COVER:
Tomohide Ikeya www.tomohide-ikeya.com (see interview page 16)
www.imageinprogress.com www.imageinprogress.blog.com info@edifore.com SEMESTRALE - ANNO IV - N.I/2014 - N.5 BIANNUAL - N. 5 - 2014 DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emanuele Cucuzza Emanuele Cucuzza - ema@edifore.com RESPONSABILE DEL TRATTAMENTO DEI MEDIAPARTNERSHIPS, ADVERTISING AND PRESS DATI PERSONALI (D.LGS. 196/2003) INQUIRIES, SUBMISSIONS AND EVENTS, Emanuele Cucuzza SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE TELEMATICA) www.imageinprogress.com Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma info@edifore.com n. 260 dell’8 giugno 2010 TRANSLATIONS ISSN: 2038-6214 Silvestro De Falco IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE STAMPATA) PUBLISHER / EDITORE Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 261 dell’8 giugno 2010 ISSN: 2038-6206 PRINTER/ STAMPA informazione disponibile solo nell’edizione cartacea EdiFore s. r. l. INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Via degli Orti di Trastevere, 55 - 00153 Pineapple Media Limited Rome - Italy www.pineapple-media.com T: +39 06 58 30 19 18 - +39 02 30 31 43 34 enquiries@pineapple-media.com www.edifore.com - info@edifore.com DISCLAIMER All text and layout is the copyright of EdiFore srl. No part of Image in Progress may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the publisher. All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. We reserved the right to edit letters, copy or images submitted to the magazine without further consent. The submission of material to EdiFore srl, whether unsolicited or requested, is taken as permission to publish in Image in Progress and/ or on line on its official website(s), social media, social networks and other digital and/or tablet editions. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited manuscripts, images or material lost or damaged in the post. While every reasonable care is taken to ensure accuracy, the publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions nor will accept any liability for any loss or damage, howsoever caused, resulting from the use of Image in Progress, its website(s), social media, social networks and other digital and/or tablet editions. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. Views and comments expressed by individuals in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher and no legal responsibility can be accepted for the results of the use by readers of information or advice of whatever kind given in this publication, either in editorial or in advertisements. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.
Photography awards
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Photography, Always in the Spotlight
ph.: Lauren Mok
We interview Cat Jimenez, the Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation, which promotes photography, the best photographers and emerging talents with various prestigious initiatives, such as The Lucie Award and The International Photography Awards. A look at an organization that has the spotlight constantly on photography.
Cat Jimenez is the Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation, Executive Producer of the Lucie Awards and Co-Founder of the Month of Photography Los Angeles. She studied photography at the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California and was featured in the Smithsonian Institute and The Los Angeles Filipino American Centennial Commemoration Committee Project entitled “I am Today’s Filipino”, recognizing and preserving the stories of individuals making a contribution to American life. 2 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Sooner or later, people who consider photography as both a profession and an art want to compare notes, see how they are doing and check whether their work gets any recognition. Not only that, often there is also the need to tear down barriers that make it hard to work in more rarefied atmospheres. Frequently, even the greatest of photographers are introverts and otherwise are not inclined to promote directly and effectively their work; after all, photography is a visual art… But, in addition to Image in Progress, which tells the stories behind their photos with interviews and exclusive texts, including those of emerging talents, communication help comes from contests, where authoritative judges and the presence of international competitors guarantee a definite judgment as well as an important showcase for work supported by the reputation that one has acquired in the field. It is enough to read some of the biographies of the photographers involved in the first issues of Image in Progress to have an idea of the relevance of these contests, especially those organized by the Lucie Foundation, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization whose three-tiered mission is to honor master photographers, discover and cultivate emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of photography, worldwide. What was the idea behind the creation of what is likely the most important of the foundations devoted to photography? We asked Cat Jimenez, the Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation. “A signature program of Lucie Foundation is The Lucie Awards, which is the annual event, now celebrating twelve years, honoring the greatest achievements in photography. The photo-
2013 Lucie Awards - Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York City ©Robert Leslie. Courtesy of Lucie Foundation
Photography awards
graphy community from countries around the globe pays every year tribute to the most outstanding photography achievements presented at the Gala Awards ceremony. The Lucies have been compared to the Oscars for Photography, and dozens of honorees include the greatest names in photography.” What is the meaning of one of these awards for a photographer? “Maybe there is nothing better to put a photographer’s work in a good light. Light is the starting point of the Foundation as well. In fact “Lucie” is derived from the Latin word “lux”, meaning “light”, acknowledging the role that light plays in photography and the “Lucie” statue is truly a photographic icon. Curator/photographer, Graham Howe conceived her form after works by two of the twentieth centuries most important photographers: E.O. Hoppé (18781972) whose “Margot Fonteyn, dancer, Saddlers Wells Ballet,” 1935 and František Drtikol (18831961) whose “Dark Waves,” 1925, were figuratively combined to give us “Lucie”. The design was three dimensionally modeled by Studio 1030 Architects. But the Lucie Awards is not the only event organized by the Lucie Foundation, which presents a variety of programming including the Month of Photography Los Angeles, each April.
First of all the Lucie Foundation’s sister effort, International Photography Awards or IPA, holds an annual juried photography competition, to which professional, emerging, and student photographers are invited to submit work. This year’s jury panel, with over 80 members, is the largest yet, and includes photo editors, art directors, curators, buyers, and other professionals from around the globe. The winning photographers will be recognized at the Lucie Awards, and titles include: International Photographer of the Year ($10,000 awarded to the winning professional photographer, sponsored by AtEdge), Discovery of the Year ($5,000 awarded to an emerging photographer), Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year ($5,000 awarded to the winning photographer), and the Moving Image Photographer of the Year ($2,500), introduced for IPA’s tenyear anniversary. Moreover, the IPA has a series of mini-contests throughout the year (Image in Progress took part in the jury for one of these, see article in Image in Progress No. 2), which is of great help in supporting emerging talents.” www.lucieawards.com www.luciefoundation.org www.mopla.org www.photoawards.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 3
Photography fairs t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Waiting for MIA Fair 2014
Interview with Lorenza Castelli, Exhibition Director MIA Fair (May 23-25, Milan - October 24-26, Singapore) MIA Fair, the photography and video art fair, conceived in Milan in 2011 by Fabio Castelli, was created with the aim of highlighting the transverse role that photography and video have come to play within the languages of expression of the contemporary art system. The fourth edition of MIA Fair Milano will be held from 23rd to 25th May 2014, at Superstudio Più, Design District, via Tortona, 27, Milan, Italy. In 2014 Milan Image Art Fair looks at Singapore for its international expansion and it announces its first edition in the new capital of art of the South Pacific and one of the main world financial centres. The event will take place from 24th to 26th of October 2014, in concomitance with the 4th Singapore International Photography Festival. MIA Fair Singapore 2014 will be held at Marina Bay Sands, Exhibition Centre, where it will occupy a sprawling 3,500 square meters. In Singapore the fair will include the presence 50% – 50% of Asian and Western exhibitors and is expected to attract up to 25,000 visitors. For the first time MIA Fair Singapore will present a capsule of design showcasing collectible furniture and objects from several galleries, making photography and design dialogue. MIA Fair offers art collectors the possibility to enjoy a lively, innovative and interesting event, where they will find both established and emerging artists. MIA Fair strongly promotes education on photography, aiming also at creating a new and young collectors’ base, which is approaching contemporary art through the collection of photography. Seminars, topical workshops, round tables are organized, covering subjects that range from the history of photographic image to the market system, from the world of collecting to other experiences in curatorship and display. Furthermore, collateral events such as special exhibitions and portfolio reviews take place during MIA Fair opening days in Milan. MIA Fair Organisation Offices Via San Vincenzo 22 – 20123 Milan, Italy Tel. / Fax +39.0283241412 info@miafair.it 4 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Lorenza Castelli – Exhibition Director MIA Fair University degree at Bocconi University in Milan and post-graduate Master in Finance at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. She is a management consulting and corporate finance skilled manager, with more than 15 years of experience in international management consulting and investment banking firms. Since the first edition of MIA Fair in 2011, the first international art fair dedicated to photography and video co-founded with her father Fabio Castelli, she has been working in the family business as exhibition director and in the business development of the Milan event. In 2014 she has been invited, together with his father, to curate the photography sector at Arte Fiera Bologna, the most important modern and contemporary art fair in Italy. She founded the first international edition of MIA Fair in Singapore in concomitance with the 4th edition of the Singapore Photography Festival, which will be held in October at Marina Bay Sands. She is photography and art collector and design passionate.
