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Geert van Kesteren, From the series Why. Mister, Why, 2004
Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, from the series Ghetto, Cuba, 2003
The opening of Tomáš Agat Bloński exhibition at Camelot Gallery
Przemyslaw Pokrycki, Funeral, from the series The Rites of Passage, 2006

Following Hungary in 2006, this year the guest of honor was Germany. Aside from a retrospective of the illustrious 1920s sociological portraits done by August Sander, the country was represented foremost by two group exhibitions. The first, entitled Appearance / Disappearance, presented a selection curated by Michael Staab, featuring not only the notorious comparative series of winding towers by Bernd and Hilla Becher, but above all the work of the younger generation of artists from the North Rhine-Westphalia region. All of the technically brilliant works on exhibition, following freely on from the descriptiveness of works by Candida Hőfer, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, and other well-known representatives of the Dűsseldorf school, depicted static motifs, each eloquent also as sociological testimony. Among the most striking works were the well-articulated details taken from typical DDR interiors and the shatteringly monumental edifices of the Hitler-era baths at the spa of Prora on the Isle of Rügen by Anja Bohnhof, the spectral photographs of abandoned cars set against landscapes by Bernhard Fuchs, or the melancholy images of the village of Etzweiler before its demolition by Laurenz Berges.

Eager expectation preceded the second major German exhibition, Failed Hope: New Romanticism in Contemporary Photography in Germany, which was to show the departure of a large part of young German photographers from the cold and descriptive style of the Dűsseldorf school. Its curator, Andrea Domesle, aspired to show the inspiring influence of the work of the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich on contemporary photography, as presented in a selection of 14 German photographers along with the Norwegian Mette Tronvoll (living in Berlin and Oslo) and Finland’s Tea Mäkipää, who created her staged photographs in Germany. The exhibition featured a number of photographs and video-programs of high quality, which either drew directly from Friedrich’s oeuvre (Julia Oschatz, Christine de la Garenne), where references to Friedrich’s work could be traced (Ulrike Flaig, Sylvia Henrich, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Nathalie Grenzhaeuser), or where such links were loose and indirect (Tobias Zielony, Gregor Brandler). There were, however, also many rather average pictures, as well as works whose relationship to Friedrich or to Romanticism seemed evident to the curator alone. For instance, the conceptual artist Sven Johne presented reproductions of portraits of five personalities that were in some way linked to the fictitious isle of Vinta, reminiscent of his native Rügen, where Friedrich painted his Romantic landscapes. But what was actually Romantic in these portraits, accompanied by reproductions of images symbolizing the work of these figures, most probably remained a mystery to all but Andrea Domesle. 

Another part-German project was the compelling joint exhibition of four artists bringing together Polish (Ireneusz Zjeźdźałka, Łukasz Trźiński) and German (Christian von Steffelin, Jan Lemitz) photographers on the desolate terrain of former mines shortly before they were liquidated, which featured older documentary films, the testimony of locals and photographs of the interiors of abandoned houses and the devastation of the landscape, as well as photographs of the new village where the inhabitants of the destroyed area were moved to.

The second and broader group of exhibitions Theatres of War was put together by the Magnum photo-journalist Mark Power in the premises of the former Schindler factory. This was dominated by a powerful multi-media projection of images by the Dutch photographer Geert van Kesteren from contemporary Iraq, entitled Why Mister Why?, where projection on several screens was accompanied by interviews with American soldiers and Iraqi civilians, various evocative soundscapes and live radio news broadcasts from Baghdad. In his visually strong color images Van Keesteren created a many-sided composite of the tragedy of Iraq, showing the drastic methods of American marines when arresting and interrogating Iraqis suspected of terrorism, parades of flagellating and fanatical Shiites, American politicians and diplomats, victims of suicide bombers, the exhumation of the corpses of hundreds of victims of Saddam Hussein’s regime, and also the night clubs where the richer echelons of Baghdad society attempt to achieve at least momentary oblivion from the surrounding hell. Altogether viewers were presented with a vivid image which showed the failings of practically all sides of the Iraqi conflict – without offering much optimism for a solution to the very nearly hopeless situation. Among the other powerful sections of Theatres of War was the exhibition of panoramic photographs by Luc Delahaye (France) from his cycle History, showing with emotional detachment corpses on the side of the road to Kabul, smoke rising above the bombed positions of Taliban fighters, a memorial ceremony for the victims of the World Trade Center in New York, or apocalyptic destruction in a Baghdad street. Even though Delahaye is one of Magnum’s photographers, the huge prints of his aesthetized photographs reminded one more of the staged photographs of Jeff Wall than traditional war reportage as we know it. Among the works that stood out for their visual merit were also the details of the empty interiors of the so-called Kill House, located in an uninhabited part of Arkansas, where the members of special military squads are trained to destroy enemies in the Middle East. The power of these enigmatic images by Christopher Stewart (UK) was made even stronger by the installation, with the images spotlighted against the derelict backdrop of a disused factory. In contrast to those, the photographs of watchtowers on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland by Donovan Wylie seemed tediously descriptive and uninteresting. A curious sociological commentary was provided by the photographs of Lisa Barnard, depicting the contents of dozens of packages of cosmetics, lollipops and candy, toys, biscuits, instant soups, and other objects that Americans send their soldiers abroad, in order to lighten their tours of duty and bring home a little closer to them. The many-faceted collection of exhibitions Theatres of War was doubtless the highlight of this year’s Cracow festival.

