Editorial
Dear readers, Your responses were numerous and it was with great pleasure that we read your words of thanks, your suggestions and advice. We are pleased to see that our intentions have met your needs and wishes and we hope to once again satisfy your expectations with the content of this new issue. Looking ahead, with each new issue we invite you to discover the works of four photographers. This month’s issue is particularly close to my heart as, in my opinion, it gathers together some outstanding work. Each photographic essay embodies the mystery of the camera obscura as the selected artists guide us through a discovery of things both profound and sincere. Without a doubt, you will marvel at the photographic works of Swiss artists Fred Merz and Corinne Rusch, two artists who share the ability to reveal to us the reality of our modern consumer society. Through their eyes, we uncover facets which arouse curiosity and trigger profound reflections on the transience of life. Through the work of Manel Armengol and Corinne Mercadier, we are plunged into the mysteries of the universe. Readers will find themselves wandering through their secret gardens, drawn into unknown worlds full of imagination and sensibility. Looking at these evocative images, we can’t help but experience a strong sense of awakening and fascination. Finally, I would like to thank you, the readers, for the continued support you show the photographers, without whose devoted commitment we wouldn’t have the pleasure of being able to share these images with you. Yours truly, Marcel Boner
Fred Merz The Gramacho Garden. Nancy Brokaw
Everyday in Rio de Janeiro, some 1,500 catadores would start their workday in the Jardim Gramacho, until recently the largest landfill in the world. These scavengers, both men and women alike, once made their living by sorting through Rio’s mountain of trash, searching for anything remotely salvageable – scrap metal, paper, plastic bags, aluminium cans, bottles - whatever could be recycled. These trashpickers would carry their loads - typically weighing around 500kg - on their backs, making their way from their points of collection to their points of storage. Carrying out their work in the sweltering heat and often dangerous and unsanitary conditions, these catadores had an average life expectancy of 48 years. Nonetheless, Jardim Gramacho provided direct support for 4,500 catadores and indirect support for approximately 30,000 residents in the neighbouring favela. However, in June 2012 Jardim Gramacho was shuttered, leaving the catadores to face an uncertain future. Confronted with the potential environmental disaster that the landfill presented and the impending opening of the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian government had decided to close the landfill down. For over 30 years, it had been spewing a toxic soup out into Guanabara Bay, and at any moment, the mountain of waste, which reached 75 metres in height and spread over 1.3 million square metres, threatened to collapse directly into the bay. Moreover, Guanabara Bay had also been selected to host the Olympic sailing competition. With their cinematic lighting, meticulous staging and muted colours, Fred Merz’s portraits serve as a record of those who made their livelihood in Jardim Gramacho. In one portrait, distinctive of Merz’s style, his subject is simultaneously revealed and obscured; despite the catadore’s central heroic positioning in the image, he nonetheless appears faceless, literally disappearing under the burden of his day’s harvest. Other images depict a Dantesque world in which fires burn and pickers collapse as vultures circle overhead and shadowy figures labour through the dark night.
The Swiss photographer Fred Merz uses cinematic lighting and dramatic staging to document Rio de Janeiro’s Jardim Gramacho. In this series, Merz focuses on the nightmarish work of the catadores, the men and women who once earned
Junior 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
©Fred Merz
their living by sorting through the world’s former largest open-air landfill.
