Unseen an International Photography Fair Amsterdam

Unseen is an international photography fair focused on undiscovered photography talent and unseen work by established photographers. The first edition of Unseen will take place from 19 to 23 September 2012 at Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek, kicking off the gallery season by celebrating yet undetected, cutting-edge work. See for a review ...

Unseen had the chance to speak to WassinkLundgren, the Dutch duo based in London and Beijing. Thijs groot Wassink (1981) and Ruben Lundgren (1983) work in partnership on various projects, focusing on photography and film, and playfully turn some of the unwritten rules of these media upside down. At Unseen, WassinkLundgren will be showing a new body of work in a solo presentation at Van Zoetendaal Collections.

Could you tell us about your photographic partnership? Can you explain your creative process?

Sure. We met at the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2005. We became friends, shared the same interests and our collaboration seemed like the most logical thing to do. It was simply more fun to do things together. And it's great to be able to bounce ideas off one another. As our work is often conceptually driven this is a really useful element in our collaboration. Since late 2007 we have lived in both London and Beijing, so we have become heavy Skype users. That tool is a life-saver!

How would you describe your work? What would you say is the most prominent theme in your work?

This question is always challenging. Greg Hobson of the National Media Museum in the UK described it very accurately by saying that we work on photography and film projects that "shift mundane, often unnoticeable, everyday occurrences into visually compelling and gently amusing observations of the world around us". This, together with an interest in how the medium itself works - or distorts the thing we're looking at - is among the important aspects in our work. It is visible in almost all projects. From Don't Smile Now.... Save it for Later! (2008) to Hans Kemna: Catalogue (2008), and from Empty Bottles (2007) to Luxiaoben(2011). 

When someone looks at your work, how would you like them to feel?

A short moment of confusion or a laugh would be a good reaction for us. A while ago we heard the word 'mind fuck' in relation to our work. That expression is actually quite suitable. It is great when our work leads to a minor mind fuck that leaves the viewer slightly puzzled.  

From the series Empty Bottles, 2007 © WassinkLundgren (Flowers Gallery, Uncommon Ground)

Could you tell us about your Tokyo Tokyo and Empty Bottles series?

Oh, where to begin from.. Well, perhaps the shortest way of describing these projects would be the following. Tokyo Tokyo is a body of work in which we both photographed the same subject, roughly at the same time, but from a different angle. This makes the people in the photographs almost sculptural and the images feel a little like a distorted 3D picture. For Empty Bottles, then, we photographed people picking up the empty bottles we laid in front of our view camera. It is a documentary project, as we documented a tiny part of the recycling industry in Beijing and Shanghai, while it at the same time prods the notion of documentary photography. 

Tokyo Tokyo and Empty Bottles series have been published in limited edition photography books. We recently spoke to co-founder of Radius Books and Assistant Director of the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, Darius Himes, and he mentioned that there is currently a “deep love and interest in the photography book.” Would you agree? What do you think is the importance of photography books?

Yes, we agree with this - without a doubt. A "deep love and interest in the photography book" is a nice way of putting it, as it often is referred to as a "hype". The fact that we actually know more people making photo books than people buying them, is, however, slightly scary. Part of the attractiveness of making books probably lies in the fact that it is relatively easy and also accessible for the audience. It is like a stage on which you can display your thinking or tell your story: we are no exception to this trend. Despite the hype, the basic criteria for a good photo book have not changed much over the years. The best quote on this would be John Gossage in The Photobook: A History: “Firstly, it should contain great work. Secondly, it should make that work function as a concise world within the book itself. Thirdly, it should have a design that complements what is being dealt with.” The recipe is still as simple is that.

From the series Project Zuidas, 2012 © WassinkLundgren/Van Zoetendaal Collections

What’s next for WassinkLundgren?

Unseen Photo Fair. Shortly after that we shall have a solo show at Foam, which we are really looking forward to. We are also very excited about a different kind of project we embarked on approximately four years ago: a publication and a show on the history of the Chinese photo book.  For this project we have been sourcing Chinese photo books in collaboration with Martin Parr. In 2013 all this should end up as a show at Arles, and a little later as a book published by Aperture. But that's still a long way away.

