...a photoBook is an autonomous art form, comparable with a piece of sculpture, a play or a film. The photographs lose their own photographic character as things 'in themselves' and become parts, translated into printing ink, of a dramatic event called a book...
- Dutch photography critic Ralph Prins
‘Happenings’ founder Grootveld dies Thursday 26 February 2009
Robert Jasper Grootveld, one of the most emblematic figures of the 60s provo (provocation) movement, has died in a nursing home at the age of 76.
Grootveld was famous for the ‘happenings’ he organised on the Spui (photo), then Amsterdam’s ‘magic centre’. The anti-smoking guru would dance around in a cloud of his own cigarette smoke chanting ugh, ugh, ugh - which became one of his mantras.
(foto Koen Wessing)
Grootveld started out as a window cleaner, then turned to journalism and finally found his feet as an artist in the creative atmosphere of the 1960s. He came up with the famous white bicycle plan which has since been adopted by many cities around the world.
His lifelong devotion to the figure of Sinterklaas may go some way towards explaining his childlike pleasure in inventing such institutions as the Exotic Kitch Museum and the Expertological Laboratory, with fellow-artists and poets. In 2000, he made a present of the floating gardens he created to the city of Amsterdam.
‘Happenings’ founder Grootveld dies Thursday 26 February 2009
Robert Jasper Grootveld, one of the most emblematic figures of the 60s provo (provocation) movement, has died in a nursing home at the age of 76.
Grootveld was famous for the ‘happenings’ he organised on the Spui (photo), then Amsterdam’s ‘magic centre’. The anti-smoking guru would dance around in a cloud of his own cigarette smoke chanting ugh, ugh, ugh - which became one of his mantras.
(foto Koen Wessing)
Grootveld started out as a window cleaner, then turned to journalism and finally found his feet as an artist in the creative atmosphere of the 1960s. He came up with the famous white bicycle plan which has since been adopted by many cities around the world.
His lifelong devotion to the figure of Sinterklaas may go some way towards explaining his childlike pleasure in inventing such institutions as the Exotic Kitch Museum and the Expertological Laboratory, with fellow-artists and poets. In 2000, he made a present of the floating gardens he created to the city of Amsterdam.
mede mogelijk gemaakt door Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds ›› & Flevodruk Harderwijk ››
RIJK — Hoe een ideaal in een kwart eeuw werkelijkheid werd, Stichting de ArmMet het ideaal van Stichting de Arm als uitgangspunt, heeft Bram Nijssen gezocht naar woorden, beelden en mensen die hem konden helpen bij het creëren van zijn vorm en zijn manier om recycling en zorg onder de aandacht te brengen. Een van hen was Rob Hornstra, die als fotograaf geïnspireerd werd door Stichting de arm Arm en haar mensen en zodoende betrokken raakte bij RIJK. Zijn portretten en stillevens werden opgenomen en hebben het boek dan ook "verrijkt". Een aantal van zijn foto’s waren eerder al te zien in het Volkskrant Magazine van 19 maart 2005.
mede mogelijk gemaakt door Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds ›› & Flevodruk Harderwijk ››
RIJK — Hoe een ideaal in een kwart eeuw werkelijkheid werd, Stichting de ArmMet het ideaal van Stichting de Arm als uitgangspunt, heeft Bram Nijssen gezocht naar woorden, beelden en mensen die hem konden helpen bij het creëren van zijn vorm en zijn manier om recycling en zorg onder de aandacht te brengen. Een van hen was Rob Hornstra, die als fotograaf geïnspireerd werd door Stichting de arm Arm en haar mensen en zodoende betrokken raakte bij RIJK. Zijn portretten en stillevens werden opgenomen en hebben het boek dan ook "verrijkt". Een aantal van zijn foto’s waren eerder al te zien in het Volkskrant Magazine van 19 maart 2005.
Desiree Dolron: Exaltation -Images of Religion and Death
Désirée Dolron Amsterdam 2000 Sewn paper covers 130 pages 50 duotones/15 full colour photographs Design: Mevis & van Deursen
The series of photographes in this work is concerned with the tension between body and soul as experienced by various religious and mystical movements; ritual transactions are portrayed that are nourished by an intense desire for transcendence. Many of these transactions have to do with self-chastisement induced in trance. The series contains a large number of photographs of believers abandoning themselves to extreme acts of religious faith, as individuals or as a group. Désirée Dolron (1963) has been working as a photographer for the past 10 years. For her series "Exaltation" she attended ritual festivals in countries such as India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Morocco and Thailand. Lees verder Rituelen met zelfkastijding...