Another part of the official festival program, from the somewhat vaguely defined section entitled Distinguishing Marks included several exhibitions of artists of international reputation. None of those, however, was extensive enough to become an attraction to draw crowds of viewers, as is the custom with the stars of photography presented at other festivals. England’s Martin Parr was represented by a small display of portraits that he had commissioned from commercial studios in various countries, the Swedish photographer Anders Petersen presented an expressive collection of photographs of mentally ill people, the British duo Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin showed their far more static portraits of the patients of a psychiatric clinic in Cuba, and the young Danish artist Jacob Aue Sobol his none too successful visual diary recording his relationship with an Eskimo girl from Greenland.

Among the disappointments was the unsatisfactory presentation of the illustrious Royal College of Art, London, which was far below the standard of the annual presentation of diploma works of the said institution. Even more than this, one was forced wonder about the absolutely minimal presence – with the natural exception of the works of local Polish artists – of photography from the countries of the former Soviet block, which have traditionally been given extensive coverage at the Month of Photography in Bratislava, and which one year ago were even in Cracow amply represented, by for instance a gigantic retrospective of Hungarian photography and three Czech exhibitions. Russian photography was represented by self-reflexive Polaroid pictures by Sergei Bykov. Czech photography was represented merely by the projection of several mutual portraits of Hynek Alt and his Slovene wife Aleksandra Vajd in one borrowed flat, to which after the opening only probably only very few visitors even found the way. The much-published portraits of hens by the Slovak photographer Tomáš Agat Bloński were displayed in the far more sumptuous venue of the Camelot Gallery, which thanks to its owner Weronika Łodzińska and the Imago Mundi Foundation is rapidly becoming Cracow’s most important center for photography, featuring a bookshop, reading room, and a photography shop.

On the other hand, the numerous exhibitions of contemporary Polish photography brought many pleasant surprises. The sociologically-minded color photographs of various wedding and funeral-goers by Przemysław Pokrycki were compelling, as were the evocative computer generated portraits of non-existent people by Aneta Grzeszykowska, the expressive black and white images of traditional Indian wrestlers by Tomasz Gudzowaty and his Hungarian colleague Judit Berekai, and the collection of 365 self-portraits, created once per day over the last year, by the Cracow-based photographer Marek Gardulski. Among the work of the youngest generation, most striking were the mosaic of modern documentary images and portraits by Marcin Morawicki and Marcin Pajdosz, or the large-format color portraits of people in everyday situations by Paweł Olejniczak. Most of these exhibitions surveyed the current departure of many Polish artists from the multi-media and conceptual work dominant in Poland from the 1950s until quite recently, and their tendency towards awareness of a far broader spectrum of contemporary trends.     

Vladimír Birgus
Fotograf 9/2007

Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau, 1959

Although the 6th year of the photography festival Transphotographiques took place between May 10 and June 17 in several cities in the North of France and the South of Belgium, its main hub was in Lille, an agreeable and lively town with a sprawling historical center located about half-an hour by TGV from Brussels, and an hour from Paris. Directly across from the main station is the spacious building Le Tri Postal, formerly a clearinghouse for the post office, now reconstructed to house enormous exhibition halls. 26 of the festival exhibitions were held there, with others at the grandiose Palace des Beaux Arts, a former monastery hospice, as well as in several churches, Lille’s Maison de la Photographie, and various galleries.