WassinkLundgren will be represented by Van Zoetendaal Collections at Unseen. For more information on the duo, see their profile here or their personal website wassinklundgren.com.

Open publication - Free publishing - More promotion

Enduring ('Safe Area') Srebrenica | The aftermath of war Claudia Heinermann Photography

Enduring Srebrenica

Preface to: Claudia Heinermann, Enduring Srebrenica, Westerbork, 1982 (photobook)

Preface Final, 34kb

Many reasons have been mentioned why the international community failed to protect the people of Srebrenica. The city was not defensible, the ‘safe area’ concept untenable and the course of events unavoidable. The local combatants had launched attacks, violating agreements to lay down their arms. The Government of Bosnia had given up Srebrenica anyway. The UN administration and their peace keeping forces had made mistakes: bad coordination between commanders and insufficient armament. The Dutch Blue Helmets stood against heavy odds: the besiegers were numerous and better armed. Too many people were seeking refuge and the protection forces did not have a choice. By refusing full access to the camp, by sending people away and by cooperating with the besiegers in the separation of men, women and children, they had only tried avoiding chaos. How could they have known that Mladic had in mind killing all men and boys?

These and other arguments are half-truths, or even less. So-called justifications of non-action were but poor excuses. The survivors of the massacre and their relatives insist to know the truth. They do not want to listen to arguments apportioning blame to others. They know, of course, who carried out the genocide, but they ask why the international community had allowed this. In particular in the Netherlands statements have been made holding everybody else responsible, but not the Dutch. Blame was put on the UN Security Council, NATO, France, the Government in Sarajevo, the headquarters of UNPROFOR, the Bosnian troops and even the victims themselves.   

The establishment of the Yugoslavia Tribunal has enabled the international community to try those who are guilty. Mass murderers, perpetrators of the genocide and culprits behind the scenes have stood trial and are being sentenced. However, the responsibilities of the protectors were not under discussion. Those responsibilities are mainly political. In 2002 the Government of The Netherlands stepped down, following the publication of an officially mandated study about Srebrenica. However, this decision, though widely understood as an act of statesmanship, was not based on the recognition of co-responsibility as protectors. On the contrary, the study that had led to this decision concluded quite the opposite.  

Recently questions concerning political and legal responsibilities have been raised again. Is the UN always immune from the actions of the peace keepers? Are Blue Helmets the sole responsibility of the UN, or also of the country where they come from?  Can survivors and relatives hold UN peace keepers responsible in civil proceedings? These are valid and urgent questions. Following the adoption of the Principle of the Responsibility to Protect by the General Assembly of the United Nations a new debate is necessary. However, the most penetrating questions are neither political nor legal. These are the live or death questions of the people concerned: Why did you not keep your promises? Why did you break guaranteeing our safety? Why did we have to surrender our arms, depriving us of the one and only possibility to protect ourselves? Did this not imply an obligation on your side to go to any lengths protecting us?  Why did you separate us from our husbands, fathers and sons? How have they been killed and where? Where are their bodies?

These questions have been asked time and again. They still are. Though inconvenient, they have to be listened to. They should be recognized as valid and be heard. They deserve an answer. Silence is neglect.

Answering that it is a long time ago and that life goes on would repeat the failures of the past.  Those who lost their loved ones would feel this as betrayal.

Answers repeating a denial of responsibility are beside the point. The survivors and their relatives are not convinced by merely legal answers. They seek justice, but also solidarity. They have a right to ask why the world allowed the slaughter, and to repeat the question when the answers reveal that they are not taken seriously.

The book of Srebrenica cannot be closed. The victims will not forget what happened and they will recall events, also after the perpetrators have been tried. The story will have to be told and retold, by the spoken or the written word and with images, during commemorations of the dead and in classrooms, as long as the survivors and their children demand this.

