GUP #030 - Metropolitan

030.

Guide to Unique Photography Europe e 7,00

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intro

GUP#30

Totem #7, Š Alain Delorme

The Metropolitan Issue

Throughout history, photographers have turned their cameras on the extreme human conditions present within the populous urban core. Polluted and unhealthy, characterised by dangerous class divisions and social tension, the metropolitan area is a place of degeneration and decadence, and at many levels embodies society’s ills. Despite this, we opted for a wider view of today’s megalopolis: The photographers hereby presented encompass the entire scope of human life within our ever-growing cultural spaces, ultimately more complex than we could ever imagine. An art of strolling will thus be needed to encounter what is at stake in this plussize issue. Yes! As you have probably noticed, GUP has gained weight. You better get used to it, because we will continue as a quarterly magazine from now on. Broader than Broadway, four times per year, the content of these print editions is nevertheless a shadow of what we actually have to offer. Want more? Visit

www.gupmagazine.com, and explore our ever-expanding

and up-to-date virtual photopolis.

Erik Vroons, Chief Editor 5

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shadow archives

Lost Cities

by Victor Engbers

Machu Picchu was eventually abandoned by its inhabitants and consumed by the jungle. It is the ultimate fate of all cities to vanish. Or fade into the surrounding landscape. Nature patiently awaits the moment when it can take control again. But sometimes cities disappear simply because we change our ideas about them. This picture, taken from a tourist guide to a city in Poland, originates from the communist era and we can still see in it a hopeful future of socialistic ideals. Yet, in hindsight, we cannot help but see these apartment buildings, however sunny they appear, as a symbol of a failed notion.

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interview

Nine Eyes An interview with Jon Rafman

Most spiders have eight eyes. Google has nine. Jon Rafman (1981, Montreal), an artist-cum-netronaut always on the frontline of our virtual expansion, is fascinated by Google's panoramic views that support our insatiable need for navigation. Thanks to Sid Lee Collective GUP met up with Jon in real life and asked him some questions concerning his Nine Eyes project.

What made you decide to initiate this project?

In 2007, Google started to send out an army of hybrid electric automobiles, each one bearing nine cameras on a single pole. I am interested in how they approach the registration of the world as a neutral, unbiased recording. But also in the vastness of the project. This infinitely rich mine of material gives me the opportunity to explore, interpret and curate a new place in a new way.

How do you select?

One year ago, I started collecting screen captures from a range of Street View blogs and through my personal hunting. To a certain extent, the aesthetic considerations that form the basis of my choices in different collections vary. Initially, I was attracted to the noisy amateur aesthetic of the raw images; an urgency that I felt was present in earlier street photography. With the panoramas, I can locate images of gritty urban life reminiscent of that hard-boiled style of imagery.

You mentioned street photography. In what way does Google Street View relate to that tradition or genre?

Unspoiled by the sensitivities or agendas of a human photographer, Google Street Views recorded a never-beforeseen side of humanity, urbanity and photography itself. Yet the mode of production – an automated camera shooting from a height of eight feet from the middle of the street, the blurring of faces, the unique digital texture – nonetheless limits and defines the images’ visual aesthetic.

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Subway

by Bruce Davidson

netropolis | los angeles

All images Š Michael Najjar

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michael najjar

Michael Najjar (1966, Germany) belongs to the second generation of artists who have made it their mission to further the development of digital image processing. But he also has much to say about augmented reality, interpersonal communication systems and networking, all significant concepts in regards to our urban landscapes. Living in the concrete jungle and being 'digital nomads' at the same time means that we commute between two spheres of life. As a total work of art, the mega city eludes our visual and experiential frameworks: viewed from close up, it only shows sections and segments; viewed from afar, all details are lost. Layered and empty, the lonely crowd is in constant flux. michaelnajjar.com

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netropolis | paris

wayne lawrence

Orchard Beach a bronx riviera

Photographer Wayne Lawrence (1974, USA) returned to the Bronx, a place he had visited 15 years earlier for summer break. Influenced by his memories of that time and by Bruce Davidson’s East 100th Street he began the journey to Orchard Beach - a mile long sliver of constructed shoreline situated in the north Bronx with a history as complex as the borough itself. Built in the 1930’s by famed architect Robert Moses, “The Bronx Riviera” has served as an oasis for generations of working class families, living in an environment defined by struggle. Orchard Beach has remained a respite from the harsh realities of the concrete jungle. As evident in these portraits, the spirit of survival remains. waynelawrenceonline.com instituteartistmanagement.com

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All images Š WassinkLundgren / courtesy Van Zoetendaal

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wassinklundgren

Tokyo Tokyo

Tokyo Tokyo 192 pages 216 x 305 mm Kodoji Press in association with the Archive of Modern Conflict, 2010 E32 / E220 (special edition of 50)