ŠFred Merz
Jardim Gramacho_03 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Catador_02 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Jardim_Gramacho_02 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Jardim_Gramacho_01 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Jardim Gramacho_05 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Catador_03 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Catador_01 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
ŠFred Merz
Jardim Gramacho_04 2010 Digital printing on micro-perforated tarpaulins 100 x 100 cm
Corinne L. Rusch Badrutt’s Palace & Co Marcel Boner
The photographic essay Badrutts Palace & Co by Corinne Rusch makes me relive those moments from my childhood when my grandfather took me to visit the surreal and scenic spots of the Canton of Grisons. I remember his stories where he described his workdays in the Châteaux and Grand Hotels of Grisons. In his stories there was always a curious, suspicious or mysterious person and when I look at the images of Corinne Rusch I feel like I’ve been propelled into the fourth dimension. Looking at her photographic paintings not only makes me relive my childhood memories but also fills me with a desire to invent dramatic stories, full of suspense, like in a film or piece of great literature. Time seems suspended in her photographic paintings like in the tale of Sleeping Beauty. They are also reminiscent of the language of the great classics of modern art like the signature hallmarks of Alfred Hitchcock, René Magritte, Edward Hopper or Gregory Crewdson. The photographs from the Badrutts Palace & Co series are midway between fantasy cinema and paintings of madness, evocative of the hidden side of humanity. In them, we discover anonymous figures whose faces betray no emotion, as if the backdrops or situations are supposed to be expressive in their stead. As cognitive science has shown, the word ‘movement’ can be used to refer to the primal connection between time and space. Movement simultaneously generates both time and space like two inseparable sides of the same phenomenon; space as the overall, concurrent, cardinal, immobile and reversible viewpoint, and time as the analytical, sequential, ordinal, mobile and irreversible viewpoint. While the events in Corinne’s photographic images are frozen, they are also an invitation to us to discover what it is that lies in our subconscious and to weave our own imaginary webs.
Horse and Girl, 2009 analog C-Print auf Dibond 3/3 + 2 AP 100 x 120 cm Next page Wrong Sheppard, 2010 analog C-Print auf Dibond 3/3 + 2 AP 110 x 140 cm
ŠCorinne L. Rusch
ŠCorinne L. Rusch
ŠCorinne L. Rusch
Leftover analog C-Print auf Dibond 3/3 + 2 AP 110 x 140 cm
Lost in patterns 1, 2007 analog C-Print auf Dibond 3/3 + 2 AP 110 x 140 cm
ŠCorinne L. Rusch
Next page Overtime 1, 2007 analog C-Print auf Dibond 3/3 + 2 AP 80 x 100 cm
ŠCorinne L. Rusch
1/ŠCorinne Mercadier
As with scattered fragments of a dream upon awakening, our gaze wanders from one photograph to the next as we attempt to construct a narrative by piecing together the elements with which we are presented. Slowly, as the landscape starts to become more familiar, we recognise these enigmatic figures as a reflection of our own place within the world.
Corinne Mercadier Solo. Francesca Wilkins
Until recently, Corinne Mercadier’s work was based around the use of polaroid film, which she used to capture images that blurred the boundaries between reality and fiction. Solo, one of her most recent series, steps away from her previous working method to create the surreal scenes, characteristic of her style, through new means. The photographs from this series incite curiosity, inevitably leading the viewer to wonder wherein their significance lies. Do the figures represent individuals or are they visual allegories - personifications of virtues or ideas? And where is it that they find themselves? Are these the landscapes of the photographer’s dreams? Helped by various friends and assistants, Corinne has staged these elegant theatrical scenes on salt flats and empty airport runways. With only a few slight details to indicate their connection to this world, these abstract expanses are evocative of the atmosphere in surrealist paintings - abandoned De Chirico sets or empty Tanguy paintings. Enigmatic figures inhabit these undefined spaces, like actors in the spotlight of an empty stage. At times, they are depicted interacting with playful elements - simple, floating objects guided by an unseen magnetism. In other images, they may be seen coming together, engaged in a dialogue of silence, scattered across a field or standing side by side, so close yet never touching. With their backs turned to us, the subjects’ identities remain for the most part concealed. Like characters in a Brechtian play, they become immersed in their own private worlds while patiently awaiting the photographer’s instructions. For Corinne, it is in this moment that her subjects also become a part of her world. Thus frozen in a state of suspension, the figures and objects become a juncture between movement and stillness. It is this small fragment of time and space which is of interest to Corinne, that 1/800th of a second in which movement and stillness converge, perceived only by the camera. As with many of Corinne’s series, the images in Solo are part inspired by her intriguing ink and gouache drawings, which indeed 1_ Quintet 2 2_ Les planètes 3_ Orchestre 4_ Toute pensée 5_ Fata Morgana 6_ Quintet 1
Camera : EOS 5D Digital print on paper Hannemühle Rag Baryta, 80x120 cm.
