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Part of a 3-screen projection, © Claudia Andujar
Part of a 3-screen projection, © Claudia Andujar
An ambitious and rewarding city-wide festival celebrating the photography and art of Brazil is taking place in Liege, Belgium through March 31, 2006. Spread out over 15 venues, the 5th Biennale showcases the works of young emerging artists, as well as accomplished photographers. It includes reportage, personal documentary, experimental, video, slide projections, anthropological studies and philosophical queries. Broad themes range from Tradition and Modernity, to Voices of Resistance, and even Football.
Some of the most rewarding work, for me, was shown at the two larger venues, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Chiroux, the Cultural Center of Liege. These focused mostly on the strange interactions of old and new, as captured by photography.
This exhibition is compelling, since many cultures worldwide are disappearing under the impact of globalization. Yet Brazil still possesses a living ethnic diversity which is rich in knowledge and tradition. The indigenous people of Brazil, (fewer than 370,000 divided into more than 220 groups, speaking 180 different languages) live in thousands of villages within 614 indigenous territories extending from the north to the south of the country. Many of these people use modern cameras while participating in traditional ceremonies and daily life. The results provide interesting insiders' perspectives.
© Babá Patchouli
© Penna Prearo
Contemporary photos, featuring the city-dwelling photographer and models, made to look like old-fashioned postcards of indigenous people. © Anna Bella Geiger
For more info: www.biennalephotoliege.com
Notes 2005, © Lou Reed. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
Lou Reed has just released his second book of photography titled Lou Reed’s New York. Published by Steidl, this project depicts New York through the lens of a man who has called the city home for decades and in turn has drawn much of his inspiration and energy from it. Reed, most notably known for his role in the innovative late 60’s avant-rock group, The Velvet Underground, has been photographing the city since the 70’s and has pieced together a collection of 50 recent landscape and portrait images.
“Two years and many cameras and lenses later, these images are the result of a small attempt to share the beauty that has bedazzled the consciousness of this viewer standing on the edge of the river with a box in hand trying to catch the lightning bolt of time. This is organic photography, a recording of the city’s celestial light show—the blazing changes from dawn to dusk across the Hudson—an everyday recording of the majestic flowing sky and waters produced by a deity of such endless talent and originality that a photographer can only snap, focus, and pray that this or that camera, lens, digital back, and all the technical advances coming by the minute can somehow capture a fragment of the quickly shifting magnitude being presented for the inspiration of anyone looking.”—Lou Reed
Lou Reed is showing his photographs in two simultaneous New York exhibitions at The Gallery at Hermès and Steven Kasher Gallery. Lou Reed’s New York can currently be purchased through the galleries and will be widely available soon.
For additional insight into this project, check out NPR for an in-depth interview with the photographer.
The Past 2005 © Lou Reed. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery
"A photographer is not a soldier nor a refugee, he is a spectator who tries to show a situation and if possible, also show how it feels". Bill Burke
San Francisco's PhotoAlliance has announced its Spring lecture series. These outstanding lectures offer intimate presentations and discussions of important work in photography. Typically, two lectures with slide shows are presented, and then there is an opportunity to mingle and talk with the artists (and the often-equally engaging members of the audience) over beer, wine or coffee, after the lectures. It's an ideal way to discover new work and/or meet notable photographers in a convivial setting.
The schedule includes: Bill Burke (February 24, Friday), An-My Le (March 31st, Friday, in collaboration with Aperture West), Joel Sternfeld (April 7th, Friday), Arno Minkkinen (April 18th, Tuesday), and Debbie Flemming Caffery (May 2nd, Tuesday).
First up, this week:
Friday, Febuary 24, 2006, 7:30pm
SFAI Theatre, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco
BILL BURKE and KIRSTEN RIAN
Bill Burke’s photography stems from a documentary tradition, but he embellishes and extends the format by incorporating autobiographical events and personal reflections into his images. Since 1982 Burke has made annual trips to Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos which are seen in two artists' books: Mine Fields ('95) and I Want to Take Picture ('87).
His most recent publication Autrefois, Maison Privée, traces the political and economic histories of that region through its architecture. “What the B-52s and tanks didn’t destroy during decades of war, developers from neighboring countries are busily replacing and defacing with their shrines of commerce.”