Jan Pronk
Preface in: Claudia Heinermann, Enduring Srebrenica, Westerbork, 2012

See also a review (Dutch) Oorverdovende stilte in Srebrenica ...

Enduring ('Safe Area') Srebrenica | The aftermath of war Claudia Heinermann Photography

Enduring Srebrenica

Preface to: Claudia Heinermann, Enduring Srebrenica, Westerbork, 1982 (photobook)

Preface Final, 34kb

Many reasons have been mentioned why the international community failed to protect the people of Srebrenica. The city was not defensible, the ‘safe area’ concept untenable and the course of events unavoidable. The local combatants had launched attacks, violating agreements to lay down their arms. The Government of Bosnia had given up Srebrenica anyway. The UN administration and their peace keeping forces had made mistakes: bad coordination between commanders and insufficient armament. The Dutch Blue Helmets stood against heavy odds: the besiegers were numerous and better armed. Too many people were seeking refuge and the protection forces did not have a choice. By refusing full access to the camp, by sending people away and by cooperating with the besiegers in the separation of men, women and children, they had only tried avoiding chaos. How could they have known that Mladic had in mind killing all men and boys?

These and other arguments are half-truths, or even less. So-called justifications of non-action were but poor excuses. The survivors of the massacre and their relatives insist to know the truth. They do not want to listen to arguments apportioning blame to others. They know, of course, who carried out the genocide, but they ask why the international community had allowed this. In particular in the Netherlands statements have been made holding everybody else responsible, but not the Dutch. Blame was put on the UN Security Council, NATO, France, the Government in Sarajevo, the headquarters of UNPROFOR, the Bosnian troops and even the victims themselves.   

The establishment of the Yugoslavia Tribunal has enabled the international community to try those who are guilty. Mass murderers, perpetrators of the genocide and culprits behind the scenes have stood trial and are being sentenced. However, the responsibilities of the protectors were not under discussion. Those responsibilities are mainly political. In 2002 the Government of The Netherlands stepped down, following the publication of an officially mandated study about Srebrenica. However, this decision, though widely understood as an act of statesmanship, was not based on the recognition of co-responsibility as protectors. On the contrary, the study that had led to this decision concluded quite the opposite.  

Recently questions concerning political and legal responsibilities have been raised again. Is the UN always immune from the actions of the peace keepers? Are Blue Helmets the sole responsibility of the UN, or also of the country where they come from?  Can survivors and relatives hold UN peace keepers responsible in civil proceedings? These are valid and urgent questions. Following the adoption of the Principle of the Responsibility to Protect by the General Assembly of the United Nations a new debate is necessary. However, the most penetrating questions are neither political nor legal. These are the live or death questions of the people concerned: Why did you not keep your promises? Why did you break guaranteeing our safety? Why did we have to surrender our arms, depriving us of the one and only possibility to protect ourselves? Did this not imply an obligation on your side to go to any lengths protecting us?  Why did you separate us from our husbands, fathers and sons? How have they been killed and where? Where are their bodies?

These questions have been asked time and again. They still are. Though inconvenient, they have to be listened to. They should be recognized as valid and be heard. They deserve an answer. Silence is neglect.

Answering that it is a long time ago and that life goes on would repeat the failures of the past.  Those who lost their loved ones would feel this as betrayal.

Answers repeating a denial of responsibility are beside the point. The survivors and their relatives are not convinced by merely legal answers. They seek justice, but also solidarity. They have a right to ask why the world allowed the slaughter, and to repeat the question when the answers reveal that they are not taken seriously.

The book of Srebrenica cannot be closed. The victims will not forget what happened and they will recall events, also after the perpetrators have been tried. The story will have to be told and retold, by the spoken or the written word and with images, during commemorations of the dead and in classrooms, as long as the survivors and their children demand this.

Jan Pronk
Preface in: Claudia Heinermann, Enduring Srebrenica, Westerbork, 2012

See also a review (Dutch) Oorverdovende stilte in Srebrenica ...