serve as works of art in themselves. In some instances, these works verge towards the sculptural with simple geometric shapes replacing human figures to generate new narratives. It is through these images of a parallel reality that Corinne is able to explore her relationship with the world.
2/©Corinne Meærcadier
3/©Corinne Meærcadier
4/©Corinne Meærcadier
4/©Corinne Meærcadier
5/©Corinne Meærcadier
Manel Armengol The Garden of the Warriors Nancy Brokaw
In 1980, Manel Armengol moved into La Pedrera, Casa Milà,
and in silence because he did not want to disturb the neighbours
an apartment block designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.
below. But his evenings transported him, conjuring primal memories
Like all Gaudí’s mature buildings, La Pedrera is a work of personal
of a mythic time.
imagination, inspired by natural forms. It is famous for its undulating
Upon finding twenty or thirty rolls of expired slide film in his
ceilings, curved corridors, columns, courtyards, wrought-iron balco-
refrigerator, Armengol decided to experiment. During these nightly
nies, and a rooftop garden populated with enigmatic helmeted figures
excursions, he started to take long night exposures in the darkening
that stand guard over the architect’s dream castle.
light. He found that the expired tungsten film produced an intense,
On Armengol’s first visit to La Pedrera, a friend had slipped
mystical blue, while his daylight film produced earthy, ochre tones. As
him a key to the roof and it was thus that he made his first acquain-
such, with its maze of stairways and groupings of warriors, the roof-
tance with the Garden of Warriors. For Armengol, the roof evoked
top created an enigmatic landscape, evocative of a gateway between
thoughts of primordial times—of Genesis and the Ramayana—but also
heaven and earth, this world and the next, life, death and rebirth.
of Gaston Bachelard and his exploration of the poetics of space, of
Although these photographs were taken in secrecy and for
the ways that the places we inhabit shape our deepest thoughts and
private use, a few years later they would enter the light of day. La
desires.
Pedrera would change hands, and the new owners effect a restora-
Every night, Armengol would make his way up to the top of
tion. Upon the unveiling of Gaudí’s masterpiece reborn, it was Armen-
La Pedrera and photograph the imposing figures that he found there.
gol’s photographs that would appear in the tribute book entitled The
Today, it is with fondness that he recalls these nightly visits. They were
Garden of the Warriors.
conducted in secrecy because his access to the key was unofficial
As soon as he had moved into Antoni Gaudí’s apartment building La Pedrera, the Barcelona-based photographer Manel Armengol climbed up to the rooftop of the Garden of Warriors and, using expired film, began to shoot the surreal landscape that he discovered there. The images he captured depicted enigmatic figures that seemed to emerge from a mythical time; inhabitants of an otherworldly place, allusive of a land of magic.
1_Door II, 1982 Ilfochrome Classic, 55x36,5 cms.
4_Secret Protectors, 1982 Ilfochrome Classic, 55x36,5 cms
2_Protectors of Silence, 1983 Ilfochrome Classic, 36,5x55 cms
5_Emerging Dragon, 1983 Ilfochrome Classic, 36,5x55 cms
3_Hyperborean, 1982 Ilfochrome Classic, 55x36,5 cms
6_Winged Dragon, 1983 Ilfochrome Classic, 55x36,5 cms
Olympus OM-2 Kodak Ecktachrome 64T, 200
1/ŠManel Armengol
2/ŠManel Armengol
3/ŠManel Armengol
4/ŠManel Armengol
5/ŠManel Armengol
6/ŠManel Armengol
Fotoii’s selection Emmanuel Gavillet Shipwreck of time.