Born in 1943, Burke received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His photographs may be found in major collections such as the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Fine Art Boston, the J. Paul Getty Museum. the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art New York, as well as the Smithsonian Institution Washington.
He is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and five National Endowment for the Arts grants. Burke currently resides in Massachusetts and teaches at the school of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.
KIRSTEN RIAN
A nationally published poet, musician, painter and arts administrator, Rian has been active in the Portland arts community for 20 years. She has served as the Executive Director of Blue Sky Gallery/Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Inc., for the past 14 years.
This past year she traveled to Finland and held poetry workshops with women refugees relocated to Scandinavia. She also tutors refugees through IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Cultural Organization) and has worked with homeless adults in San Francisco through the Sixth Street Photography Workshop.
Rian will speak on these projects as well as her recent appointment as Executive Director of The Aftermath Project, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, committed to telling the story, through photography, of what it takes for individuals to overcome disaster, war and conflict.
More info can be found at www.photoalliance.org.
Unique forms and formats for photo books: Betsy Davids, "Cube"; Kenneth Wilkes, "Lost and Found"; Nigel Poor, "Found"
"There is the question of where to look for our photographic auteurs: in the mass-circulation magazines, or on the gallery wall? We believe that there is a discernible third, intermediate forum for the photographic auteur—the medium of the photobook—and that this can be considered photography's "natural" home."
—Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, "The Photobook: A History, vol. 1"
PHOTO BOOKS NOW is an exhibition of bookworks by photographers and artists curated by John DeMerritt and Steve Woodall at the San Francisco Center for the Book through April 28. Steve Woodall says this:
“Our modest agenda at the Center for the Book, our private motto, is “world domination through book arts,” and a primary objective of this exhibition is to bring the photo community into our evangelist's tent. We want photographers to be inspired to make books and to see a range of possibilities. The expressive bookform is destined to be an important art medium in the 21st Century, and photographers will certainly be among those at its vanguard.
"Some of the freshest expression in photographic book art is coming out of teaching institutions, where students are primed to exploit the advantages of all photo technologies, from the very new to the very old. The San Francisco Center for the Book, as a participant in the Center for Word, Text and Image at the San Francisco Art Institute, has developed ties with the school's photography department, and the strong presence of SFAI is seen in this exhibition in the work of students, faculty and alumni. Both Linda Connor and Jack Fulton, who have taught at SFAI for over three decades, have helped maintain high technical standards while encouraging experimentation."
San Francisco Center for the Book
February 3 – April 28
Panel discussion Friday, March 31, 7 pm
300 De Haro Street (16th St. entrance)
San Francisco, California
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 10-5
www.sfcb.org
Featured Artsits:
Arion Press / Michael Kenna, Wallace Berman, Jonathan Clark / Fred Sommer, Steven Cortright, Betsy Davids, Luis Delgado Qualtrough, Helen Douglas, Carolyn Fraser / Holly Morrison, Jack Fulton, Karen Hanmer, Michael Henninger, Germánn Herrera, Craig Hickman, Roni Horn, Susan King, Kumi Korf, Riya Lerner, Dennis Letbetter / Jack Stauffacher, Paula McCartney, Emily McVarish, Clifton Meador, Sara Cedar Millar, Howard Munson, Abner Nolan, Michael Pinney / John Miles, Sara Press, Jaime Robles, James Sansing, Alice Shaw, Peter Thomas, Lex Thompson, Ken Wilkes, Philip Zimmermann.
We're very pleased to launch an all-new volume of Lens Culture today.
We're especially honored to include audio commentaries and photographs by four outstanding photographers: Christine Spengler recounts her 30-plus years as a war photographer. Edward Burtynsky documents and discusses three recent years of rapid change in China. Isabel Munoz talks about her recent work with the tribal people of southern Ethiopia. Massimo Vitali talks about his large-format photos of people trying to relax in public places in Europe.
We are also very delighted to include: Jeff Cowen's photography from Cuba in 2005. Ernestine Ruben's early abstract/body photographs. Emerging artist Lucia Nimcova's work-in-progress from Slovakia called Instant Women. Natasha and Valera Cherkashin's photo collages from Russia.
We'll have more to add soon. In the meantime, enjoy!