Hans Kemna Catalogue WassinkLundgren Photography

Title: Hans Kemna: Catalogue

Photographer/s: WassinkLundgren

Contributor/s: Xander Karskens

Date of publication: 2008

Place of publication: Haarlem

Dimensions: 17×21,25 CM

Edition size: 750

Type of binding: Softcover

Number of pages: 120

Type of paper: 115 g/m2 Arctic Volume High White

Type of printing: Offset

Printer: Rosbeek, Nuth

Publisher: Museum De Hallen, Haarlem

Designer: Kummer & Herrman

Editor: Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren

Language: English / Dutch

ISBN: 978-90-812892-1-4

COURTESY HANS KEMNA
15.03.2008 - 08.06.2008

This exhibition presented a selection from the photography collection of Hans Kemna.

Kemna, the doyen of Dutch film and theatre casting, started seriously collecting photography in the 1990s. ‘Humanity’ is a key theme in this collection, with portraits forming the lion’s share of Kemna’s acquisitions. Besides works by well-known Dutch photographers like Céline van Balen, Rineke Dijkstra and Hellen van Meene, Kemna also collects the work of international stars like Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans.

The Kemna collection has a number of remarkable parallels with the line set out in recent years by De Hallen Haarlem. Both in its exhibition programme and in its acquisitions, the museum has focused considerable attention on contemporary photography.

Kemna is one of the most important collectors worldwide of the work of Wolfgang Tillmans, which indeed has a prominent place in the current presentation. The German photographer has personally overseen the installation of his work in this exhibition, in which apparently disparate images (portraits, almost snapshot-like pictures of indeterminable locations and even near-abstract imagery) have been combined to form one large associative network of meanings.

The homo-erotic undertones of some of Tillmans’ photographs also resonate in other parts of the collection: among others in several pictures by Jack Pierson and David Armstrong. Other thematic explorations that can be discerned in this show are portraits of children and teenagers (work by Han Singels, Koos Breukel, Cuny Janssen, Marco van Duyvendijk and Hellen van Meene, among others) and pop culture and fashion (Inez van Lamsweerde, Albrecht Fuchs, Tillmans).

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue featuring the work of the young Dutch photographer team WassinkLundgren, designed by Kummer & Herrman.

The catalogue offers an intimate, almost voyeuristic look into Kemna’s living room in Amsterdam, where the collector leads his daily life amongst the images of his loved ones on the surrounding walls.

Een stukje van Hans Kemna zélf

29 juni 2008 »

Door Lise Lotte Ten Voorde by Photoq

Naar aanleiding van de online Fotoveiling brengt PhotoQ een reeks interviews met privé-verzamelaars, waarvan de eerste nu wordt gepubliceerd. Lise Lotte ten Voorde trekt erop uit om deze verzamelaars aan de tand te voelen over het hoe en waarom van hun verzameling. Elke maand, zo is het streven, verschijnt er een nieuwe aflevering in deze serie persoonlijke verhalen met tips, verrassende ontdekkingen en af en toe een voyeuristisch inkijkje. Om te beginnen: Hans Kemna.

Hans Kemna is vooral bekend vanwege de belangrijke rol die hij speelt in de Nederlandse theater- en filmwereld. Als Kemna Casting was hij sinds de jaren 60 actief als casting director, in het begin nog enig in zijn soort. Veertig Jaar later heeft hij zijn bureau verkocht, maar hij werkt nog altijd. ‘De leukste dingen doe ik nog altijd zelf’, vertrouwt hij ons toe. De overige tijd besteed hij onder andere aan het verzamelen van foto’s. Zijn verzameling, 500 afdrukken groot inmiddels, wordt vooral gekenmerkt door fotografie waarin de mens centraal staat. Beroemde Nederlandse fotografen als Koos Breukel, Hellen van Meene en Rineke Dijkstra zijn vertegenwoordigd in zijn collectie, evenals een aantal bekende (Wolfgang Tillmans) en minder bekende buitenlandse namen.

