a Panorama of contemporary Dutch visual creation From Holland with Love BIP 2012 Photography

The country which is the BIP guest of honour is Holland. Hanger B9, which is an old industrial building converted into an exhibition area on the campus of the Institut Supérieur des Arts Saint-Luc, will host the exhibition designed by Frits Gierstberg, who is principal curator of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam, accepted the invitation from BIP2012 to present a panorama of contemporary Dutch visual creation.

Frits Gierstberg designed his exhibition around the heritage left by Ed van der Elsken, a pre-eminent  Dutch photographer, who had been active since the end of the 50s and passed away in 1990. His two most notable works published were Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés (Love on the Left Bank) (1956) and Eye Love You (1977). It was around this icon of photography in the Netherlands, perfectly in tune with the theme of BIP 2012, that Frits Gierstberg chose the contemporary artists.

“The Dutch presentation, organised by the Nederlands Fotomuseum within the context of BIP2012, is taking the book by Ed Van der Elsken Love on the Left Bank as its starting point and putting it centre stage in an exhibition on the theme of love. Van der Elsken’s work is not only at the centre of Dutch post-war photography, but, because of its quality, its significance and its international reputation, also occupies a major place in the Nederlands Fotomuseum collections. Alongside the images in the book (and Ed van der Elsken’s photographs linked with them), contemporary visions of love by today’s Dutch image creators will be on display.

This contem porary selection reflects the bravura of Van der Elsken and is to a very large extent based on quality and diversity. It will offer the public an insight into the thinking of current Dutch artists such as Martine Stig, Bertien van Manen, Komen & Murphy, Useful Photography (the magazine published by a group of artists: Erik Kessels, Hans Aarsman, Hans van der Meer, Claudie de Cleen and Julian Germain), Andrea Stultiens, Julika Rudelius, Paul Kooiker and Koos Breukel.

Their creations deal in different ways with the various themes in Van der Elsken’s book: love, intimacy, voyeurism, the game of truth and fiction, the photographer as narrator, the Internet, found footage, etc. and finally the love of the image.”

(Frits Gierstberg)

Erik KESSELS

Born in 1966 in Roermond (The Netherlands).
Lives and works in Amsterdam.

Wedding Photos. An international collection of wedding photographs of all sorts, found on the internet. Useful Photography is a magazine edited by a group of artists (Erik Kessels, Hans Aarsman, Hans van der Meer, Claudi de Cleen and Julian Germain) about common, everyday and ‘useful’ photography. The collection of wedding photographs could be considered as an anthropological research through photography of what is commonly considered ‘the happiest day of one’s life’ and the ultimate outcome of love.

Paul KOOIKER Born in 1964 in Rotterdam. Lives and works in Amsterdam.

Ed VAN DER ELSKEN

Martine STIG Born in 1972 in Nijmegen (The Netherlands). Lives and works in Amsterdam. 

AFTER

A small series of five large double portraits in colour of couples just after they made love. The portraits show very intimate moments that would normally never be exposed, not even for the ‘actors’. They pose questions about the choice of two individuals for each other (do we think they fit each other?) and confront us with the bodies that are at the centre of this existential experience called love.

Bertien VAN MANEN

Andrea STULTIENS Née en 1974 à Roermond (NL). Vit et travaille à Rotterdam.

Koos BREUKEL

KOMEN & MURPHY A.P. Komen Born in 1964 in Leeuwarden (NL). Karen Murphy Born in 1968 in Waterford (IRL).

Julika RUDELIUS Born in 1968 in Cologne (Germany). Lives and works in Amsterdam and New-York.

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