We can’t stop time, it’s true... The search for lost time, pure delirium... Regular twinges of apprehension... Diving into the infinite blue of the sea... Discovering the time-continent, forever frozen. Upon each meeting, always this same feeling. A subtle mix of fascination and regret... Partake not in this feast of eternity for a single moment, only... Before the little souls completely blissful in the current. A few shards of splen-
Hellcat Pentax 6x7, Lens : 45mm HP5 1600 ISO
©Emmanuel Gavillet
dour from time stopped, I fly, tirelessly...
Photo-Festivals 2014
For further informationvisit :
The Biennial was first established in 1997 and has since gained recognition. Always centered around a particular theme, the
Berlin), and more recently Frits Gierstberg (Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam).
event delivers a high quality artistic programme, which also ensures
For its 9th edition, BIP 2014 will explore the multi-faceted
the greatest possibility accessibility, that is to say affordable entrance
theme of “PIXELS OF PARADISE / Image and Belief” with eleven
fees, artistic mediation systems, workshops etc. Hosted in Liège, it is
exhibitions to be held in several venues across the city from 15 March
an event which supports young emerging artists from Belgium and
until 25 May 2014. ‘Image’ and ‘belief’ will be the two key words for
abroad as well as internationally recognised artists. Each Biennial
this 2014 festival and it is the complex connection between these
offers the unique opportunity to discover the artistic creations of one
two words that BIP 2014 will attempt to explore through the presen-
specific country invited to exhibit a selection of artists. It is as such
tation of a selection of art works that combines documentary visions,
that the Biennial has, since it was first created, been able to establish
installations and sculptural approaches. The relationship between the
ties with several foreign partners such as Rui Prata (Museu Da Ima-
notions of mystification and the sacred will also constitute a common
gem/ Encontros Da Imagem - Braga), the Berlin based curators Dr.
theme running throughout this eclectic selection.
Matthias Harder (Helmut Newton Stiftung) and Felix Hoffmann (C/O
BIP International Biennial of Photography and Visuals Arts Liège
from march 15 until may 25, 2014.
www.bip-liege.org
info@bip-liege.org
Calendar Festivals
bip 2014 2014-Mar-15 - 2014-May-25 Luik . Belgium www.bip-liege.org
FotoFestiwal Łódz Jun 05 – Jun 15, 2014 Łódz . Poland www.fotofestiwal.com
FOTOFEST 2014 2014-Mar-15 - 2014-Apr-27 Houston . Texas U.S.A. www.fotofest.org
Copenhagen Photo Festival Jun 05 – Jun 15, 2014 Copenhagen . Denmark www.copenhagenphotofestival.com
HPB 14 2014-Mar-27 - 2014-May-04 Helsinki . Finland www.hpb.fi
Belfast Photo Festival Jun 06 – Jun 30, 2014 Belfast . North Ireland www.belfastphotofestival.com
QFP 5 - 2014 2014-April Queensland . Australia www.festivalofphotography.com.au
Lumix Jun 18 – Jun 22, 2014 Hannover . Germany www.fotofestival-hannover.de
PSPF 2014 Apr 27 – May 02, 2014 Palm Springs . California . U.S.A. 2014.palmspringsphotofestival.com
f-stop Jun 23 – Jul 01, 2014 Leipzig . Germany www.f-stop-leipzig.de
hEADoN photo festival 2014 May 12 – Jun 08, 2014 Sydney . Australia www.headon.com.au
PhotoIreland Jul 01 – Jul 31, 2014 Dublin . Ireland www.photoireland.org
Les Boutographies 2014 May 17 – Jun 01, 2014 Montpellier . France www.boutographies.com
Les Rencontres Arles Jul 07 – Sep 21, 2014 Arles . France www.rencontres-arles.com
lounges in the old Sulzereal, the beautiful industrial district at the
London Photo Festival May 22 – May 24, 2014 London . United Kingdom www.londonphotofestival.org
Bienne Festival of Photography Aug 22 – Sep 14, 2014 Bienne . Switzerland www.2014.jouph.ch
late into the night.