Photography fairs One of MIA Fair’s original initiatives, among others, is to feature stands with only one artist per gallery, so that the public can have a better understanding of the artist’s work. Do you leave complete freedom of choice to the galleries or do you make also your own selection among the photographers to be exhibited? “MIA Fair concept is based on privileging quality rather than quantity. If a gallery exhibits just one artist, is like having a kind of solo show, you can breathe the meaning of his art in a better way and focus on his artistic progress. Galleries are selected by our curatorial team.” Between 2011 and today MIA Fair has been adding events, workshops, awards and cooperation projects with other international fairs. What are this year’s main novelties? “Some of the main news of the Milan edition’s consists in the project “Caffè Artistico” promoted by Lavazza. Lavazza has been the official partner of MIA Fair from the first edition, and in 2014 will have a new role as Main Sponsor, hosting in its own space a section dedicated to 6 photographers presented by 3 international curators. Lavazza will give visibility to new talents. Following one from the excellent results achieved in 2013, the show will once again feature CODICE MIA, an innovative portfolio review completely dedicated to the photographic market, conceived by Enrica Viganò, curator, photographic critic and organiser of events connected with photography. This year for the new Singapore edition in Singapore MIA Fair will work closely with the Singapore International Photography Festival that will be during the same days.” The Asian markets, and Singapore in particular, are very promising. What are the main approach differences, for example, with the Western world, in your opinion? “Historically and geographically, Singapore has been a meeting point between East and West. In a kind of way Singapore seems the right place where to initiate a new challenge. The Asian market is willing to expand its tools and its artistic approach. Compared to Western art, the Singaporeans artists have often been described as “cold”, this probably due to their regulated and conservative society. In the Asian Market and in particular in Singapore, there is an intense research in digital media and most artists work with photography and video installations. There for MIA Fair will be the right place to be for a Singaporean
artist, in order to be known internationally.” Generally, what are the geographical areas of origin of the main exhibitors and what are the main differences between the Milan and Singapore editions? “For this Milan edition we will be hosting exhibitors and artists mainly from around Europe, with also exceptions of the galleries coming from the Far East countries, USA, South America, Australia. On the other side the Singapore edition will inaugurate with a new design section. The new acronym for the fair will be MIA&D – Milan Image Art and Design Fair. Singapore is the right platform where to launch MIA&D Fair. We propose to design galleries to showcase their Art & Craft masterpieces in a new Design Section of MIA Fair making photography and design dialogue together.” Considering your experience, probably you have developed your own views of what are the most common mistakes or the most effective techniques in exhibiting works in ways that make them understood better and sell better… Do you have any advice for “younger” galleries or directly for artists? “It has happened a few times that while visiting art fairs, you step into booths that show many artists: not all the time works seems to dialogue well together. So, in my opinion it is very important for galleries to focus on few artists, allowing them to express properly their projects and their arts. All the artists have to be also strict in communicating their works, including the number of edition and dimensions in order not to create confusion on the edition in circulation on the market.” Like photography, which is getting increasingly closer to the world of video, also the way photos are exhibited and fairs are constantly evolving. What do you see as the future of this field, especially MIA Fair’s, also in light of the potential of the new technologies? “Going back to the origin of photography we reach the second part of 19th century. It’s really interesting to oversee its artistic development. At the beginning photography main purpose was to capture instants of the everyday life. Nowadays photography is one of the main engine of the new artistic research as much as videos. A wide part of videos artists and collectors are expert in cinema. Maybe for the future we could expect a new development in this sense.” www.miafair.it IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 5
Digital magazines
t: Michelle Bourcier
ArtsHebdo|Médias Contemporary Art within reach of all!
Meeting with Marie-Laure Desjardins, founder of the website ArtsHebdo|Médias. Dedicated to contemporary creation, its contents are freely accessible. ArtsHebdo|Médias is a French website committed to contemporay art news. For two years it has also been an application, for digital tablets only (iPad, Android tablets), releasing four e-magazines a year. The website provides readers with news regarding contemporay creation while each e-magazine is devoted to a precise theme related to today’s international art scene. The lastest was released in March 2014 and is about contemporary drawing. How did you come up with ArtsHebdo|Médias website and then App projects? “It started with “Cimaise”, a French well known print magazine, whose I was the Editor in chief during four years. When it closed down in 2009, the journalists involved (a dozen) decided to build up something together in order to «keep in touch» with their readers and to continue the work they had begun with a lot of artists. Needing a professional and flexible tool, we chose a digital medium as it seemed to be the best way for us to keep on providing information. The website Artsthree.com was born in 2010. It was supported by a non-profit organization and the journalists were working on a voluntary basis. We soon realized how enjoyable the freedom given by the Internet was. Nevertheless, we had to find financial ressources in order to maintain our activity. In 2011, three friends joined me bringing along complementary skills. We set up together a company. In the same time ArtsThree became Artshebdo|Médias. The editorial
board soon became larger and we launched an application for digital tablets. Four e-magazine a year can be downloaded for free from the App Store or the Google Play platform. Our goal is to develop complementary but different media. All of them are exclusively dedicated to contemporary art and living artists.” What’s your editorial line? “Witnessing, investigating, choosing, meeting, sharing, showing, reporting... all of these actions are part of our approach. ArtsHebdo|Médias is at the service of everyone interested in contemporary art and wants to highlight the diversity of artistic creation: painting, sculpture, drawing, digital art, photography, design, etc. Our attention is focused on living artists. I firmly believe that artists’ words are part of heritage. We must collect, preserve, share and pass them down. All ArtsHebdo|Médias’ approach is based on this simple and intransigent conviction. More than 900 articles – portraits, interviews, investigation, exhibitions’ reviews – as well as an agenda section are currently freely available. Regarding the e-magazine, its seventh edition, which was released last November, focuses on contemporary photography.” Why did you choose to publish an e-magazine dedicated to photography? “Except for one edition released every year in June which was about the summer art programm in France and in a few European places, our e-magazines have been up to now dedicated
Marie-Laure Desjardins has been journalist for more than 25 years for both magazine and daily press and took part in several new publication’s set up and launches. From November 2005 to May 2009, she was the Editor in chief of the art magazine Cimaise. Specialised in contemporary art and new media, she is currently the Publication Manager of SCML Médias, the company publishing both the website and the e-magazine ArtsHebdo|Médias, dedicated to contemporary art news and to living artists. Marie-Laure Desjardins is also conducting an academic thesis at University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research is about how digital and mobile devices entered the visual arts world. 6 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Photography festivals
Prague, city of photography Let’s get to know better Iva Nesvadbova, founder of Art Prague and PhotoPrague to specific topics. Contemporary photography has been significantly evolving for a few years. We especially felt that it would be interesting to investigate how and why photojournalism entered the art galleries. We chose to explore this subject as well as to enhance other actual trends of the medium. What has been the outcome of these two first years? “The website reached in 2013 an average of 10,000 unique visitors and of 20,000 pages views monthly. Increasing the audience is part of our priorities. Nevertheless, we must admit that the use of digital tablet in order to read magazines is still quite restricted in France. Many people have one but don’t use it that much. Having said that, we think that the future of the media depends not only on reinventing new paper offers but also on more and better digital media offers. These media allow to use and mix text, photography, sound, video, animation and interactivity. Informing has never needed so much inventiveness and offered so many possibilities. Therefore Artshebdo|Médias has a bright future!” What are your next projects? “Our priority is to develop our series of living monographs. «Living» because each monograph will be updated over the years according to the evolution of the chosen artist’s approach. The first one released in May 2013 is devoted to the young French drawer Fabien Mérelle. We’re currently looking for financial partnership with someone who shares our interest in collecting artists’ words. We also wish we could begin soon to release our contents in English.”