Under the leadership of festival president Bertrand De Talhouët and director Olivier Spillebout, the organizers chose a single theme for most of this year’s roughly seventy exhibitions: photography and cinema. They did not display much originality here, for the same subject had already been broached at the Months of Photography in Paris and Moscow, as well as at other festivals. In Lille, however, they decided to focus on the relationship of cinema and its elder sibling, photography, from various aspects, not just the usual exhibitions of portraits of star actors or directors, but also through images of cinemas in various countries, location shots from film productions, staged photographs reminiscent of film scenes, descriptive pictures of film sets where famous films had been shot, photo-sequences and paparazzi-like photographs from the backstage of the Cannes film festival.

Elźbieta Jablońska,from the series Supermother, 2005
Denis Rouvre, Tom Hanks
Stefano de Luigi, from the series Pornoland
Patrick Swirt, Jim Jarmusch
Denis Rouvre exhibition at  Tri Poste in Lille

The main focus of attention was naturally placed on portraits of illustrious figures from both the history and present of the cinema. Among the best shows of this kind was the exhibition selected by Gabriel Bauret from the archives of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. This combined sixty-year old idealized glamour portraits by George Hurrell, excellent photographs of Jean Marais, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and other French celebrities by Raymond Voinquel, as well as provocative, erotic portraits and nudes of Charlotte Rampling, Catherine Deneuve, and Ava Gardner by Helmut Newton. One of the festival’s largest exhibitions presented the oeuvre of Léo Mirkine, who between 1936 and 1988 created 120 thousand production stills from the sets of various films, and from the 1950s onward also photographed on the beaches of Cannes, and at its opulent receptions, the then-emerging generation of actors, who were only just becoming international celebrities: Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Gérard Philipe, and Alain Delon. It is beyond doubt that Mirkine’s fresh and immediate photographs, widely published in the press of the time, contributed to their rising fame. However, the trouble was that pictures of the very same actors appeared too many times in Lille – in the exhibition of smooth portraits done by the Harcourt Studio, nostalgic pictures from the Cannes festival by the Dutch photographer Sem Presser, or reportage images from the same location by Michel Johner. Most visitors probably viewed the first five pictures showing the charms of the youthful Brigitte Bardot with great interest, but when such analogous portraits began to appear in endless variations, they soon become stereotypical and tiresome. Many faces recurred also at the exhibitions of the portraits of contemporary stars of the screen. Among the best were the imaginative arranged photographs done in color by Denis Rouvre, the more traditional portraits by Sebastian Copeland, and the more expressive black and white photographs by Jérôme de Perlinghi and Patrick Swirc, mounted on black panels and enhanced by spotlights. Swirc’s photographs in particular, with their unflattering and at times naturalistic bent, with their merciless articulation of every wrinkle and hair, as well as the fact that the prints contained also the edge of the film material, were reminiscent of the portraiture style of Richard Avedon.

The most original portraits of cinema stars, however, were featured in the exhibition of the famed German photographer Peter Lindbergh, held in the crypt of Notre Dame de la Treille. Similar to Antonín Kratochvíl, Lindbergh prefers black and white and unconventional compositions in his quasi-reportage pictures: Hilary Swank is photographed from the back, perusing the negatives of her portraits, Catherine Deneuve is portrayed through daring details of face and feet, Isabella Rossellini is seen walking her dog on a street in New York. 

He also did not shirk from an unflinching portrayal of old age, as is evident in his evocative portrait of the wrinkled face of the grande dame of French cinema, Jeanne Moreau. His exhibition included several pictures treating the gloss of the cinema world with a certain irony, as for instance in the rear view of the spray painted and overgrown letters of the giant Hollywood sign on the hills above Los Angeles. The resourcefulness of Lindbergh’s works stood out in comparison with another exhibition mounted in a church, this time in the St. Maurice, where François-Marie Banier resorted for the most part to the forced grimaces of long-serving French actor Daniel Emilfork.

