama of the central issues and perspectives for the end of the century as portrayed by some of the most talented artists working in this medium.
A common feature of the artwork is that, because all use clearly recognisable images, this is a show which will appeal to a wide audience.
Another feature of this show will be the placement of paintings and sculptures in proximity to photographs to highlight similarities in artworks from the same period. This will serve the purpose of underlining historical and aesthetic common qualities of contemporaries as opposed to exposing cross- media influences. It is only by placing photographic art in the context of other media that one can trace its development. The extended period in which museums, especially here in Europe, tended to exclude photography from the category of art can definitely be declared obsolete. This will be on view to museum guests in the form of works by, to name just a few, Edgar Degas, Edward Hopper, Barnett Newman, Andy Warhol, David Reed and Gary Hill. The viewer will have ample opportunity to draw parallels between artwork in various media from this century.
The exhibition "How you look at it - 20th Century Photography" is presented in cooperation with Expo 2000 Hannover GmbH and the Niedersächischen Sparkassenstiftung. Curators: Thomas Weski, Sprengel Museum Hannover (head of photographic and media art) and Heinz Liesbrock, director of the Westfälischen Kunstverein, Münster. The exhibition will be accompanied by a multi-lingual catalogue. |
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