www.artshebdomedias.com
After her studies at Alliance Francaise, Paris, and at Institute of Arts and Crafts, Prague, Iva Nesvadbova became Director of the Czech Pavilion in Montreal, former EXPO. After that experience, she opened the Gambit Gallery and founded Art Prague and in 2007 Prague Photo Festival. Where did you get this passion for photography? “Since my childhood, I was surrounded by art, literature, photography and theatre. The passion for photography seemed to be quite natural, mainly in Prague where photography has always been a great phenomenon since the 19th century – and is so far. I guess a lot of Czechs have this “passion” for photography, you can meet it at every corner of our city. Hard to avoid it, easy to love it.” …and how come the idea of PraguePhoto Festival? “First, in 2001, I created the only art fair in the Czech Republic – Art Prague. It encountered a great success, in the first years the photography was enrolled in it. Seven years ago, we created a unique festival Prague Photo Festival as the photography deserved it…” What are the results so far and what’s new for the next edition? “The precedent six years showed that the photography attracts a great audience of people – photographers, students, professors, curators. What´s the main difference between Prague Photo Festival and other similar events abroad is that we host all the universities from the Czech Republic where photography is a great part of the studies. Their shows are always very appealing, professional and fresh. We continue with our interactive programs, enroll guests from abroad and try to make Prague Photo Festival, a part of live of photography lovers.” www.artprague.cz www.praguefoto.cz IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 7
Photography festivals t: Sanja Jovanovic
Keep an eye on Rovinj Photo Days
Interview with Denis Redić, CEO of Rovinj Photo Days, the biggest photography festival in South East Europe How come the idea of Rovinj Photo Days? number of international exhibitions, lectures, The idea of organizing the photography festival workshops, portfolio viewing and various Rovinj Photodays emerged in 2007 as a project gatherings to ensure that everyone interested that aims to culturally brand a beautiful in photography, whether professionally or just destination in Istria. Rovinj is a town of as a lover of the medium, has an unforgettable exceptional touristic potential, one of the most experience; Finalists’ Touring Exhibition: photogenic towns in Europe, the embodiment of (June – December 2014) - Work by the year’s a romantic Mediterranean. With this product of competition finalists is shown in museums and cultural tourism, we wanted to leave lasting value galleries in South-eastern and Central Europe. for all visitors. RovinjPhotodays is an all year What are the results so far and what’s new for round festival consisting of three linked themes: the next edition? The Competition: (December 2013 to “The next festival brings novelty in a form of a March 2014) - competition for contemporary meeting of members of the academic community photography is a linchpin of the festival and from all the countries in the region, with many represents a complex but exceptional cultural distinguished representatives from the Media, and socially responsible process which creates galleries and museums coming to Rovinj. a contemporary photographic scene of today Our wish is to highlight new projects through in the media culture, especially in South- an international cultural cooperation. Also, eastern Europe. The objective is to help and Rovinj will be a meeting place of distinguished promote young photographers; The Grand representatives of the media, galleries and Finale: (Rovinj, May 2-4, 2014) - for the final museums.” www.photodays-rovinj.com days of the festival in Rovinj we organize a Born in Rijeka, Croatia, in 1960, Tonči Denis Redić graduated in 1983 in Croatian literature and Cultural Studies from the Faculty of Arts at Rijeka University. During 1984-1992, he headed the import department for “Fortunoff srl”, a Swiss company importing luxury cars and presenting them at the biggest international auctions in Geneva, Monte Carlo etc. In 1992 he founded Astoria, d.o.o. Rijeka – Croatia. The company has so far educated over 25,000 people attending various IT seminars and educational programmes and has also participated in a number of national projects. In 2006 Denis Redić founded and created “Livingstone” (www.livingstone-magazine.com), a multimedia magazine, the first in Croatia, which, in collaboration with the MVPEI RH, until June 2012, was distributed in 78 countries throughout the world. In 2007 he founded, created, and is currently director of, “Rovinj Photodays”, the largest regional photography festival. In 2008, he received a prestigious award from HGK for the innovation “Photo point”, a sign that in a unique way indicates the beauty of a particular destination saying “stop and take a photograph”. In 2009 he became director and publisher of a serial “The Croatian Greats – cartoons in schools” ( www.stripuskoli.com ), a project which brought back cartoons as an educational tool to Croatian elementary schools. The programme was validated and praised by the Croatian Ministry of Education and Sport. 2010-2014, as president of “Livingstone“ and in collaboration with the Croatian Ministry of Tourism organizes “Friends of the Sea”, a project with a series of exhibitions in the open air that are seen every year by over a million people in 15 Croatian towns ( www.prijateljimora.com ). In 2014 Rovinj Photodays counts its seventh year and brings its festival competition to an international level endeavouring to become an important cultural photography event for all the Central and SouthEastern European countries. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 9
Photography festivals
PhotoLux, the New Biennial of Photography in Tuscany Enrico Stefanelli, founder and artistic director of Photolux Festival, tell us more about the new biennial of photography in Lucca
Where did you get this passion for photography? 2005, the first edition of Lucca and since then “I don’t know exactly. My interest in photography within the walls of the city you talk, you look, was born in the late 80s. Then, slowly I bought you breathe photography. It is not a festival just the first camera, an Olympus OM1 and shortly to “visit”. Exhibitions, in fact , there are also after a Hasselblad 500 CM. But the “jump” I did readings portfolio, the Leica Talk, workshops, and a few years later when I bought the first Leica. news. Alongside authors already established, an One year later I realized the first photographic overview is presented to the public some of the books, the first major exhibitions and knowledge young crown: with foresight, the festival delivers of professionals who also became teachers. Now its prediction on the future of the new generation the “virus” of photography had completely that will thanks to the ranks of the greats.” infected me. I continued to buy cameras passing What are the results so far and what’s new for from Polaroid to the Holga, from the panoramic the next edition? machines to large format up to 20 x 25. Every “We are pleased with the results both in the year I went to visit the exhibitions around Italy public and, especially, at the level of criticism. and the French festival, Arles and Perpignan. In We are especially excited about the fact that, addition to the exhibitions, of course, books. So I after a few years, both institutions and sponsors started getting a decent collection of books. I like have decided to “support” the festival by signing books, not only for their content, of course, but an agreement for three editions. With sponsors, as objects. I try to watch the finish, quality and Leica and Roberto Del Carlo, we set up the photo texture of the paper and, of course, the quality of contest with the desire to give opportunities to printing.” emerging photographers. Moreover, in these …and how come the idea of PhotoLux Festival? days we have been contacted by photo editors “It was originally the Lucca Digital Photo Fest and directors of major museums around the then became the Lucca Photo Fest. Today it is world with which it probably will work in the called Photolux, an acronym for PHOTO LUcca future. It had never happened to the previous eXhibitions, and held every two years. Also if editions. This requite us all the huge efforts and the name has changed over time in function makes us understand that the path taken is the of internal structural changes, nine years is the right one.” festival of photography in Lucca. In essence www.photoluxfestival.it the thread was never broken. It dates back to Enrico Stefanelli is a photographer and journalist and teaches photography in workshops. He was the founder and, for 7 years, the artistic director of the international festival of photography and video art “Lucca Photo Fest” which was established in 2005 and currently the founder and artistic director of Photolux Festival the new biennial of photography in Lucca. He has conceived “Faces – Portraits in the 20th Century” exhibition and curated several exhibitions at the Lucca Photo Fest such as, 2008 and in 2010 Tim Hetherington “Battle Company”, Gianni Berengo Gardin “L’Aquila”, Nany Fina “Glamour and Fashion”, Fabio Zonta ”Trasfigurazioni”, Rino Barillari “Divas”, Jan Saudek “Il Teatro Della Vita”, Michel Comte “Not only Women”, Horst P. Horst and, in 2011, Kenro Izu “Passage through Asia”, VII Agency “VII looks East”, Li Wei “Li Wei: Photography”, Wang Qinsong “The glorious life. Wang Quinsong’s photography 1999-2010”, Jing Queck “Singapore Idols”, Samuel Bourne, Francis Frith’s & Co., Photo Service Delhi “India: gentry and ancient mansions”, Nobuyoshy Araki “Polaroid”. Since 2010 is the Italian curator of Epea, European Photo Exhibition Award. 10 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Photography festivals
Waiting for NettunoPhotoFestival 2014
Where did you get this passion for photography? the department chiefs Eleonora Bocchini and Luigi “My passion for photography was born as I was Visalli. Every year the PhotoFestival “Attraverso already an adult, as a medium to overcome my le Pieghe del Tempo” consists of many cultural personal existential malaise of the moment. It was events, guests, awards, lectures, book presentations, not a love at first sight, more a slowly falling in love, evening shows. This famous Italian exhibition with deep and upsetting. Today I can’t help to filter the an international flavor has the scientific support world as I was looking through a reflex, even when from the Department of Communication and I do not have one with me.” The artistic direction Social Research from the University La Sapienza and coordination of the NettunoPhotoFestival are of Rome. So far, there have been many gatherings the exclusive work of me myself while the artistic and events in the fields of photography, poetry and direction of the exhibitions is curated by the Italian music, in a program that usually takes place in the photography critic Roberto Mutti (La Repubblica). last two weeks of August. The next edition will start Award sculptures by the Maestro Piero Gensini, August 19th and finish August 31st. Many famous member of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti personalities have been awarded during the previous del Disegno di Firenze, the first public academy editions, all moved by the same strong motivation born in the western world, in 1563, founded by that constitutes the festival itself: an artistic event Cosimo I. ...and how come the idea of Nettuno strongly linked to a charity motivation. Thanks to PhotoFestival? “Besides wanting to photograph its relevant artistic value, this Festival focuses the the world my own way, I liked the idea to get to media attention on specific and concrete charitable know how the same world was seen by others goals, conferring, this way, an active social role to using the camera as a cognitive instrument. The photography, music and poetry. The PhotoFestival NettunoPhotoFestival was born in 2011 in the 16th has an artistic gemellage with many other important century Forte Sangallo in Nettuno, a very beautiful events in Italy. The magazine Fotografia Reflex is seaside resort near Rome; the initial idea was mine, the official printed medium of the exhibition (in but both l’Occhio dell’Arte and the Nettuno City 1991 the magazine was among the founders of Hall believed immediately in the project, to the the Technical Image Press Association, a global point that today, in its fourth edition, this event association that counts more than 30 magazines deeply belongs to the local cultural life, spanning worldwide). The Fine-Art Prints will be printed by even further to embrace national and international Photogem srl.” guests. Institutional sponsors are: the Culture, www.attraversolepieghedeltempo.com - www.occhiodellarte.org sport and exhibition department of the Nettuno www.lisabernardini.com - info@lisabernardini.com City Hall. I would like to thank for his trust in occhiodellarte@gmail.com - info@occhiodellarte.org www.comune.nettuno.roma.it this event the Mayor, Dr. Alessio Chiavetta and Photographer, art director, president of the Cultural Association “Occhio dell’Arte”, headquartered in Anzio (Rome, Italy), Lisa Bernardini was born in 1970 in Tuscany but adopted Roman. She is the founder and art director of the national exhibition of Photography, Music and Poetry called NettunoPhotoFestival “Attraverso le Pieghe del Tempo” - and the connected on line national photographic contest “Città di Nettuno”, that she contributed to found, along with the City Hall, as president of the Occhio dell’Arte. As a photographer she is a black and white artist, winner of various Italian awards, until she encountered the world of colors by the Maestro Franco Fontana. She has received many international photographic mentions as well. Her works now belong into the very important collection of photography of the Galleria Civica di Modena, Fondo Franco Fontana, that showcases a very significative panorama of the history of photography of our century www. galleriacivicadimodena.it . Her works have been purchased nationally and internationally, often during charity events: for example, in 2012 the American Foundation “Women with a cause” (by Susan Kiely- Founder/CEO Social Entrepreneur) purchased one of her works, that has been donated to the Denver organization Thirdwaycenter ( www.thirdwaycenter. org ). Lisa Bernardini regularly is present in many collective and personal exhibitions. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 11
ph.: Paolo Fani
Interview with Lisa Bernardini, the founder and art director of the national exhibition of Photography, Music and Poetry called NettunoPhotoFestival “Attraverso le Pieghe del Tempo” (August 19-31, 2014, Nettuno, Rome, Italy).