In de aanloop naar de tentoonstelling, van 15 maart tot en met 8 juni 2008 te zien geweest in de museum De Hallen in Haarlem, voerde Kemna uitvoerig gesprekken met curator Xander Karskens en directeur Karel Schampers. Tijdens de laatste dagen van de opbouwperiode fluisterde die hem toe: ‘Zorg dat t knarst; ‘t moet wringen!’ In een doorwaakte nacht was het die uitspraak die maakte dat hij het onschuldige jongetje in het park van Rineke Dijkstra en de mannelijke prostituee naast elkaar bedacht. De twee beelden versterken elkaar op een bijzondere manier, alhoewel je wel even door de provocatie heen moest kijken. Rineke zelf was er niet zo blij mee.

Toch was het resultaat niet choquerend of provocatief, maar eerder verhalend en een getuigenis van zijn liefde voor schoonheid, niet in de laatste plaats die van het mannelijk lichaam. Met de tentoonstelling is Kemna voor het eerst naar buiten getreden met zijn collectie. De tentoonstelling maakt deel uit van een serie waarin privé-verzamelingen van hedendaagse kunst centraal staan. Ook kwam er een catalogus uit die bestaat uit foto’s van de muren in zijn Amsterdamse huis. Te zien is hoe deze, als tijdens de romantiek, van onder tot boven zijn volgehangen met lijsten van allerlei formaten.  We zien hoe ook op de grond tegen diezelfde muren stapels ingelijste foto’s staan, elkaar te verdringen om een plekje vooraan. Omdat niet voor alle foto’s plek is, staat een deel op zijn zolder, ook in lijsten tegen elkaar aan gestapeld. Die lijsten laat hij er altijd direct omheen doen, als een beschermingsmaatregel voor de afdruk. Overigens staan de foto’s nooit lang op dezelfde plek; Kemna wisselt regelmatig. Hij maakt steeds kleine presentaties met een onderwerp of kleur als thema. Soms maakt hij zelf een beeldverhaal met een aantal foto’s, net als is gebeurd in de tentoonstelling met de serie over het WTC in New York.

Tijdens zijn jeugd in Rotterdam ging Kemna om met enkele kunstenaars, van wie hij af en toe werk kocht ‘voor een vriendenprijsje’. De fotografie maakte in die tijd een langzame opmars en toen schilderijen te duur werden, besloot hij voortaan alleen nog fotografie te kopen. Uit die tijd stamt ook de foto die pontificaal in het midden van één van de zalen in de Haarlemse Hallen hangt. Op die foto is hij zelf te zien, gezeten op een bankje op de Rotterdamse Lijnbaan. De foto stond weggestopt op de zolder van fotograaf Jan Schaper, die Kemna goed kende. Toen ze samen foto’s zaten te bekijken voor een tentoonstelling bij galerie Cokkie Snoei in Rotterdam, herkende Kemna zichzelf, waarop Schaper laconiek reageerde met ‘Welnee joh, dat ben jij niet’.

Vijftien jaar geleden kocht Kemna een portret van de Britse zanger Damon Albarn door Wolfgang Tillmans. ‘Nu ga ik een collectie aanleggen’, besloot hij toen. Hij had op dat moment al zo’n zestig foto’s, maar besloot op dat moment om serieus te gaan verzamelen. Met die eerste aankoop van Tillmans, die nog steeds ook zijn favoriete foto is en dus altijd aan de muur hangt, sloot hij een onuitgesproken verbond met de man en zijn werk. Dat verbond leidde ertoe dat hij inmiddels zestig foto’s van diens hand heeft en daarmee één van de belangrijkste verzamelaars van zijn werk ter wereld is. Het mag dan ook geen wonder heten dat Tillmans zelf het ontwerp maakte voor twee muren in de tentoonstelling. Hij koos dertig werken en tekende tot op de millimeter nauwkeurig welk werk waar moest komen te hangen. Voorwaarde was wel dat alle foto’s in een witte lijst gestoken moesten worden. Overigens was hij niet zelf aanwezig bij het installeren; hij was op dat moment druk met de voorbereidingen van zijn eigen overzichtstentoonstelling in Berlijn.