Since graduating from the Utrecht School of Arts in the Netherlands in 2005, Dutch artists Thijs groot Wassink (1981) and Ruben Lundgren (1983) work on photography and film projects that turn mundane, often unnoticeable, everyday occurrences into visually compelling and gently amusing observations of the world around us. Tokyo Tokyo is their latest book, consisting of a series of diptychs in which the mythical ‘decisive moment’ of traditional documentary photography is lampooned. For weeks on end, the dynamic duo wandered through a city that was at the same time strange and familiar, resulting in a double gaze at the people and places they encountered in split seconds. wassinklundgren.com

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murat germen

Safranbolu, Turkey

M u ta - M o r p h o s i s

For Murat Germen (1968, Turkey) photography is an opportunity to find things others often ignore. In his attempts to defamiliarise ordinariness, he has created a multidimensional cityscape of his hometown Istanbul.

Muta-morphosis is a logical result of the traces left by various people; the co-existence of slices of time. For what else is the

city than an urban complexity? There is a dynamic between the architectural components that can persist and the ones that give up, vanish in the various historical, residential and business districts. These panoramas thus serve as monuments for a mutating, metamorphic metropolitan tissue. muratgermen.com 27

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Istanbul, Turkey

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As urban environments become increasingly dependent on the efficient use of space, high-rise structures offer the solution to overpopulation issues. Lifts enabled the development of multi-storied buildings and fundamentally altered urban landscapes a nd social space. Tokyo epitomises the densely populated megalopolis, where elevators are a showcase for the basic paradox of personal alienation in urban living: the inescapable physical proximity countered by emotional distance.

Triggered by this phenomenon, Xavier Comas (1970, Spain) explores vertical transportation in the intimacy of the lift cabin, a moment of silence suspended in space and time, which nonetheless yields a rich array of subtle interactions between strangers on the shortest-ever journey. xavicomas.com

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xavi comas

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Totem #8

Totems Alain Delorme (1979, France) went into the heart of contemporary China and confronts us with its complexity. Under the blue sky of a sour Shanghai, men carry unlikely and seemingly unstable piles of anything. Is this for real?! Manufacturing, that is what it is all about. A reflection of what is reproducible and interchangeable, portraying the insignificant jobs present in Shanghai. But they are also sculptures, real works of art. Even though Chinese society usually fascinates with its delusions of grandeur, Delorme consciously chooses to focus on the individuals and crazy logistics of an Oriental metropolis balancing its way through the 21st century. alaindelorme.com

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alain delorme

Totem #3

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hassan hajjaj

Kesh Angels

Photographer and designer Hassan Hajjaj (1961, Morocco) presents a unique take on the joyful street culture of his native country, which comes to life in vibrant, upbeat images. Kesh Angels is a tribute to the biker culture of the young women of Marrakesh. Directing them in theatrical poses with their scooters, motorcycles and colourful outfits, Hajjaj creates images that reflect their strength, style and street-smart attitude. In veils and djellabas, the Kesh Angels respect a certain tradition, but their presence is defiantly modern. He then juxtaposes these portraits with ephemera from the medina in unique, handmade frames and bright, Pop-Art colours. hassan-hajjaj.com

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The Ruins of Detroit Detroit qualifies as the most ruined city in the USA. Comparable to those of the ancient civilisations, many of its landmark buildings, once a source of civic pride, now stand as monuments to the ephemeral glory of 20th-century industriousness and prosperity. This at least becomes apparent in the work of Yves Marchand (1981, France) and Romain Meffre (1987, France), which records the results of annual arson attacks, bankruptcy, crime and decay.

Only the smashed windows of abandoned buildings recall a city where Henry Ford built his greatest factories and where he revolutionised the production process. The project started in 2005 and eventually evolved into a series of exhibitions and an incredible-looking book. marchandmeffre.com

Hardback 200 pages 370 x 295mm Steidl, 2010 ISBN 9783869300429 â‚Ź88 / ÂŁ78 / $125

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yves marchand & romain meffre

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albrecht gerlach

Frentistas In Rio de Janeiro, many, many girls work at petrol stations in very, very short shorts. This phenomenon of the 'Frentistas' caught the eye of fashion photographer Albrecht Gerlach and stylist Heleen Out. The girls are preferred to men because of their kindness and grace. That, and their ultra-mini uniforms. So what exactly is sold here?! Sexual connotations of all kind are stirred. Not much Freud is needed to understand why men visiting these petrol stations get easily pumped up when refuelled. Apparently, when it comes to energy trading, all is fair in the game of urban mobility... albrechtgerlach.com

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noorderlicht.com

METROPOLIS

City Life in the Urban Age Is a decent, humane life possible in a modern megalopolis that is bursting at its seams? On May 23, 2007 for the first time in history more people lived in cities than in the countryside: 3.3 billion people on 3% of the earth's surface.