Photography fairs
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Telemaco Rendine, tells us how Photissima, a festival and fair that takes place in different cities, was born and how far it has come. Born in Turin in 1968, where he lives and studies, the young Telemaco Rendine was soon seduced by art and photography, the main professional (and life’s) interests of him and his father, an art collector. “When I was a child, my father injected into me his passion for photography and introduced me into the world of art. Animated by this great love, I started studying the technique, and I discovered a particular interest of mine in the composition of the image. Working on images and ‘training’ my eyes, I learnt how to recognize the talents and I then promoted their works. Since 2000, I have been working with Luisella D’Alessandro, a leading figure of the cultural Italian scene, part of the Italian Foundation for photography, whose collaboration had a sad end due to D’Alessandro’s serious health problems. In 2000 I founded Koine, a cultural association. Two years later (2002) a significant section entirely dedicated to photographic art born within Artevision, an independent Foundation that – since 2008 – has been organizing courses and photographic exhibitions whose aim is offering a professional education and comparing Italian and International artists.” …and how come the idea of Photissima? “My first desire was to organize a festival, but I soon realized that a festival is often the representation of the exclusive curator’s idea and concept, while the photographic art needs 12 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
a broader approach. To the long-standing question ‘who decides who could become an artist as well as a curator?’ my answer was: the market of course, the people who buy artworks; that is why the festival I wanted could not be the expression of just one’s mind idea and I found the right solution: a festival plus a fair, in the same period. So, all those who love photography have to meet Photissima.” What are the results so far and what’s new for the next edition? “We have achieved important results: three editions in two years, two in Turin and one in Venice, and we are already working for the edition of Venice, 2015. We reached a total of 32,000 visitors, and we have important collaborations with relevant institutions. My proudest accomplishment has come from never stopping thinking about the future, and having a steadfast believe that good can almost always be bettered; that is why we are organizing the November 2014 edition of Turin, and Venice in May 2015. The dual soul of Photissima, fair and festival, is to be considered its trademark and is going to be further enhanced in the next edition: the photographic art market will be the subject discussed within the stands of art galleries, tackling the complex world of photography and illustrating it to the public through a key proposal held by a curator from time to time different. 2014 edition will see the participation of different leading institutions specialized in training new talents; these institutions are going to collaborate in the selection of those young artists able to develop their research with the medium of photography and its endless possible applications.” www.photissima.it
Workshops and...
t: Michelle Bourcier
Discovering Fotograficasa
ph.: Cécile Gabriel
Interview with Rita Scaglia and Pascal Dolémieux, founders of Fotograficasa, a place (to be) for photography in Corsica
Where did you get this passion for photography? “Both of us are professional photographers. When we met, Pascal was a founding member of the Agence Vu and worked extensively for French daily newspaper Libération. By that time, he had already won a number of prestigious prizes including a “Bourse de la Foundation Nationale de la Photographie”, the first prize of the “Centre National de la Photographie” (category under 30 years old), and the prestigious Niépce prize. Rita, for her part, turned her amateur passion for photography into her profession after a workshop with Sebastião Salgado who identified her talent for portraits. She then became a staff photo reporter for the iconic magazine Actuel. She subsequently joined the Rapho agency, worked for a wide variety of print media outlets and contributed to a number of books as photographic illustrator. For a few years now, we’ve been represented by two agencies in Paris: Picturetank and La Company. For both of us, then, photography has been our life; and because of that we would say that what drives our passion for photography is this willingness to make photography as alive, generous, creative and familial as possible.” …and how come the idea of Fotograficasa? “In 2005, we decided to live and build our future in Corsica with our kids. Rita’s family is from Corsica and Pascal found himself like a duck to water in that wonderful culture. While based in Corsica, we spent a fair amount of time travelling between the island and the rest
of the world. At the same time, we have always tried to engage with the life of our village and community, Rogliano, by organizing various cultural initiatives. Soon, it became obvious that we wanted to share more widely our expertise and personal experience by creating a venue dedicated to photographic creation and exchange. The vision we had when creating fotograficasa was therefore informed by this dual experience; the local sense of belonging to a community and experiencing a more global world through the window of photography. When we moved here, we bought this big, old, gorgeous house, which, in a way, also had its say in the creation of the project. It is almost hidden on top of a tiny village with an amazing view on the wild maquis, the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Capraia (which never seizes to surprise us as photographers). Because of the size of the house, we’ve always thought of it as a place of exchange and conviviality; a place where all types of people - artists, family, friends, neighbors - would come and go. And where food is as fresh and local as possible – but served in generous quantities! The Fotograficasa project, then, is really about all these different aspects of our lives coming together: sharing our love for our region of the Corsican cap, our passion for photography and our thirst for constant exchange and encounters. It also puts a particular emphasis on opening up photography to youth: we organize various activities with the local school and also provide scholarships and prizes for young photographers. As parents and experienced photographers, this knowledge transfer and pedagogical aspect of the project is particularly important to us.” What are the results so far and what’s new for the next edition? “One of the main drivers of the project is to provide a way to engage with Corsica beyond the summer season – and its touristic tropes of sun, beaches etc… (to be continued on page 13) IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 13
Web
Loveyourpix.com, a new space where to promote yourself
Beginning from this issue Image in Progress is launching a new and promising Media partnership with Loveyourpix.com, a new tool that enables everybody to discover striking photos and interesting photographers both on its iOS App and its website of the same name. We met Marco Govoni, CEO and co-founder of Loveyourpix. Marco Govoni has worked for the most important TLC companies in Italy, in sales and marketing. First in Telecom Italia and then in Vodafone, Marco has followed the commercial development of indirect sales networks. From 2001 to 2013 he cooperated in the start-up of Fastweb Company as business manager for the consumer market. Since April 2013 he has been working with Telecom Italia managing Business Enterprise customers. A web and photography enthusiast, Marco was the founder of adoroletuefoto.it. Loveyourpix grew out of the adoroletuefoto.it experience. It has fresh ambitions and new partners. Apart from its international audience and the fact that the website is all in English, could you tell us the main differences from the previous experience and how the project is evolving? “There are many differences. With Loveyourpix photography is the focal interest thanks to a number of instruments tailored for professionals, photo lovers, editors, artists and companies. Loveyourpix has kept things like photo contests to attract photographers who like to test themselves and compete against people from around the world, as well as friends, but we have turned it into a communication tool for editors, companies and brands. To build a system that allows us to reach a vast special target we have developed Loveyourpix in two parallel paths – the development of custom made software on one hand and commercial and partnership agreements on the other. We are working around the clock as we believe it is essential to develop 14 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
both the on-line and the off-line sides of the project. This is the point of strength that has enabled us to develop a number of breakthrough functions, specially designed for artists and professional photographers.” I know that you are currently developing the Market section, could you tell us something more about it? “The Market is an on-line service that we at Loveyourpix provide for our photographers who wish to sell their pictures, printed as authentic FineArt products. Our main strength is that we have chosen as partners two top quality Italian professional labs with a highly specific experience in handcrafting works for art galleries, museums and artists from around the world. The real novelty introduced is that we leave photographers free to decide their own royalties on each photo which, as a consequence, determines the product’s final selling price. We believe that this is the best way to enable photographers with years of experience to maintain their own specific position in the Art market. Another novelty is that photographers can sell their works in Limited Edition; the number of prints is certified with 4G System by ArtNetWorth, the first company recognized at an international level for its artwork certification. Yet another facility for our photographers.” Compared to other websites with photo contests, communities and on-line sales, why should people go for Loveyourpix? “Because, as I was saying before, there’s much more to Loveyourpix than mere contests, community and market. It is a custom-made system completely dedicated to photography and to developing connections between professionals, brands, editors and amateurs. Our breakthrough services provide photographers with a new instrument for business as well as promoting themselves.” What are the results? “We went on-line in November 2013. We already
Workshops and...