imageSingulières May 28 – Jun 15, 2014 Sète . France www.imagesingulieres.com
Images 2014 Sep 13 – Oct 05, 2014 Vevey . Switzerland www.images.ch
Photo ESPANA Jun 04 – Jul 27, 2014 Madrid . Spain www.phe.es
EMOP 2014 Okt 16 – Nov 16, 2014 Berlin . Germany www.mdf-berlin.de
Jungkunst n°9 : Multilayered Art Festival Already at its 9th edition, Jungkunst invites you to its exhibition of young artists from the contemporary Swiss art scene. Via this unique platform, 25 talents will exhibit their paintings, photographs, drawings, videos, sculptures and installations. Shops, bars and heart of Winterthur in which the festival will be held, will serve to create a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, Jungkunst will also provide a programme of live music for an art experience that will run
www.jungkunst.ch www.facebook.com/jungkunst https://twitter.com/jungkunst_ch
Calendar Exhibitions
Switzerland
New Photography from Switzerland Cédric Eisenring, Thomas Julier, Matthias Gabi, Dominique Koch, Adrien Missika, Shirana Shahbazi and Herbert Weber. Mar 08 - Aug 24, 2014 Fotomuseum Winterthur www.fotomuseum.ch
Works 1969 - 1987 Robert Overby Jan 31 – Apr 27, 2014 Centre d’Art GE Rue Vieux-Grenadiers 10 Geneva . Switzerland www.centre.ch
Andrea Garbald Fotograf und Künstler Feb 15 – May 11, 2014 Bündner Kunstmuseum Postplatz Chur . Switzerland www.buendner-kunstmuseum.ch
Peter Dammens Mare-Reportagen Feb 23 – Apr 06, 2014 MAZ Galerie Murbacherstrasse 3 Lucerne . Switzerland www.mazgalerie.ch
Pierre-Yves Massot Feb 23 – Apr 06, 2014 FRI ART Petites-Rames 22 Freiburg . Switzerland www.fri-art.ch
Astonish me! Philippe Halsman Jan 29 – May 11, 2014 Musée Elysée 18, avenue de l’Elysée Lausanne . Switzerland www.elysee.ch
Tant et temps de passages Bernard Dubuis 2013-Nov-11 - 2014-May-04 Musée suisse de l’appareil photographique Grande Place 99 Vevey . Switzerland www.cameramuseum.ch
Martin Kollar Mar 05 – Apr 12, 2014 QUAI N°1 Place de la Gare 3 Vevey . Switzerland www.images.ch
I might be in love with you Claudio Rasano Mar 27 – May 10, 2014 OSLO 8 Oslostrasse 8-10 Basel . Switzerland www.oslo8.ch
Beat Sscweizer An der Frostgrenze Feb 01 – Apr 20, 2014 Photoforum PasquArt Seevorstadt 71 Biel . Switzerland www.photoforumpasquart.ch
L’usage du paysage Max Regensberg Jan 24 –Mar 23, 2014 Centre de la Photographie 28, rue des Bains Geneva . Switzerland www.centrephotogeneve.ch
Untitled Horrors Cindy Sherman Jun 06 – Sep 14, 2014 Kunsthaus Heimplatz1 Zürich . Switzerland www.kunsthaus.ch
Country Limit Ronan Guillou Mar 09 – Apr 20, 2014 Galerie FOCALE Place du Château 4 Nyon . Switzerland www.focale.ch
Passing through Tod Papageorge Jan 23 – Mar 29, 2014 Gallery Focus 21 Beethovenstrasse 20 Zürich . Switzerland www.hammergallery.ch
La montagne d’ombre et de lumière Jacques Pugin Mar 07 – Apr 11, 2014 AD Galerie Place de Savoie 2 Nyon . Switzerland www.ad-galerie.com
Vive l’Amerique Erwin Blumenfeld Feb 06 – Mar 15, 2014 Edwynn Houk Gallery Stockerstrasse 33 Zürich . Switzerland www.houkgallery.com
Europe
Switzerlanders Olivier Vogelsang Jan 01 – Apr 30, 2014 Galerie Leica Hauptstrasse 104 Nidau . Switzerland www.leica-camera.ch
So nah, so fern Irene Stehli Mar 08 – May 25, 2014 Fotostiftung Schweiz Grüzenstrasse 45 Winterthur . Switzerland www.fotostiftung.ch
Ballet Henry Leutwyler Mar 13 – May 04, 2014 Photobastei Bärengasse 29 Zurich . Switzerland www.photobastei.ch