Het andere portret dat Tillmans van Damon Albarn maakte –en dat onder het eerste hangt in Haarlem en Amsterdam- kwam pas later in Kemna’s bezit, doordat een collega-verzamelaar zijn hele collectie van de hand deed. Het was een unieke kans waarbij Kemna in het bezit kwam van bovendien nog een paar andere foto’s van Tillmans. Tillmans’ werk spreekt hem zo bijzonder aan omdat het heel divers is. Net als Kemna’s verzameling, is het werk van Tillmans op een heel intuïtieve en organische manier tot stand gekomen, zoals Karskens schrijft in de catalogus van de tentoonstelling.  Kemna waardeert de eigenschap om lak te kunnen hebben aan alle conventies en te zoeken naar welke stijl of genre op dat moment het best ingezet kan worden voor het beoogde resultaat. Toch voeren portretten en andere thema’s waarin mensen de hoofdrol spelen de boventoon in zijn verzameling. Niet zo gek, als je bedenkt dat casting – naar mensen kijken – zijn werk is.

Tijdens de rondleiding die hij geeft, vertelt hij een leuke anekdote over de foto die Inez van Lamsweerde maakte van haar partner Vinoodh Matadin. Op de enorme foto zien we Matadin op zijn rug liggen met een rood shirt waarbij zijn gezicht net uit de opening steekt. Van Lamsweerde schonk hem die foto, in ruil voor een veel kleinere foto van Paul Blanca, een vroegere vriend van haar.

Zo bijzonder als het contact met Tillmans is, gaat het niet met iedere fotograaf wiens werk hij koopt. Wel ontmoet hij ze allemaal persoonlijk, al is het contact met de één makkelijker dan met de ander. ‘Rineke [Dijkstra] houdt niet zo van de exposure, daarom ben ik zo blij dat ze hier wel is komen kijken.’ Bovendien voegt dat contact een inhoudelijke dimensie toe als je weet wie en welk verhaal er achter een foto schuilgaan. Natuurlijk speelt ook mee dat je bij zo’n prijzige aanschaf graag wil weten naar wie het geld gaat.

Door ontmoetingen met verschillende fotografen is Kemna inmiddels redelijk bekend als verzamelaar. Het gebeurt nu zelfs dat - jonge - fotografen bij hem thuis komen om hun portfolio te laten zien.

In de twee jaar voorafgaand aan de tentoonstelling, had Kemna regelmatig ontmoetingen met Xander Karskens over de selectie en hoe die gepresenteerd zou moeten worden. Ze hebben heel duidelijk gekozen voor een persoonlijke benadering waarbij, net als in Kemna’s thuissituatie, sequenties van foto’s verhalen vertellen die niet persé het verhaal van de maker zijn. Door Karskens’ invloed is Kemna anders naar zijn collectie gaan kijken. Niet alleen wil hij, nu alles weer thuis hangt, zijn muren anders gaan indelen, hij wil ook anders, bewuster, gaan aankopen. De lijn die hij al volgt wil hij aanscherpen. Hij wil gaten gaan opvullen en, waar mogelijk, sleutelwerken aanschaffen, om zo tot een inhoudelijk zeer sterk geheel te komen.

Toch geeft hij aan dat verzamelen voor hem vooral een persoonlijke verrijking is. Hij houdt ervan zich te omringen met mooie dingen. ‘Verkopen doe ik alleen als ik geen pindakaas voor de boterhammen meer kan kopen.’ Hij zal zich daarom nog steeds vooral laten leiden door zijn gevoel en smaak. Iets wat we onderstreept zien door zijn meest recente aankoop: een werk van, hoe kan het ook anders, Wolfgang Tillmans. Een sleutelwerk, aldus Karskens, dat ook een prominente plaats zal innemen op de overzichtstentoonstelling in Berlijn.