have thousands of users from all around the world and numbers are constantly growing; the quality of pix posted is improving daily. The Market will be launched in February and from the beginning of March the website will be in its final version. We still have a long way to go but everything, from the Loveyoupix Team, the highly promising and strategic partnerships, to our users’ feedback is giving us the energy to manage each step that lies ahead with passion and eagerness.” Is membership free? “Yes, subscription is free and users have a certain number of activities and options free of charge. We also have a Premium subscription that allows Loveyourpix users to access a lot more options for just € 29.00/year – a price that we think accessible to a wide market. We strongly believe that offering high quality service is the right choice.” Is the project complete with the Market or do you still have other developments in store for the near future? “We will keep working on our two parallel paths – for the on-line part we have in store the development of two innovative features and the 2.0 version both for the website and for the iOS App. For the off-line work we have developed a strategy that will reach a widespread public but I’m afraid this is all I can tell you for now!” One final question: what responses do you expect from the public? “What do we expect? Well, we want photographers to recognize the quality and high standard of our commitment when appraising their work and users to talk about us and our website. The passion that drives this project is so strong that we are always in the front line, answering the individual user directly in order to help them and anticipate their needs. We treasure our users’ feedback a lot. To be honest with you, our dream is to become a benchmark for the many projects in the photography industry.” www.loveyourpix.com
(continued from page 11) We want Fotograficasa to be a permanent cultural place that contributes, modestly, to the social, cultural and economic development of our immediate community. We have organized last year the first workshops led by Claudine Doury and Pascal Dolémieux. These workshops are aimed primarily at professional and nonprofessional photographers who are already involved in a personal project or who aspire to develop one. The workshops take the form of a full-immersion, with attendees residing with well-established artists in the same house for one week. We believe that this immersion favors creative exchange in a convivial manner. We therefore want attendees to gain experience but also leave with long lasting memories. This year, we have programmed four workshops and the first one led by Jean-Christian Bourcart is already full. We also offer scholarships for young photographers to attend the workshops. Starting this year, we also award two prizes to welcome two photographers in residence (between 4 and 6 weeks) to produce a unique piece of work inspired by the Corsican cap. More info are available on our website. We have a wonderful jury composed of photography experts that will select the winning artists: Jim Brogden from the University of Leeds; Claudine Maugendre, the artistic director for the Rencontres d’Arles; Marcel Fortini from the Mediterranean Center for Photography; Laura Serani, the Artistic Director of the Rencontres de Bamako, the African Photography Biennial; the photographer Dorothée Smith. The next step for us is the development of a photographic collection and archives. It will draw on the works produced during the workshops and the residencies. We will also organize exhibitions and publish catalogues and edited books based on these works, and in constant dialogue with the contributing artists.” www.fotograficasa.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 15
ph.: Tomohide Ikeya t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Tomohide Ikeya
Emotions in a limbo 16 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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MILAN DESIGN WEEK
8-13 APRIL 2014 AT SUPERSTUDIO THE WORLD IS HERE, THE FUTURE IS NOW: SETTINGS, MATERIALS, TENDENCIES, VISIONS FOR THE HOUSE THAT WILL BE - A NEW SECTION! SUPERDESIGN: SENSATIONAL UNIQUE PORPOSEFUL ECO-FRIENDLY REINVENTED FURNITURES AND OBJECTS FROM EVERYWHERE SELECTED BY GIULIO CAPPELLINI ART-INTERACTION: VIDEOMAPPING, LIGHT INSTALLATIONS, DESIGNERS’ SCULPTURES, 3D PRINTER PERFORMANCES EXHIBITORS: ALCANTARA • ANYTHINGBY • AVANTGARDE • BEAU&BIEN • BROTHER • BY HENZEL • CENTIMETER STUDIO • COTTO • CRJOS DESIGN MILANO • DENISE M. HACHINGER DESIGN • DIGITAL HABITS • EBAY • ERMINI • FATBOY • FEDERICA CERIALI • FGF INDUSTRY • FID • FORMAXIOM • FRANCE DESIGN • FRANCESCO RAIMONDI ART DESIGN • GOOGY • GREEN VILLAGE • HOLE DESIGNSTUDIO • IVANKA • KUROKAWA DESIGN PRODUCTS • LACRIME D’ARTE • LG HAUSYS • MARCHINGENIO • MELOGRANOBLU • METROCUADRO DESIGN • MICHAËL BIHAIN • MINDBIKE / 180 DEGREE • NIKARI OY • ONE OFF MOSAICO • PARSON • PORCELANOSA • PRODUCT DESIGN MADRID • PROSTORIA • QUI EST PAUL • REX KRALJ • RI_USO • SUPERORTOPIÙ • TAGINA CERAMICHE D’ARTE • THAILAND’S SLOW HAND DESIGN • T.MAGPIE • T-SCULPT • VEZZINI & CHEN DESIGN • VITAMIN DESIGN • VITRO • WA WALLVISION SWEDEN • THANKS TO ASUS Superstudio Più, via Tortona 27, 20144 Milan - Superstudio 13, via Forcella 13 and via Bugatti 9, 20144 Milan Ph +39 02 422501 - info@superstudiogroup.com - online registration: www.superstudioevents.com www.superstudiogroup.com
EXPERIMENT
ph.: Eugenio Recuenco t: Emanuele Cucuzza
MAKE-BELIEVE GAME WITH RECUENCO The experiment in this issue of Image in Progress concerns Madrid photographer Eugenio Recuenco, an artist with visual flights of fancy. Fairy tale atmospheres, dark suggestions, surreal situations and characters‌ all of his photography starts from an unlimited fantasy. We ask questions based on make-believe situations but his answers are real, as are those that he gives his clients in his signature campaigns... 30 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
ph.: Eugenio Recuenco - www.eugeniorecuenco.com
EXPERIMENT
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ph.: Eugenio Recuenco - www.eugeniorecuenco.com
EXPERIMENT
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ph.: Eugenio Recuenco - www.eugeniorecuenco.com
EXPERIMENT
ph.: Eugenio Recuenco t: Emanuele Cucuzza
LONG LIVE CREATIVE FREEDOM!
HARD WORK, HUMBLENESS AND INNATE CREATIVITY, TALENT AND STYLE IN THE QUEST FOR PERSONAL ARTISTIC SUCCESS… EUGENIO RECUENCO TELLS US HIS STORY, THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ORIGINAL STYLE THAT DOES NOT FALL VICTIM TO LABELS, CLIENTS OR ITSELF… If the Grimm brothers were still alive, and asked for our advice on how to illustrate a new edition of their fairy tales, there is no doubt that we would recommend Eugenio Recuenco, maybe because he has already worked on those fairy tales, giving us unforgettable shootings… An enhanced digital edition with films on the “making of ”, a paper version, a popup version and a movable that is a collector’s item, a handmade box, maybe a signed print that will become more valuable as time goes by… A publishing project like that would be enormously successful. 34 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
How would you feel if you worked directly for them? What question would you ask them and what advice would you give, instead, for this hypothetical project? “The Grimm brothers would have suffered a lot in this day and age. They already had to change some parts of their stories to avoid offending the bourgeoisie of their time. Today, they would have a lot of material to write a large number of stories taking their inspiration from the ghastly and absurd characters that fill our world. For sure, it would have been a great pleasure to work with them; however to publish their stories they would
SALON de la PHOTO lesalondelaphoto.com
13 to17 november
2 014
PA R I S Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
Le Salon de la Photo by Elene Usdin
ph.: Eugenio Recuenco - www.eugeniorecuenco.com
EXPERIMENT
© REVUE by Eugenio Recuenco, HOTEL, LOEWE, Spain, 2007, published by teNeues, Photo © 2013 Eugenio Recuenco. All rights reserved.