This development has far-reaching implications.

The Noorderlicht Photofestival 2011 will deal with the role of the city as the nerve centre for our modern globalised society - running the gamut from utopia to dystopia. Noorderlicht has collaborated with GUP to offer our readers an exclusive sneak preview, highlighting the work of some of the photographers who will be presented during the festival.

METROPOLIS: City Life in the Urban Age 11 September through 9 October 2011 Groningen, The Netherlands Main venue: Aa-church (centre Groningen city)

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noorderlicht festival

Š Michael Wolf

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Thirteen Twenty Lacuna Once, while venturing through the city in search for faces and light, Katrin Koenning (1978, Germany) came across this place in the Melbourne CBD. Light reaches it directly for only 20 minutes a day, around lunchtime, when people rush away from work to get sandwiches and coffees. During these few minutes, a transformation happens – faces are illuminated, dust twirls through rays of sun, cigarette smoke becomes an almost glistening silver- blue against dark buildings.

You can hear snippets of conversation and laughter between friends, and sometimes the muffled tum-tum of an iPod as if to draw attention to the lack of interaction between strangers. It’s a ‘mis-en-scene’, a theatre stage on which people become her protagonists for an instant.

Katrinkoenning.com

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katrin koenning

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New Coat Of Paint This work studies current practice of colour re-paintings of prefabricated panel buildings in post- communist cities. In everyday language of the 21st century, housing estates [sídliská] and prefabs [paneláky] are described as 'grey'. The meaning of 'greyness' bears implicit negative connotations – anonymity, boredom and desolation.

In such context, pink, yellow and green façades embody a longforgotten promise of happiness. By portraying these re-painted prefabs in black & white, Maros Krivy (1981, Slovak Republic) constructs visual relation with the utopian representation of housing estates in post-war era. Is urban utopia of today limited to colour ornaments, surface design and politics of envelopes? maroskrivy.eu

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maros krivy

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christoph gielen

Cipher As we are faced with an increasing world population, limited resources, and unstable financial markets: What can be considered a viable, sustainable growth process? Each picture segment is intended to target different manifestations of urban expansion.

The pictures of Christoph Gielen (1967, Germany) represent the beginning and the height of the housing market bubble, and a way of life in which neither distance from workplace or city centers nor gasoline prices much mattered. They belong to an era of carefree risk-taking, when investing in home-ownership and commercial real estate still made sense. christophgielen.com

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the netherlands europe africa middle east usa canada asia australia

Amsterdam

groningen

's Hertogenbosch

Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401 1016 EK Amsterdam T: +31 20 531 89 89 www.huismarseille.nl Retrospective Adam Fuss - Sep 4

Groninger Museum Museumeiland 1 9711 ME Groningen T: +31 50 366 65 55 www.groningermuseum.nl Chi Peng Me, Myself and I - Sep 25

Stedelijk Museum 's Hertogenbosch Magistratenlaan 100 5223 MB 's Hertogenbosch T: +31 73 62 73 680 www.sm-s.nl VOTH Various Artists - Sep 4

Joods Historisch Museum Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1 1011 PL Amsterdam T: +31 20 53 10 310 www.jhm.nl Unguarded moments Marianne Breslauer - Nov 13

Maastricht

Wouter van Leeuwen Galerie Hazenstraat 27 1016 SM Amsterdam The Netherlands T: +31 6 52 031 540 www.woutervanleeuwen.com Summer in the City Various Artists - Jul 23 Martin van Zomeren Gallery Prinsengracht 276hs 1016 HJ Amsterdam T: +31 20 420 8129 www.gmvz.nl Alexandra Leykauf Sep 10 - Oct 17

eindhoven Fotogalerie Eindhoven/ Fotoacademie Glaslaan 2 (SFJ gebouw, 2e etage) 5616 LW Eindhoven T: +31 40 402 07 90 www.photoacademyaward.com The Photo Academy Award Various Artists - Okt 1

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Centre Céramique Avenue Céramique 50 6221 KV Maastricht The Netherlands T: +31 43 350 56 00 www.centreceramique.nl Check Check... one two one two Various Artists - Aug 28

venlo Limburgs Museum Venlo Keulsepoort 5 5911 BX Venlo T: +31 77 352 21 12 www.limburgsmuseum.nl Het glazen album van Limburg 2 Various Artists - Sep 19

naarden

Austria

Grote Kerk Naarden Marktstraat 13 1411 CX Naarden www.grotekerknaarden.nl World Press Photo Various Artists - Aug 28