Manor Kunstpreis 2013 Veronika Spierenburg until Apr 21, 2014 Aargauer Kunsthaus Aargauerplatz Aarau . Switzerland www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch
Le Lynx Press photography until Jun 08, 2014 FoMu Antwerp . Belgium www.fotomuseum.be
Carnets photographiques Costa Gavras until Avr 03, 2014 Maison de la Photographie Lille . France www.maisonphoto.com
Le Conflit Intérieur Gilles Caron until May 18, 2014 Musée de la Photographie Charleroi . Belgium www.museephoto.be
America Latina, 1960 – 2013 until Apr 06, 2014 Fondation Cartier Paris . France www.fondation.cartier.com
Ponte City Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse until Apr 20, 2014 Le Bal Paris . France www.le-bal.fr
Protographies Oscar Muñoz Jun 03 – Sep 14, 2014 Jeu de Paume Paris . France www.jeudepaume.org
Schöne Neue BRD? Autorenfotografie der 1980er Jahre Apr 25 – Jun 29, 2014 Museum für Photographie Braunschweig . Germany www.photomuseum.de
Werkschau U. Mahler und W. Mahler Apr 11 - Jun 29, 2014 Deichtorhallen Hamburg . Germany www.deichtorhallen.de
Richard Hamilton until May 26, 2014 Tate Modern London . United Kingdom www.tate.org.uk
Another London International Photographers until Apr 20, 2014 MAMM Moscow . Russia www.mamm-mdf.ru
Between Realities Photography in Sweden until May 11, 2014 Hasselblad Foundation Gothenburg . Sweden www.hasselbladfoundation.org
Theater of the Absurd Roger Ballen Mar 14 – Jun 07, 2014 Fotografiska Stockholm . Sweden www.fotografiska.eu
Book Reviews
82 . David Thomson
The Waiting Game Txema Salvans
Transient Confessions Corinne L. Rusch
Lebensmittel Michael Schmidt
The title of this two-volume set, 82, gives little clue to the content beyond the fact that 82 photos are included in each volume. Like some bureaucratic code, it marks but does not describe. All the images included in the two volumes date from WWII and none were taken by professional photographers. In the back of each volume the images are exhibited at their actual size, like specimens, showing both front and back sides. In the front sections, meanwhile, the same images are enlarged and we can travel inside them. The edit is like a guidebook to the stratified emotions that exist in our warlike nature. Volume 1 gives us a fleeting glance at the temporal nature of material culture as it rides alongside unfolding conflict. Volume 2 draws on the human cost. 82 is like no other narrative you will have seen before and is so layered that no amount of analysis will end in firm conclusion.
A collection of a series of photographs taken by Txema Salvans (born in 1971) over the course of six years, The Waiting Game documents the exercise of prostitution along the highways of Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Disguised as a surveyor, Salvans was able to photograph a world of prostitution with an emphasis on the decidedly unerotic quality of the actual environs - intersections, roundabouts, dead-end streets, hard shoulders. The photographs in his book present the solitary figure of the waiting woman as a stereotypical image of objectified sexuality in a landscape that is at once striking and tragic. As he explores the varied and often surprising gamut of human longings and behaviours, Salvans is able to achieve a balance of sociological dissection and naturalistic narration, presenting the image of the prostitute as an almost impersonal component of a larger mechanism.