Revue - Eugenio Recuenco- published by teNeues
Spanish photographer Eugenio Recuenco has gained widespread acclaim as a noted advertising and fashion photographer. With other-worldly narratives of great vitality, his complex signature style uses elaborate handmade scenery and contains multiple references to art history—the Renaissance, Picasso, Tamara de Lempicka just to mention a few of his varied influences. A highly cinematic photographer with an innate storytelling flair, it is hardly surprising Recuenco has also created a number of award-winning works in commercial spots and short films. This is the first book to showcase the work of this accomplished visual artist who is certain to be a star of significant and enduring renown.
300 pp., 3 gatefolds, Hardcover with jacket 198 color and 31 b/w photographs. NOW signed by Eugenio Recuenco 98,00 Euro ISBN 978-3-8327-9728-7 Collector’s Edition - Limited Edition of 50 copies, clamshell box (45 x 54 cm), portfolio with a signed and numbered photoprint (c. 52 x 43 cm). Each book is individually signed and comes in a handmade clamshell box 2,000,00 EUR ISBN: 978-3-8327-9748-5 www.eugeniorecuenco.com www.teneues.com
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PUBLICATIONS
ph.-t: Renée Jacobs
Intimate photography and... 46 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
PUBLICATIONS
...secret fantasies IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 47
ph.: Gianni Mascolo t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Appropriation… publishing or Free Art?
Interview with Gianni Mascolo, art director of some of the most important magazines in Italy. We talk about dealing with the new photography market, the photographers’ faults, the limits of post-production in photojournalism, the value of creativity, freedom of expression… and his personal creations or reinterpretations. 54 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
An art director, journalist and photographer, Gianni Mascolo was born in 1961 in Rome. He graduated from the European Institute of Design in the mid-1980s and as early as 1986 he took a position at “la Repubblica”, one of the main Italian daily newspapers, where he began working on the weekly financial supplement “Affari e Finanza” and managed the Graphic Department. In 1995 he designed the Music supplement and, after he was appointed Art Director by the
newspaper’s legendary founder, Eugenio Scalfari, he redesigned “la Repubblica” in its colour edition. Starting in 1996, he began working for the Group’s magazines. After he launched the Italian edition of National Geographic and designed several multimedia products for sistercompany L’Espresso, he designed and managed: Il Venerdì, Musica, Computer Valley, Salute, Viaggi, A&F and Trovaroma. In 2005, he planned XL, a monthly youth culture magazine. He also IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 55
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
“Photography and retouching? Two different professions.”
Photographer: Erwin Olaf, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Case: “Erwin was asked to create an image for the Lavazza Calendar with only two things that were given. There had to be a cup of Lavazza coffee in the image and the question, what do you think of when drinking Lavazza?”. Erwin wanted to visualize this surrealistic image of beautiful bodies appearing and disappearing from the walls, floor and ceiling of the apartment. Very challenging was the way the transitions would look like. In the end we decided to almost start over from scratch for a second time to get it right. I used a mix of retouching and CGI in this image to get it to work.”
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ph.-t: Francesco Ridolfi*
Chess Portraits Chess. The roots of this photographic series, Chess Portraits, twine back deep into my childhood and the birth of my passion for the game, a passion kindled by my father. The figures of the chessboard readily take up residence in a child’s imagination, with their epic battles, knights in armour, suspense and frequent strategic reversals at the front line. And I have always been attracted, personally, by the fashions and dress styles of the past, especially those of the Elizabethan and Victorian periods. Maybe it’s because they are so unfailingly majestic and rich in detail, or maybe because they belong to a now distant world. In addition to this more personal bond to the game, what grabbed me when the idea arose of a photo series on the theme 78 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
of chess pieces was the inherent possibility of studying each individual figure both in black and in white. Being a portrait photographer by trade, the opportunity to produce studies of the same person in such contrasting lights provided a real impetus. With its six different characters (King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight and Pawn), the game of chess supplied me with a set of archetypes to work on, from whom I could bring out different aspects of the human soul. I am convinced that opposing drives and impulses coexist inside each one of us. Our positives and negatives, bright spots and shadows, may come to the fore according to the situation we find ourselves in, depending on which ‘voice’ we choose to attend to.
Weill Cornell Medical College, by architects ADH, Doha. © Pygmalion Karatzas
ph.-t: Pygmalion Karatzas*
Photography and Architecture Pygmalion Karatzas is an experienced Architect and Photographer from Greece. He tells us about his work and how close Photography and Architecture are in his career. Architecture and photography are closely connected. Even though architecture is best comprehended for all its successes (and failures) by physically experiencing it, the fact of the matter remains that many of the buildings we are inspired by as architects, only get to study through images, written descriptions, and technical drawings. On the other hand, as practicing architects we use many of the visual tools of photography to better communicate our concepts and designs. With the increased influence of photorealistic renderings, narrating a building’s proposal as photographers and editors becomes even more critical. Photographing the built environment for me has been part of my 86 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
work and at the same time a passion, reaching the point I am now where I want to focus more on fine art and commercial architectural photography, and also find the means to produce photographic essays about various social issues related to the built environment. Morphogenesis project. During 2013 I was fortunate to visit Rome, Basel, Frankfurt and Doha to capture some of my favorite contemporary architecture. It’s been a personal project and the approach for me was to produce strong artistic stand-alone images as well as documenting buildings from an editorial point of view. I have also done some commercial work (interior shoots from businesses, real estate,
ph.-t: Dennis Church*
Photography teaches me a lot about myself A stick of dynamite going off in my brain… I owned a Brownie camera in high school in the 1960’s and enjoyed making pictures but I did not become enamored with photographing until much later. My brother-in-law, in 1975, sent me a US Army PX catalog and I was attracted to the cameras listed. I ordered a camera and from the first days of using the it I felt an extremely powerful force pulling me along. I have described it many times to friends, saying it was like a stick of dynamite going off in my brain. This was strange to me but appealing and I followed it. In 1976 I was enrolled at The University of Wisconsin-Madison for a master’s in psychology. The pull of image making was strong and I left graduate school six credits shy of a master’s to follow this force. I took a couple art photography courses and started encountering the idea of photography as personal expression. This was a new idea to me, never having encountered it before. The idea of art as personal 90 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
expression was foreign to me and I began to understand the force pulling me along was about this idea of personal expression. Having grown up in a rural German Catholic community in Iowa, the concept of an artist was really not in consciousness, the idea of being a working productive artist and what an artist’s role in society is, took me considerable time to adjust to. Early in my fine art photography career I was funded by public art grants… I have always worked intuitively for the most part, following my nose and photographing what, when and how I want. That freedom is powerfully appealing to me. Early in my fine art photography career I was funded by public art grants that I proposed and moistly enjoyed that work. However it was still a confinement I found. For example I did an extensive documentary project of the Capital Concourse and State Street mall in Madison, Wisconsin in the early 1980’s. I photographed for a year in a prescribed geographical area.
