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PHOTOGRAPHY NEVER DIES – a photograph exhibition about photography

25.11.2016

On the 17th of November, the specially renovated spaces of the Main Railway Station in Wrocław has been the start of PHOTOGRAPHY NEVER DIES – a photograph exhibition about photography, wanted by the most prominent museums from Moscow and Hamburg even before its premiere.  The Visual Arts programme of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 would like to invite everyone to take part in the event.

The exhibition is divided into eight chapters. Among them are the icons of the world photography, juxtaposed with contemporary artistic projects, pictures from private collections, as well as those from the internet: – I invited artists who speak about photography as a medium and approach the subject in a metaphorical way. These are projects that describe photography alone, as well as answering the question about the very nature of photography and how it changed over the course of the last 170 years”, explained the curator, Krzysztof Candrowicz.

FROM REINTERPRETION OF ICONS TO THE PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH
Photography Never Dies comprises 8 cross-sectional artistic projects featuring 10 artists from 6 countries. Among the most interesting ones are the works of Jojakim Cortis & Adrian Sonderegger duo, who   designed and built a special set at their Swiss atelier in order to reconstruct the most famous photographs in history, starting from the view from Nicéphore Niépce’s window from 1827,  to the burning World Trade Center immortalised by John Del Giorno on the 11th of September 2001. Erik Kessels’ project – a personal story of the death of his 9-year old sister – will be a strong summary of the exhibition.  The last photograph, found in the album, became the witness of her life, and gained a status of a family icon. Erik places it in many new contexts and uses various media, thanks to which his sister – as the author believes – will live forever.

A DOSE OF EMOTIONS – NOT A SCHOLARLY ANALYSIS
The exhibition will also feature works by Francesca Serevalle – an Italian curator, who for years researched the so-called milestones of photography. The projects by Catherine Balet and Ricardo Martinez Paz are a metaphorical way about the way of the photography. The insight of the French artist is often a parody, a grotesque and a reflection of art in a distorted mirror.  Balet prepared special new photographs for the exhibition, inspired by the art of Natalia LL from Wrocław and other Polish photographers. French collector, Jean-Marie Donat, created a unique collection of historical pictures, grouped in thematic categories. By making private and found photographs a part of his collections, he gave them new meanings. Hinz, a famous German documentalist, photographed creators, authors and artists for almost 50 years. Tom Stayte is interested primarily in the role of a person in the contemporary digital culture. His installations Face Book and #selfie are a suggestive commentary to the current role of photography in the global melting pot. Of course, there will also be a Polish accent: In his project titled Live View, Artur Urbański juxtaposed the 19th century ideas, taken from the romantic paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, with the current methods of experiencing beauty.

ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY THAT NEVER DIES
Almost 99% photographs in 2015 were saved in the memory of a mobile phone. Currently we take more photographs in 2 minutes than the entire humanity taken throughout the entire 19th century. “I am making this exhibition to tell a story. To tell people that it was not always like that. It is going to be a journey from the invention of photography to its immortality. The very title of the exhibition – Photography Never Dies – is a great metaphor. It is somehow obvious that everything passes, transforms and sometimes even disappears. The title expresses hope – but also sums up the history, which does not look for the answer to the question about the role of photography in the future”, Candrowicz explained.

The Photography Never Dies exhibition is a symbolic story about the birth of photography, its evolution and values, which can be found in the nature of the very medium. The project took up the form of a metaphorical illustration of photography and a cross-section of 177 years of its existence. The exhibition is not a study or a scholarly analysis, but primarily a reflection about the role of photography in our daily lives.

Date: 17 November 2016 – 8 January 2017

Place: Gallery at the Main Railway Station, Piłsudskiego 105

Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 11.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m, Thursday 1.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.

Tickets: discount – 5 PLN, standard- 8 PLN, family (2 adults and up to 4 children) – 16 PLN, group – for groups above 10 people, 5 PLN per person

More details at: www.photographyneverdies.com  / FB https://goo.gl/a5FT8t

 

The European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 Visual Arts programmecomprises exhibitions, artistic interventions in public space, cross-generational educational activities, workshops for the excluded and self-excluding groups. The programme is also connected with environmental cooperation in Wrocław, projects by Polish artists, dedicated to the public space of the Lower Silesian capital, as well as works of the greatest and most famous international artists, presented in collaboration with Polish and European cultural institutions.

Curator: Michał Bieniek
Find out more: http://www.wroclaw2016.pl/dzialania-esk-sztuki-wizualne / www.facebook.com/esksztukiwizualne