Fortunately, there were a number of other exhibitions at the festival. There was the excellent and sociologically eloquent collection of photographs of various cinemas in Cuba, Texas, Morocco, India, the Dominican Republic and other countries, by Stephan Zaubitzer. There were Denis Lenoir’s spectral shots of empty interiors – the sets of various film scenes, as well as impromptu photos the shoots of Stefano de Luigi’s porn films, which spoke volumes, but which were nonetheless reminiscent of similar photographs by Larry Sultan. The power of the photographs in which Paolo Ventura, inspired by puppet films, staged everyday scenes from the Mussolini era in Italy by using tiny figures has already been tested at photography festivals in Arles and Krakow, and even in a solo book. In the row of Lucien Clergue’s descriptive images from the staging of Le Testament d’Orphée the ones that stood out were several evocative portraits of its author, Jean Cocteau.

The theme of the relationship between photography and cinema was attractive – it did not fail to draw large audiences (outstanding promotion throughout the city naturally also helped, as well as the fact that admission to all festival exhibitions was free of charge). Still, as a solitary theme for a large photography festival this also proved too narrow, as many topics kept recurring and a number of exhibitions showed little of current tendencies in photography. Fortunately, the program included a host of innovative exhibitions by young artists working outside of the main theme, photography projections and film screenings, discussions, presentations of other European photography festivals, and a well organized portfolio review. After an interval of one year, Transphotographiques thus returned to assert its place among the foremost photography festivals not only in France, but in Europe as a whole. In fact, this summer its international character will be enhanced further by a new photography festival in the Polish cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot, to the organization of which Transphotographiques will contribute significantly.

Vladimír Birgus

Fotograf 9/2007

Studio Harcourt, Laetitia Casta

Ačkoliv šestý ročník fotografického festivalu Transphotographiques probíhal od 10. května do 17. června v několika městech na severu Francie a jihu Belgie, jeho hlavním centrem bylo Lille, příjemné a živé město s rozsáhlým historickým centrem, rychlovlakem TGV dosažitelné za půl hodiny z Bruselu a za hodinu z Paříže. Přímo naproti hlavnímu nádraží tam leží budova bývalé třídírny poštovních zásilek Le Tri Postal, v níž byly vybudovány ohromné výstavní prostory. Do nich se vešlo 26 festivalových expozic, další probíhaly v grandiózním Paláci výtvarných umění, v bývalém klášterním hospici, v několika kostelech, v lillském Domě fotografie i v různých galeriích.

Organizátoři pod vedením prezidenta festivalu Bertranda De Talhouëta a ředitele Oliviera Spillebouta pro většinu z letošních  zhruba 70 výstav zvolili jediné téma: fotografie a film. Nebyli v tom příliš originální, protože stejné téma se už objevilo na Měsících fotografie v Paříži a Moskvě i na jiných festivalech. V Lille se však rozhodli vztahy kinematografie a její starší sestry fotografie ukázat z mnoha aspektů, nejenom obvyklými výstavami portrétů hereckých a režisérských hvězd, ale také snímky kin v různých zemích, záběry z natáčení filmů, inscenovanými fotografiemi, připomínajícími filmové scény, deskriptivními snímky filmových staveb, v nichž se odehrávaly proslulé filmy, fotografickými sekvencemi i paparazziovskými záběry ze zákulisí filmového festivalu v Cannes.

Carole Bellaiche, David Lynch
Hodnocení portfolií
Léo Mirkine, Robert Mitchum v Cannes, 50. léta
Výstava v Paláci výtvarných umění
Sem Presser, Gina Lollobrigida na festivalu v Cannes, 1953
Sebastian Copeland, Sandra Bullock