ph.-t: Giulio Limongelli*
Solitude and photography 94 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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ph.-t: Julia Javel*
My comfort zone
Self-portrait of Julia Javel, a “woman photographer and a feminist” who couldn’t live without doing her art pictures, with a slight touch of “noir” mood… IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 99
ph.-t: Pietro Bandini
The Emotional Side Everything started with a Voitglaender and two rabbits. I believe I started to press the shutter when I was about six-years-old taking photographs of two rabbits looking into each other’s eyes, both with one ear up and the other one down. At the time I was using a Voitglaender with fixed focus lens, flinched from my father. Since then many things have truly changed, but one thing hasn’t. I have continued to take photos using film. Down the years I have always snapped for my pleasure using photography to express myself according to my artistic taste, constantly inspired by surrealism and by my inner need to “create images” that are strongly evocative and not tied to reproducing objective reality, helped in this by the choice of black and white, which is in itself distinct from what our eyes can see and much nearer to what they can imagine. 104 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Photography and Music From the mid-nineties I started to take photographs from the entertainment world, and more precisely in music, especially jazz (thus successfully combining and experiencing together two of my great passions). A number of things have come from the particular world of music photography: I became the official photographer for the Parma Festival of Jazz (which produced a book by images cataloguing the experience). I also collaborated for a few years with the specialist magazine Jazzit and I contributed to the creation of the Phocus agency. Black and White on Film Always and Forever For me, today, photography represents more and more a profound need for personal artistic and creative expression, and I must say that despite the extraordinary progress in technological means, I am ever more firmly linked to a craft-based and analogue product, one which has experienced
Vincenza De Nigris - Alessandra #2(adolescent)- Young Women, 2012
ph.-t: Vincenza De Nigris*
Narrative Photography Perception of emotion When I was a child, I remember that I was fascinated by my brother handling with his camera. I was intrigued about the camera, about how you can see the world through it, I was wandering how a black box could stop time and memories. Then, I started my studies at ‘Accademia di Belle Arti’ and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Art and Master’s Degree in Photography. I realized that to me photography is an expression of the imagination, it’s about something that in reality it is not visible, as it is the expression of one’s mood. During my thesis on Narrative Photography I discovered artists such as Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson, Anni Leppälä, Susanna Majuri, Aino Kannisto and so on. They build scenarios created by their imagination, linking reality through their subjects and contexts. The emotion and the perception of things set 108 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
up ad hoc for pictures, come to us as something hovering between the real and the imaginary. It relies on emotion perceived by the observer. The methodology used by these artists is similar to the way I see and feel photography. Narrative Photography Narrative is the starting point of my work, it represents the means through which I describe what I see; the process to realize these images is complex and systematic: as soon as I see a new environment or subject, I try to figure out a story and the way to link light, colors and their composition, and in the meantime I start looking for the right location, subjects and clothes. The images I create are a kind of film-still, as if they were extracted from a much bigger and complex story. The aim of the project I’ve been doing so far is to understand some of the human feelings such as contemplation, temporal suspension and melancholy. Is there a better way than photography to do
ph.-t: Andrea Cairoli*
Photography process through the director’s eyes “Photography is the evidence of how you lived (but is also the evidence on how you perceive life around you). If you have had a lousy life, your pictures will be lousy. If you have had a spectacular and adventurous life, your pictures will be a masterpiece.” Love at first sight I was 4 years old. My mom was holding my hand. Just beside her, on the opposite side, my brother, few years older, was holding her right hand. Was pretty fashionable in my family, I am talking about the 70’s, to dress kids in the same exact way. Dressed like twin, with identical fur coats, we were walking in Bologna, my home town, along those typical pedestrian streets co112 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
vered with arcades. I remember stepping into the Christmas market of Santa Lucia. Once we exit the narrow corridor made of shimmering Christmas stands, my brother was holding a cotton candy in one hand and a plastic flash camera hanging down from his neck. It took me almost 200 feet before realizing that plastic toy was a real film camera. It was able to take pictures and it was also able to eat rolls of film. My mother
ph.-t: Petra Rolinec*
Underwater in… Botswana 116 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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ph.: Petra Rolinec, 8ties baby photography - Model: Brandi Phiri - Stylist: Monthusi Seremane - Assistant: Ungwang Boiteto
“I guess you could say that I am somewhat of a photographic architect; building from the past, present and future. With one leg firmly planted in the organic beauty of alternative process/film and the other just as solid in this digital revolution, three things are a constant: content, composition and personality. I am connected to the feeling and personality of an image that digital fails to render. Alien Skin Exposure gives me back that personality.”
www.parkerjphoto.com
Exposure 5 brings you the rich set of creative tools of the film world. Our careful research lets you reproduce the subtle nuances that make analog photography beautiful. With Exposure, your photo will look like it was made by a human, not a computer. Exposure can now work as a standalone application, or inside Lightroom, Photoshop, and now Aperture.
Visit alienskin.com to try Exposure for free. Photo © 2014 Parker J. Pfister. © 2014 Alien Skin Software, LLC. All rights reserved. Exposure and Alien Skin Software are registered trademarks of Alien Skin Software, LLC.
ph.-t: Lionel Arnaudie*
Finding the Heroes IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 121
ph.-t: Roberto Roseano aka Carnisch*
Rational Creativity Imagination and photography “Artificial Artworks” is the best way to define my pictures. They depict a weird reality, populated by unreal creatures, illuminated by unnatural lights, often in unlikely situations. It is a fictitious world that only comes into being only for the sake of shooting, whose meaning can only be read through the viewfinder of the camera, and which lives only for those few clicks of the shutter before disappearing forever. Of these fleeting stories only a few rare pictures remain, the secret reason of their genesis. Even at the beginning of my career, my imagination was fired by the creation of out-ofthe-ordinary images, despite the technological limitations of the time. In the early ‘80s, digital photography was still unknown and post-production was either a pipe dream or was limited to a few darkroom techniques. I focused on two themes, which later became the pillars supporting the greater part of my body 124 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
of work. The first theme, quite unusual at that time, was to juxtapose something beautiful with dangers threatening to destroy its beauty, such as a portrait of a model wielding a sharp object (a razor, a knife, or a pair of scissors or pliers) perilously close to her beautiful face. Depictions of pure, simple beauty seemed to me too obvious and banal, as this subject had already been seen and re-seen countless times in the pages of countless magazines. From that initial idea, the series “Girls with Tools” and “Bad Girls” were born: an absurd collection of cards depicting girls with a nice smile and an innocent glance but threatening to disfigure dolls or stuffed animals with the dangerous tools. This was a figurative representation of an oxymoron: violent sweetness. As a corollary of that concept, I conceived the series “Barbie Suicide” and “Tortured Fruits & Veggies”, a parody of the rather macabre Italian translation of the term still-life: “natura morta”. In those years, I shot
ph.: Carnisch
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Glacier Sculpture, 2012 Iceland - (Toyo view camera 4”x5”)
ph.: Francesco Bosso t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Francesco Bosso
“I WANT MY WORK TO STAY ARTISANAL” 130 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Francesco Bosso, Ice Island, 2012 Iceland - (Toyo view camera 4”x5”)
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCO BOSSO, A WELL KNOWN ITALIAN INTERPRETER OF LANDSCAPES AND PRIMITIVE NATURE VIA THE MEDIUM OF BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY. HE DOES IT IN THE VEIN OF THE GREAT AMERICAN MASTERS, WITH WHOM THE AUTHOR HAS WORKED EXTENSIVELY IN THE USA, THUS HE ALSO PRINTS HIS IMAGES HIMSELF AND HE TELLS US HOW AND WHY… IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 131
© Jeff Bark - Woodpecker (Swan), 2007. Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC.
ph.: Jeff Bark, Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC. t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Jeff Bark
“The image as if it were a still film” EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JEFF BARK, FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER AND AMERICAN ARTIST, IN VIEW OF HIS UPCOMING EXHIBITION, GOLDENBOY, AT THE HASTED KRAEUTLER GALLERY, NEW YORK. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 139
© Jeff Bark - Black Cup, 2014. Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC.
ph.: Jeff Bark, Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC. t: Sarah Hasted
DON’T MISS GOLDENBOY
SARAH HASTED, FOUNDING PARTNER OF HASTED KRAEUTLER, INTRODUCES THE JEFF BARK’S NEXT EXHIBITION: GOLDENBOY AT HER GALLERY IN NEW YORK. Sarah Hasted is the founding p a r t n e r of Hasted Kraeutler, she has been a curator and art dealer for over fifteen years. She has also been involved in New York’s professional, institutional and academic photography communities, teaching at Parsons The New School for Design since 2003. 148 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Hasted Kraeutler is pleased to announce, Goldenboy, an exhibition of new photographs by Jeff Bark, beginning April 24 and running through June 14, 2014. The photographic tableaux in Jeff Bark’s newest body of work, Goldenboy, exist in an eerily ambiguous time of day, somewhere between the burning, first rays of dawn and the last glow of sunset. Suffused by a warm, languorous light that evokes the close heat of Southern California, and set amidst colors and textures that recall the 1980s, the series was inspired by aspects of Bark’s own autobiography. It was in a Southern California backyard in the ‘80s that he made his first photographs, and Goldenboy’s protagonist,
© Jeff Bark - Goldenboy, 2014. Courtesy of the artist & Hasted Kraeutler gallery, NYC.
is the same age as Bark was during those very years. But the similarities end there, as these works take viewers through a compelling though confounding journey, refusing at every turn to provide satisfactory answers as to what, exactly, is taking place in this young man’s life—and who he will become. Although most of the photographs appear to take place outside, and have an authentically rich, saturated West Coast palette, every one of them was actually taken inside Jeff Bark’s New York garage, on a meticulously constructed set meant to replicate the California backyard in which he made his first photographs. Bark’s insistence on building these complex, intricate sets from the ground up—working in the controlled environment of his studio, rather than at the whim of the elements—is an essential element of his meticulous, timeconsuming process. Bark is known for dreamy, atmospheric images that plumb the depths of a collective human experience in the manner of history painting’s grand masters, from Jacques-Louis David to
Delacroix. But rather than relate stories of conquest, Bark’s photographs explore human life on a closer, more intimate scale, rendering epic the minutia of quotidian existence and revealing the mysteries contained in the commonplace. To that end, Goldenboy is sited inside and around the young man’s California abode, offering a glimpse into the spaces and routines of his seemingly idyllic daily life. But something is always awry: near-appealing symbols of his languid existence are juxtaposed with disturbing, even macabre details. As he sits in a chaise lounge eating popsicles, a dead plant studded by sharp spikes hovers ominously behind him; an elegant arrangement of yellow roses is corrupted by the remains of a keg-party, their roots flooded by empty plastic cups. It’s a disturbing clash of idyll and decay, the indulgent and the morbid. The question persists: will he live up to and embrace his own potential for greatness? Or perhaps he will turn away from it, choosing instead to pursue a darker destiny. www.jeffbark.com www.hastedkraeutler.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 149
“Liquid”
ph.: Hengki Koentjoro t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Hengki Koentjoro “EMBRACE THE MOMENT!”