NEW YORK, NY.- Dutch artist Jacqueline Hassinkhas received critical acclaim for her books and exhibitions that deal conceptually with issues of power and social relations. Car Girls (Aperture, April 2009) is a body of work that Hassink has created over five years, photographing major car shows in seven different cities on three continents, including New York, Paris, Geneva, Tokyo, Detroit, and Shanghai. As she describes it, she has used these sites to reflect on “differing cultural values with regard to their ideal images of beauty and women. The series captures the moments during the women’s performances when they become more like dolls or tools than individuals.”
In an issue of Aperture magazine, art critic Francine Prose praised the work for its ability to “make us rethink the association between auto and eros as if it had never occurred to us, and to see it newly in all its sheer outrageous strangeness.” Car Girls takes a subversively fun yet conceptually astute approach to issues of gender, power, and commodification. This luxuriously produced publication is designed by the award-winning Irma Boom, and is limited to an edition of 1,500 copies.
On Tuesday, April 7 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, New York, N.Y. 10012, will host a book signing and party with the artist. The following Tuesday, April 14 starting at 6:30 p.m., Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, New York, N.Y. 10001, will host a lecture and booking with the artist. Both events are open to the public on a first come, first serve basis. The book will launch coinciding with the New York International Auto Show that takes place April 10-19, 2009 at Jacob Javits Convention Center located at 11th Avenue between 34th and 39th Streets. Additional book related events will be announced shortly.
JACQUELINE HASSINK(born in Enschede, the Netherlands, 1966) has published extensively, including The Table of Power (1996), Mindscapes (2003), The Power Book (2007), and Domains of Influence (2008). Her work has been shown extensively at various international venues, and her photographs are in the collections of the Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among other institutions. Hassink is a visiting professor in a number of programs, including the postgraduate photography program at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, and at the Visual and Environmental Studies program at Harvard. She is represented by Cohen Amador Gallery, New York. See for Jacqueline Hassink the Table of Power& Luister naar Jacqueline Hassink... & lees een interview ...
TIM DANT (essay) is a reader in sociology at the University of Lancaster. He is the author of Materiality and Culture (2005), as well as numerous books and articles on the subject. From 2002 until 2005 he was involved in major research on car culture.
NEW YORK, NY.- Dutch artist Jacqueline Hassinkhas received critical acclaim for her books and exhibitions that deal conceptually with issues of power and social relations. Car Girls (Aperture, April 2009) is a body of work that Hassink has created over five years, photographing major car shows in seven different cities on three continents, including New York, Paris, Geneva, Tokyo, Detroit, and Shanghai. As she describes it, she has used these sites to reflect on “differing cultural values with regard to their ideal images of beauty and women. The series captures the moments during the women’s performances when they become more like dolls or tools than individuals.”
In an issue of Aperture magazine, art critic Francine Prose praised the work for its ability to “make us rethink the association between auto and eros as if it had never occurred to us, and to see it newly in all its sheer outrageous strangeness.” Car Girls takes a subversively fun yet conceptually astute approach to issues of gender, power, and commodification. This luxuriously produced publication is designed by the award-winning Irma Boom, and is limited to an edition of 1,500 copies.
On Tuesday, April 7 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, New York, N.Y. 10012, will host a book signing and party with the artist. The following Tuesday, April 14 starting at 6:30 p.m., Aperture Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, New York, N.Y. 10001, will host a lecture and booking with the artist. Both events are open to the public on a first come, first serve basis. The book will launch coinciding with the New York International Auto Show that takes place April 10-19, 2009 at Jacob Javits Convention Center located at 11th Avenue between 34th and 39th Streets. Additional book related events will be announced shortly.
JACQUELINE HASSINK(born in Enschede, the Netherlands, 1966) has published extensively, including The Table of Power (1996), Mindscapes (2003), The Power Book (2007), and Domains of Influence (2008). Her work has been shown extensively at various international venues, and her photographs are in the collections of the Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among other institutions. Hassink is a visiting professor in a number of programs, including the postgraduate photography program at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, and at the Visual and Environmental Studies program at Harvard. She is represented by Cohen Amador Gallery, New York. See for Jacqueline Hassink the Table of Power& Luister naar Jacqueline Hassink... & lees een interview ...