The photographer Corinne L. Rusch guides us through the fascinating and surreal world of the most prominent Grand Hotels of Switzerland and South Tyrol (Alto Adige). These locations are renowned in a very special way for their stunning beauty and diverse history. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, it was here that the rich and beautiful used to meet and party, staying for weeks and even months to idle around, play sport and start new love affairs and intrigues. Rusch stages her photos with great sensitivity and precision in these fin de siècle settings and in doing so is able to reveal certain aspects of present-day society in a new light. Available in English and German.
“Photographer Michael Schmidt’s latest obsession is the mechanised, industrialised food system of contemporary Western culture. Using his trademark style combining social documentary and urban topographics, he explores the fascinating topic of how we feed ourselves, from the farm to the table (or the fast-food restaurant). This impeccably produced book, clothbound, embossed and slipcased, is a series of images only – no text – that looks at the processes and residue of the food system in Europe. The images are arresting, and the subject matter urgent, whether it’s a huge pile of discarded food or the details of turning nutrition into big business.” (Publisher) Lebensmittel was selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 in Paris by: Adam Bell - Colin Pantall - Martin Parr - Christian Patterson and Tom Claxton.
ISBN 978-0-9570490-4-8
ISBN 978-8-415118-57-2
ISBN 978-3-86678-643-1
ISBN 978-3-940953-93-3
2 volumes, hardcover,
Hardback,
Hardback, 132 pages
264 pages
157 pages per volume
88 pages
24 color prints
Published 2012
Published October 2013
Published 2013
Published 2013
China Memories Marco Paoluzzo
The Colors of Growth Andreas Seibert
Rasen Kaigan Lieko Shiga
Davos Joel Tettamanti
Photographer Marco Paoluzzo first became interested in China decades ago, however for political reasons the passionate world traveller refused to visit the country until 1998. It was at this time that two friends invited him to collaborate on a book about Shanghai. He quickly became fascinated by the land, and it was here that he also went on to meet his now wife Feifei. He has since returned to China almost every year, and each time he has made new discoveries. This book is the fruit of his numerous exploratory journeys taken at random throughout the Chinese countryside. It is the photographer’s personal travel log, documenting China’s leap from the Maoist era into the 21st century and capturing life in China in all its simultaneous complexity and simplicity.
While China’s spectacular growth has brought much prosperity, it has also brought serious damage to the environment. For photographer Andreas Seibert, the present state of the Huai River is a clear example of these problems. Indeed several stretches of the river have become so seriously polluted with toxic waste that people have been advised not to even touch the water. Seibert has travelled along this river from source to mouth in order to record how a stretch of water, which has sprung up from amidst unspoiled nature can change into such a large and poisonous river. The pictures taken on his travels present China’s poverty-stricken hinterlands, generally forgotten in discussions of China, showing the people who live on and near the river in a habitat on the brink of destruction.
Rasen Kaigan is a monumental tome of a book – a dark, visceral journey into the hallucinogenic world of Japanese photographer Lieko Shiga. Focused loosely around day-to-day activities in the Kitakama area, we are led into a dense, kaleidoscopic frenzy. Beaches are plagued with crop circle scars. Frozen prawns become spinning Catherine wheels. Figures enter the fold in a dream-like trance. Twists and turns abound – the unexpected is to be thoroughly expected and nothing is beyond limits. Through an intense saturation of the colours, a piercing flash or the deep, impenetrable blacks, everyday scenes are invariably transformed into something far more sinister. As such, an extended series of flash-lit rocks becomes mesmerisingly ambiguous, our sense of scale completely fractured. Shiga has created a vast, brooding, psychedelic universe, which has an irresistible pull.