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“Sacred Kemboja”
WITH A FOLLOWING THAT PUTS TO SHAME MUCH MORE CELEBRATED PHOTOGRAPHERS ANYWHERE, HENGKI KOENTJORO REVEALS THE SECRETS OF NATURE THROUGH HIS PHOTOGRAPHIC WORLD WITH DISCRETION, SIMPLICITY AND HUMBLENESS… HIS IMAGES ARE JUST MARVELOUS… IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 151
“Le Chat Noir”
ph.: Le Turk t: Michelle Bourcier
LeTurk
“MY EQUIPMENT? ENGLISH TOBACCO “GOLDEN VIRGINIA”, ONE BOTTLE OF GIN, BOMBAY SAPHIRE, WOULD BE PERFECT, A BEAUTIFUL RED HEAD GIRL WITH FRECKLES AND...” 158 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
“La Commune”
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ph.: João Carlos t: David Redstone
João Carlos
ph.: Pedro Nobrega
“THERE IS NOTHING LIKE ARRIVING SOMEWHERE FOR THE FIRST TIME”
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOÃO CARLOS, AN ADVERTISING, FASHION AND FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY CURRENTLY BASED BETWEEN NEW YORK CITY AND LISBON. BORN IN NEW YORK TO PORTUGUESE PARENTS, JOÃO IS A MEMBER OF THE SANDISK EXTREME TEAM, A WESTCOTT TOP PRO AND A FEW YEARS AGO WON THE HASSELBLAD MASTER AWARD…
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ph. Jo達o Carlos - Client: Nike PT - Model: Katy Cee - Location: Portugal
fashion in progress
Ph.: Cécile Decorniquet - Fashion Designer: Blandine Laneyrie Della Torre, Louise Della Make-up and hair-style: Adeline Loiseau - Models: Ali Walsh, Isabella Bert Sambo, Pia Bongoll, Anoushka Alsif
Art at the service of Fashion The photographer Cécile Decorniquet
The Idea “As Blandine said she first saw my work in an exhibition organized by Céline Moine, my gallery. She then contacted me and offered to make her press visuals, POS, posters... But, a little like my artwork and especially my images of children. With Adeline, we worked on a first proposal, a kind of test. It turns out that this is the image of the woman in a dress with a boat in the hair. Blandine was very happy with this image and with the idea, so we continued to shoot her collection. We work long time on each image, and share our ideas all along the process.” 170 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
The MOST COMPLEX BOOK on European photography
PUBLISHED BY FOTOFO and CENTRAL EUROPEAN HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
2-P IECE B OOK
ONLY
99 â‚Ź
THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHY
1 ST EDITION / VOLUME 1 Research Project of Pan-European Size / Covering Photography, History and Arts of the 20th Century / Three Volumes (Supposed Date of the Last Volume Release - 2016) / 35 Countries from Albania to Ukraine / More than 45 Experts / Main Text, Biographies, Chronological Tables of all the Important Events, Indexes / The Book Preserves the Cultural Heritage of Each Country / The First Volume Covering 1900-1938 Orders: michaela.bosakova@gmail.com, www.sedf.sk
Novel t: Anita Zechender*
Photos of a Soul
CHAPTER 4 To Samuele, my Marvel… my First Sun
Journey to the Island that is there
I am the crazy person running across Brooklyn Bridge: I am trying to outwit Time, who is constantly waiting for me with his sneering look, hiding himself among the fleeing faces while I am just trying to reach the Island. But this time I’m winning, I have my Dream of my Island. Manhattan is disappearing behind me, and I am trying to take its photo one last time, because I’m afraid I will never see it again through quite the same eyes. A sort of sad euphoria comes over me, and for an instant I stare happiness in the face, I can sense its smell. My bag is packed: every object is vying for its place in this unbearable lightness of being. A confusion of books are lying scattered in the search for navigable roads, exploring landscapes still unfamiliar to the soul. The photos from our trips speak of shadows, faces and footprints, but I do not yet know what the climate will be like in that place, and whether the ocean will be nearby. This time, however, his mischievous brown eyes hide a shadow which I do not know. For as he waits, even he, my beacon, is searching for a way. I look for our past footprints, the ones that usually show me the horizon, in order that I can copy and retrace them. They are footprints on the ground that lift our feet like stardust, like magic chanted to the rhythm of an hourglass, a rhythm changing “is” to “was”. I am now better able to read the sands and glimpse the Time that is now. There is, however, an infinite number of footprints before us, marks on the surface of the Earth which begin to dance. Watching them is like reading destiny: I try to capture them in a photograph, but they flee for ever. But suddenly I notice that the sun is high again, it is once more playing with the colours of the Earth, and the sparkle in Ethan’s eyes is mischievous once again. Like a magic map lit by elemental light, here is our “Way of Songs”: a way without rules or certainties, as free as free will. We find our space in the sands of the hourglass, we dance to our final breath; we are young, happy and unfettered. Each of those footprints crawls over our skin, noiselessly and without hurting us. My skin is white as milk; I have never felt so awkward
and so tenderly beautiful. I cry. For a moment I feel I have to do it. Right in the depths of my being, I caress the coming of dawn, and feel an infinite longing for my mother’s embrace, my father’s courage, the capacity of my Aunt Lò to confront the darkness, and the warmth of Ethan’s breath. I breathe deeply. I am not alone. And my body which is different now in every particle, whispers to me that I will never be alone again. It tells me that the solitude I have courted will always be followed by a new solitude to pursue. I pray to my guardian angels: to have the strength to surrender, and to have the courage to laugh every day at that happiness bursting inside me. I search for a comfortable dress, I make myself look beautiful: for today is the most intense day of my life. There are no photographs to reveal paths, just a desire to be reborn. Today, the outlines describing the city of New York seem softer, more languid and maternal. A breath of spring blows through Central Park, reminding me of all the warmth of home. The sunshine lights up tiny footprints moving across my body. I can hear their sound, first faintly and then more strongly, and recognise the cadence of Ethan’s breath. I would like to capture that restless rhythm, as in a photograph I could return to forever. Even Time himself, who is travelling through these parts, stops in a moment of curiosity and listens to this sound. A cry cuts through every breath, giving a moment of immortality to something only a photograph could render. Life returns, and finally Ethan and I can perceive the way, the perfect way, our own blissful Eternity. Today, this island of New York assumes the character of both a “non-place” and all possible places. Samuel is born, and his face speaks of creation, his soul of distant worlds. His Footsteps press on towards the next horizon, and in their changeable, fleeting dance they already speak of us. It is just 10.08 in the morning, and New York has a new story to tell. To be continued in the next issue.
anita.zechender@libero.it
*Anita Zechender, a free-lance journalist, a traveler by inclination, loves to observe the world’s nuances, understand their interconnections and leave them again free to play. After she obtained a Master’s degree in fashion, she has been researching new trends and has performed advertising work for Miss Sixty e Murphy&Nye. Writing for her has always been artwork, something that needs phantasy to be intuited, courted and loved. Photography, fashion and art unveil the eternity of time to those who have the soul to understand it. She writes about travel, photography, fashion, art and design for international magazines. Inspired by Bradbury, Nabokov, Allende and Tim Burton’s films, she is taking her first steps as a writer with a story written in installments for Image in Progress. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 175
Serendipity
discovered on www.loveyourpix.com - see interview on page 14
ph.-t: Giuseppe Desideri*
“In the Sky...” This photo was taken one morning while I was going to the mountain. As I went by the Santa Croce Lake, Belluno, Italy, I noticed some boats resting on still water; the clouds mirrored in the lake creating a special atmosphere. All of a sudden I saw a solitary boat, all alone in the
middle of the lake, and right there and then took my Nikon… click! Nikon D70s - 170mm - 1/125 - f/14 - ISO 200 www.facebook.com/giuseppe.desideri.9 Look for my facebook fan page: GDesideri Photographer
*Giuseppe Desideri was born in Fermo on 21 January 1955. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Urbino, specializing in black and white photography. He became a teacher and simultaneously a painter, focusing on the watercolor technique, participating in different personal and collective exhibitions in Italy. As his passion for photography rekindled, he explored new technical and expressive possibilities, bringing to bear in the development, graphical as well, of his photographs the painting experience gained in his artistic career. The process benefited also from what he learned in his years as a teacher at the Arts Lyceum in Treviso. He held several photography and painting exhibitions and is a contributor to a large number of publications. 176 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com