Hij geeft aan nog geen plannen te hebben voor een volgende tentoonstelling of publicatie. Kemna heeft echter de smaak te pakken, dus het zal misschien niet heel lang duren voor we nog zo’n fraai inkijkje krijgen. Xander Karskens: ‘[Deze] fotocollectie [is] te beschouwen als een samengesteld, subjectief zelfportret. De verlangens, fantasieën en wensen van de verzamelaar worden teruggekaatst in de blikken van de individuen aan de muur. Zo bezien verlangen zij net zo naar hem, als hij naar hen. En [zijn zij] dus eigenlijk een stukje van Hans Kemna zélf.’

Lise Lotte ten Voorde

Open publication - Free publishing - More catalogue

What We Like GUP #10 Wij zijn 17 Johan van der Keuken Photography

KEUKEN JOAN & CARMIGGELT, SIMON - Wij zijn 17

Bussum, C.A.J. van Dishoeck, 1955.  Pp: 64. Fourth edition, no date. Text in Dutch by S. Carmiggelt. This is the first book by Joan van der Keuken. The pictures were made and published by a 17 years old scholar from the Montessori Lyceum in Amsterdam. He took photographs of his friends and school-mates. The layout of this book was in that time a small revolution. "œIn 1955, the 17-year-old Joan van der Keuken caused a stir in Dutch publishing with his book Wij zijn 17 (We are 17), prefiguring the even greater furore that would greet the publication of Ed van der Elsken`s Een Liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Pres (Love on the Left Bank) a year later. Van der Keuken's book was as innovative as Van der Elsken's in its treatment of a section of society - not a class exactly, but a societal group - that was beginning to be regarded as a class apart.It is sometimes forgotten in these days of 'youth culture' that it was only from around the 1950s onwards that the young were first talked about in this way. Previously they had been regarded - give a modicum of wild oats sowing and youthful high spirits - largely as replicas of their parents. In the 1950s, however, with its anxious air of repressed rebellion, such attitudes were overturned. The Beat Generation, the Beatnik movement, James Dean - the original rebel without a cause - and a pouting, gyrating phenomenon called Elvis Presley, drew the world's attention to the fact that, since the war, a new alien seemed to have been dropped on the planet - the teenager.Van der Keuken's two books, Wij zijn 17 and his followup, Achter Glas (Behind Glass, 1957), caught this mood perfectly. Whilst perhaps not stream-of-consciousness in style, they certainly are in terms of attitude, capturing a moment's experience in which nothing much happens except for the moment itself. The 30 pictures in Wij zijn 17 are tellingly simple. Students lounge around in their rooms, doing nothing very much, as if waiting for their adult lives to begin. The mood is uncertain, capturing that moment when childhood ends and youth must take a deep breath and step out into the world.This was also the theme of Achter Glas, Van der Keuken's second foray into the new form of the 'photonovel'. Two sisters, Georgette and Yvonne, do little more than sit by a window, day-dreaming. And it was this youthful lassitude, this apparent aimlessness, perfectly expressed by Van der Keuken, that caused a degree of controversy. But this view of teenage rebellion at the sulky rather than more active stage rings painfully true. It became a model for other books examining the same phenomenon, not he least of which is the recent work of Van der Keuken's compatriot, Helen van Meene, whose similar view of Dutch adolescents - now in colour - has also proved controversial."(From: Martin Parr and Gerry Badger : The Photobook: A History volume 1/ The Indecisive Moment: The 'Stream-of-Consciousness' Photobook). Cond./Kwaliteit: Goed.

GUP 10 - PHOTO BOOKS

June 29, 2011 Author: Jochem Rijlaarsdam, Peter Bas Mensink and Roy Kahmann Tags: Issue #10 Photo Books Introductions Martin Parr

COLLECTOR'S MANIA

June 30, 2011 Author: Peter Bas Mensink Tags: Issue #10 Collectors Tips Photo Books

A sunny spring day in picturesque Leusden, The Netherlands, in the middle of the countryside in an absolutely ordinary neighbourhood. I walk into a very normal room in a very normalhouse containing a collection that is anything but ordinary. I find myself in a room barely ten square metres large with two computers, three chairs, a desk and 5,500 books.  