Camera Austria Lendkai 1 8020 Graz T: +43 316 815 55 00 www.camera-austria.at Manitoba Tobias Zielony - Sep 4

nijmegen

Le Bal 6 impasse de la Défense 75018 Paris T: +33 1 44 70 75 50 www.le-bal.fr Tokyo-E Various Artists - Aug 21

CZECH REPUBLIC

Jeu de Paume 1 place de la Concorde 75008 Paris T: +33 1 4703 1250 www.jeudepaume.org Retrospective Claude Cahun - Sep 25

Prague Biennale Photo Ceskoslovenskeho exilu 4 Praha 4 - Modrany, Prague T: +45 33 31 10 67 Prague Biennale Photo Various Artists - Sep 11

DENMARK

Germany

The National Museum of Photography The Royal Library Post box 2149 1016 Copenhagen T: +45 33 47 47 47 www.kb.dk Touching Dreams Various Artists - Aug 27

Helmut Newton Foundation Jebensstraße 2 10623 Berlin T: +49 30 318 64 856 www.helmutnewton.com Helmut Newton Polaroids Helmut Newton - Nov 20

FINLAND

Museum Het Valkhof Kelfkensbos 59 6511 TB Nijmegen T: +31 24 360 88 05 www.museumhetvalkhof.nl Kees Ivens and the Waalbrug Various Artists - Nov 6

BELGIUM

Rotterdam

Musée de la Photographie Avenue Paul Pastur11 6032 Charleroi T: +32 71 43 58 10 Nordic Water Tales Susanna Majuri - Sep 18

Witte de With Witte de Withstraat 50 3012 BR Rotterdam T: +31 10 41 101 44 www.wdw.nl The End of Money Various Artists - Aug 7

Espace photographique Contretype Verbindingslaan 1 1060 Brussel T: +32 02 538 42 20 On the Border - Brussels Satoru Toma - Sep 4

Fotomuseum Antwerpen Waalse Kaai 47 2000 Antwerp T: +32 32 42 93 00 Insight Various Artists - Sep 25

Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art Nykytaiteen Museo Mannerheiminaukio 2 00100 Helsinki T: +35 89 17 33 65 01 www.kiasma.fi ARS 11 Various Artists - Nov 27

FRANCE Galerie ACTE 2 41 rue d'Artois 75008 Paris T: +33 1 42 89 50 05 www.acte2photo.com Immortal Vee Speers - Aug 31

ARNDT Potsdamer Str. 96 10785 Berlin T: +49 30 206 13 870 www.arndtberlin.com Photo Works Julian Rosefeldt - Aug 27 CAMERA WORK Kantstr. 149 10623 Berlin T: +49 30 31 00 773 www.camerawork.de Arnold Crane - Sep 3

guide

– Sep 11

New Topographics Various Artists

© Stephen Shore

Nederlands Fotomuseum Wilhelminakade 332 3072 AR Rotterdam The Netherlands T: +31 10 203 04 05 nederlandsfotomuseum.nl

New Topographics is a remake of an influential exhibition about landscape photography that took place at the George Eastman House in Rochester (USA) in 1975. It comprised over a 100 vintage photos by ten photographers including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher who developed a new photographic vision of landscapes in the ’70s. More than three decades later, the original exhibition has been reassembled, this time with the addition of new works by Theo Baart, Marie-José Jongerius, Hans Gremmen and Frank van der Salm.

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– Sep 1

Inwards & Onwards © Anton Corbijn

Anton corbijn

During his career of more than 30 years, Anton Corbijn has worked with countless musicians and actors and has been the 'house photographer' for bands such as U2 and Depeche Mode. For this exhibition in FOAM, Corbijn made a selection of portraits that includes images of Gerhard Richter, Alexander McQueen, Richard Prince, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Anthony Kiedis, Bruce Springsteen, Lucian Freud and Karel Appel. Together, they give an impression of Corbijn’s favourite artists.

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Foam Keizersgracht 609 1017 DS Amsterdam The Netherlands T: +31 20 551 65 00 foam.org

guide

Jul 17 – Aug 28

Shot in 2011 © Jürgen Altmann

various artists

Artitled! has a promising summer show on offer. The gallery opted for a broad and diverse compilation of the work from exciting photographers from around the world, including Jürgen Altmann, Natalie Aye, Jeremy Blincoe, Allan Forsyth, Murat Germen, Hellen Schellens, Barbora Zurkova and Radim Zurek. Murat Germen (his portfolio is included in this magazine) will also have a solo exhibition in this lovely gallery in the south of The Netherlands.

ARTITLED! Contemporary Art Rogstraat 28 5373 AV Herpen The Netherlands T:+31 6 47 12 18 00 artitled.nl 53

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