TIM DANT (essay) is a reader in sociology at the University of Lancaster. He is the author of Materiality and Culture (2005), as well as numerous books and articles on the subject. From 2002 until 2005 he was involved in major research on car culture.
Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard ... February 3, 2009–May 25, 2009 The Howard Gilman Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Past Saturday I went to the Met Museum with my husband to check out a couple of photography exhibitions and Walker Evans was one of it.
I always wondered about Walker Evans’s frontal and formal style of photography. After seeing the exhibition at the Met, I was persuaded by the curator’s arguement. Walker Evans collected many things through his life including picture postcard. He was influenced by the aesthetic of picture postcard. The exhibition displays one of postcards with Evans’s picture on top of each other. It is amazing how much Evans’s photo looks like the postcard in terms of vantage point and composition. The curator’s assumption is that Evans took the photo without seeing the picture postcard.
Unknown artist Front Street, Looking North, Morgan City, LA, 1929
Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975) [Street Scene, Morgan City, Louisiana], 1935
Besides displaying hundreds of postcards, they exhibition displays a dozen of Evans’s photographs that were printed on postcard format photographic paper in 1936.
Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975) View of Ossining, New York, 1930–31
On the wall text by collections of his objects, it says that Evans collected a lot of things (street signs, tin can tab, etc) and he rarely throw away anything. The Metropolitan Museum’s Walker Evans archive has 9000 picture postcards collected by Walker Evans. He even had organization system for catagorization. He also published his postcard collection and wrote about it twice.
The exhibition at the Met gives more understanding about Walker Evans and it was worth going.
Old Photos of Japanshows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.
1880s • Ainu Man A beautiful hand-tinted portrait dating back to the late 19th century of an Ainu man in traditional clothing. He is wearing a sword in a shoulder belt and a ceremonial crown (サパウンペ, Sapaunpe) used during the iomante ritual and other religious rituals.
These Photographs were taken in the final days of the samurai class, before its abolition in 1867.It should be noted that some of these photographs date to the Meiji period. Many of these pictures were taken in the 1880's -therefore they show former samurai, or sometimes just ordinary people posing as samurai.
NOTE: The last few pictures seen in this video show Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last Shogun and the famous reformer, Sakamoto Ryoma, who played a pivotal role in the modernisation of the country.We also see the new Police force(The seated uniformed man with the katana) as well as the last picture which displays the European military reformers and the westernized Japanese officers.Although these aren't samurai, they were added to show the revolutionary changes that were taking place in Japanese society at this time.
Old Photos of Japanshows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.
1880s • Ainu Man A beautiful hand-tinted portrait dating back to the late 19th century of an Ainu man in traditional clothing. He is wearing a sword in a shoulder belt and a ceremonial crown (サパウンペ, Sapaunpe) used during the iomante ritual and other religious rituals.
These Photographs were taken in the final days of the samurai class, before its abolition in 1867.It should be noted that some of these photographs date to the Meiji period. Many of these pictures were taken in the 1880's -therefore they show former samurai, or sometimes just ordinary people posing as samurai.
NOTE: The last few pictures seen in this video show Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last Shogun and the famous reformer, Sakamoto Ryoma, who played a pivotal role in the modernisation of the country.We also see the new Police force(The seated uniformed man with the katana) as well as the last picture which displays the European military reformers and the westernized Japanese officers.Although these aren't samurai, they were added to show the revolutionary changes that were taking place in Japanese society at this time.
Betsie grew up on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. She spent most of her childhood on the farm, leaving when she was about seventeen. She went back to photograph her memories of growing up there. Whilst photographing she learned that the family had to demolish the house and this gave her a sense of urgency: she wanted to have a record of the space before the opportunity was lost.
Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe. What has happened to the house symbolises many of the wider processes that are happening to farming families in the area.
The Sproxton Awardhelped Betsie to produce a self-published book called Farm. It was printed in Belgium and is distributed by Schaden Germany. The Sproxton Award went directly towards the expenses of printing the book. Farm was also produced as an exhibition at the Naarden Photofestival, the Netherlands.
Betsie van der Meer works commercially for Getty Images and Corbis as well as for advertising. The latest campaigns are for T-mobile, Germany and for Habitat Great Britain. An example of her latest work can be seen in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 08 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
...Photography is the visual medium of the modern world. As a means of recording, and as an art form in its own, it pervades our lives and shapes our perceptions...
(foto Koen Wessing)
See also Amsterdam in the Sixties ...
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