I am visiting the greatest collector of Dutch photography books, Jan Wingender. What started as an interest in photography has evolved into a hobby that has gotten completely out of hand. Every corner of the small room is filled with books, which are neatly arranged by genre and in excellent condition. A sophisticated computer archive tells you exactly which photographer can be found in which book, and vice versa. A machine provides air moisture, and ingeniously constructed shelves ensure that all available space is perfectly used. Despite all this, there isn’t space for even one more book because Jan’s wife does not allow him to keep books on the floor anymore. Luckily part of the attic will soon be his to use.  

Lack of space and astonishment
It all started in 1956 when Jan visited the Family of Man exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The photography made such a deep impression on him that it has since never released its hold. He was astonished and pleased to find that photography could have a much more significant impact than other art forms. Not long afterwards, one photography book after another started to find its way into his home and into the Wingender family’s bookcase. It was only when the first large bookcase was full that choices had to be made. There simply wasn’t enough space. Jan decided to limit his interest in photography books to those from the Netherlands only, unaware that the same lack of space would soon haunt him again. Jan discovered the immense value of The Dutch Photography Book Collection, as his collection is officially known, when Matti Boom (curator Rijksmuseum, GUP) paid a visit to his house and literally stood agape with astonishment with what she saw.

Exhausted resources
A real collector never sells a part of the collection, even if the potential sale of a book enables him to buy ten more. In Jan’s case, that sometimes used to pose a problem because as a teacher at a technical college his financial means were not inexhaustible. Jan only buys one edition of a book, not all the editions with their different covers. But if the latter contains even one photograph that isn’t in the other edition, then it gets added to the collection.

500 books in one year
Any book containing even one photograph by a Dutch photographer is essentially eligible for The Dutch Photography Book Collection. Books containing photos of photographers who worked in the Netherlands for a substantial amount of time are also fair game. Photography books from 1945-1970 are the heart of the collection. It is difficult to keep up with developments at the moment because so many photo books are being published. In 2006 alone, Jan’s collection grew by 500 books. Jan has calculated that there are still 2,000 books in circulation that qualify for his collection. He has the most recent material sent to him straight from the publishers. He finds all the other books, especially older ones, by sniffing around jumble sales and used bookshops.

Interest and involvement
There is considerable interest in his unique collection in the photography world. It is a collection with immense cultural-historical value, which is enhanced by the size and care with which it is preserved. Organizations such as the Leiden University Library, the Lexicon of the History of Dutch Photography, the National Library of the Netherlands, Voetnoot Publishers and the Dutch Photography Museum in Rotterdam are all involved, some to a larger and some to a lesser degree, in his collection. Ten of the best items rom his collection are currently on display at the new photography museum until the end of August.

A little more patience please
In addition to a great deal of attention, collecting has also resulted in many friendships, some with the same photographers that inhabit his book- shelves. Nevertheless, there will come a time when he parts with his collection. And when this happens, it will be the entire collection. He does not like the idea of selling it off in parts because that would damage the singularity of The Dutch Photography Book Collection. His friend Willem Diepraam once valued the collection at several hundreds of thousands of euros. Interested buyers already exist. A little more patience and we can all see the collection. 

Jan’s shortlist 

• Cas Oorthuys, Emmy Andriesse a.o.  Amsterdam tijdens  de hongerwinter  (Amsterdam during the hunger winter) • Martien Coppens  Monsters van de Peel  (Monsters of the Peel) • Ed van der Elsken  Sweet Life • Johan van der Keuken  Paris Mortel • Carel van Hees  Play • Violette Cornelius, Carel Blazer  100 jaar Grasso  (100 year Grasso) • Ata Kando  Droom in het woud  (Dream in the forest) • Koos Breukel  The Wretched Skin • Willem Diepraam  Firmagron • Aart Klein  Nederland wordt groter  (Holland getting bigger) 

Source: GUP#010 - Photo Books

Open publication - Free publishing - More photobooks

Open publication - Free publishing - More gup