Joël Tettamanti (*1977) is one of Switzerland’s most celebrated young photographers. Educated at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, Tettamanti has exhibited his works in galleries in cities around the world, including New York, London, Paris, Zurich and São Paulo, and has published his photographs in esteemed magazines such as Wallpaper, Icon, Domus and Vogue. In 2007, Tettamanti was commissioned to produce a series of photographs of Davos, one of the most beautiful and exclusive skiing resorts in the world as well as the site of the annual World Economic Forum’s summit of global leaders. This volume gathers together many of these photographs along with several previously unpublished images, providing a unique perspective on the mountain city that reveals its empty valleys and underlying infrastructure.
ISBN 978-3-7165-1694-2
ISBN 978-3-03778-295-8
ISBN 978-4-90354-592-9
ISBN 978-3-85881-5298-8
216 pages
272 pages
280 pages
136 pages
Published 2011
Published 2013
Published 2013
Published 2009
PhotoforumPasquArt Faubourg du Lac 71 CH-2502 Bienne TĂŠl +41 32 322 44 82 www.photoforumpasquart.ch office@photoforumpasquart.ch Mercredi - vendredi 14 -18h Samedi - dimanche 11 - 18h (lundi et mardi fermĂŠ)
Established in Bienne,
in 2013 and Matthieu Gafsou in
bitions dedicated to established
watch metropolis and largest
2008, and forms part of the esta-
contemporary artists.
bilingual city in Switzerland, the
blished accolades in the field of
Founded in 1984 and
PhotoforumPasquArt is a major
Swiss photography. The accom-
supported by partnership, the
exhibition centre dedicated to
panying exhibition SELECTION |
public authorities and the private
contemporary photography. Its
AUSWAHL serves, for its part, as
sector, the PhotoforumPasquArt
programmes have a particular
a significant insight into growing
belongs to the Bienne Centre
focus on present-day photogra-
photographic practices as well
PasquArt, a contemporary art
phic narratives with solo exhibi-
as a springboard for the artists.
space created in 1990 that
In addition to its own
tions specifically dedicated to
brings together several partners
emerging talents. It also includes
events,
PhotoforumPas-
active in the various sectors of
exhibitions of a thematic nature,
quArt also develops its activities
the visual arts world. It includes
which examine in particular social
through partnerships in Swit-
an exhibition space of almost
problems and issues associated
zerland and abroad. The institu-
300 square metres and provides
with the various uses of photo-
tion actively contributes to the
the ideal setting for discussions
graphy. Furthermore, part of the
Bienne Festival of Photography
and meetings between artists
programming is always devoted
for which it creates innovative
and the public.
to an annual event especially ai-
exhibitions. It also belongs to a
med at encouraging the next ge-
European network of locations
neration - the Photoforum Prize.
for the promotion of photogra-
To date this latter has awarded
phy that enable the curation of
21 winners, like Delphine Burtin
large-scale monographic exhi-
the
Gilles Favez
Fine Art Prints on Silver Gelatine Papers Vevey . Switzerland +41 21 921 25 78 contact@gillesfavez.ch
Impressum
Publisher – Editor Marcel Boner Writers Marcel Boner Nancy Brokaw Francesca Wilkins Concept Marcel Boner Ramón López Joachim Richter Visual Concept Ramón López Photographers Manel Armengol www.manelarmengol.com Emmanuel Gavillet www.pourquoi-pas.ch Corinne Mercadier www.corinnemercadier.com Fred Merz www.rezo.ch Corinne L. Rusch www.corinnerusch.com Proofreading Rebecca Lim Contact Fotoii Association Place de la Gare 3 PO Box 420 1800 Vevey . Switzerland mag@fotoii.com ISSN 2296-7141
ÃÃÕiÊ Êää£Ê
ALPA 12 TC
w w w. a l p a . c h >ÀV ÊÓä£{Ê
ÛiÛiÞÊUÊÃÜ ÌâiÀ > `Ê
ÜÜÜ°v Ì °V