V centru pozornosti diváků pochopitelně stály portréty slavných osobností z historie a současnosti filmu. K nejlepším výstavám tohoto druhu patřila expozice, kterou z fondů Evropského domu fotografie v Paříži sestavil Gabriel Bauret. Vedle sebe se v ní ocitly šedesát let staré idealizované portréty ve stylu glamour od George Hurella, skvělé záběry Jeana Maraise, Jeana Cocteaua, Jeana-Paula Belmonda a dalších francouzských celebrit od Raymonda Voinquela i eroticky vyzývavé portréty a akty Charlotty Rampling, Catherine Deneuve a Avy Gardner od Helmuta Newtona. Jedna z největších výstav festivalu představila tvorbu Léa Mirkineho, který mezi lety 1936 až 1988 vytvořil na 120 tisíc fotosek z natáčení různých filmů a už v 50. letech na plážích a při opulentních recepcích v Cannes fotografoval tehdejší mladé herce, kteří se teprve stávali mezinárodními celebritami: Brigitte Bardot, Sophii Loren, Gérarda Philippa či Alaina Delona. Je nepochybné, že právě svěží a bezprostřední Mirkineho fotografie, hojně publikované v tehdejším tisku, přispěly k růstu jejich slávy. Problémem ovšem bylo, že fotografie stejných herců bylo možno vidět v Lille až příliš často – v expozici uhlazených portrétů ze Harcourtova ateliéru, v nostalgicky působících záběrů z canneského festivalu od nizozemského fotografa Sema Pressera i v běžných reportážních momentkách ze stejného místa od Michela Johnera. Prvních pět fotografií půvabů mladé Brigitte Bardot si asi většina návštěvníků prohlédla se zájmem, ale když se její obdobné portréty objevovaly v dalších a dalších variantách, začalo to působit stereotypně a únavně. Mnohé tváře se opakovaly i na výstavách portrétů současných hvězd filmového plátna. Mezi nimi k nejlepším patřily invenční barevné aranžované fotografie Denise Rouvreho, tradičnější portréty od Sebastiana Copelanda a expresivněji pojaté černobílé fotografie Jérôma de Perlinghiho a Patricka Swirca, působivě bodově nasvícené na černých panelech.  Zejména Swircovy fotografie svým nelichotivým, místy až naturalistickým pojetím s nemilosrdným zobrazením všech vrásek a chloupků i zvětšeninami zahrnujícími okraje filmů připomínaly styl portrétů Richarda Avedona.

Nejosobitější portréty filmových hvězd však obsahovala expozice proslulého německého fotografa Petera Lindbergha v kryptě lillské katedrály Notre Dame de la Treille. Lindbergh dává ve svých quazireportážních záběrech podobně jako Antonín Kratochvíl přednost černobílým snímkům a nekonvenčním kompozicím:Hillary Swank vyfotografoval zezadu při prohlížení negativů svých portrétů, Catherine Deneuve zobrazil v odvážných detailech tváře a nohou, Isabellu Rosselini zachytil při procházce se psem po newyorské ulici.

Ani on se nevyhýbá nelítostivému zobrazení stáří, jak bylo  vidět třeba v sugestivním portrétu vrásčitého obličeje velké dámy francouzského filmu Jeanne Moreau.  Jeho expozice obsahovala i několik snímků ironizujících pozlátko filmového světa, například pohled zezadu na počmáraná a trávou zarostlá obrovská písmena nápisu Hollywood na kopci nad Los Angeles. Nápaditost Lindbergových děl vynikla v porovnání s další výstavou v kostelních prostorách, tentokrát v chrámu sv. Mořice, u níž se François-Marie Banier většinou spokojil s křečovitými grimasami letitého francouzského herce Daniela Emilforka.

Na festivalu však naštěstí bylo vidět i mnohé jiné expozice. Výborná byla sociologicky výmluvná kolekce snímků z různých kin na Kubě, v Texasu, Maroku, Indii, Dominikánské republice a dalších státech od Stephana Zaubitzera.  Přízračné působily Lenoirovy záběry prázdných interiérů – dějištˇ různých filmových scén i výmluvné momentky ze zákulisí natáčení pornografických filmů od Stefana  de Luigiho, které však až příliš připomínaly obdobné záběry Larryho Sultana. Působivost fotografií, v nichž Paolo Ventura po vzoru loutkových filmů inscenoval prostřednictvím drobných figurek výjevy z každodenního života v Mussoliniho Itálii, byla už dříve ověřena na fotografických festivalech v Arles nebo v Krakově i v samostatné knize. Z řady popisných snímků Luciena Clerguea z inscenace Orfeovy závěti se vydělovalo několik sugestivních portrétů autora této hry Jeana Cocteaua.

Téma vztahů fotografie a filmu bylo divácky atraktivní, což prokazovala dobrá návštěvnost (k tomu ovšem přispívala i skvělá propagace festivalu po celém městě i fakt, že všechny festivalové výstavy byly přístupné bez vstupného). Ovšem jako jediné téma velkého fotografického festivalu bylo také příliš svazující, protože mnohé motivy se opakovaly a na řadě výstav toho bylo k vidění z aktuálních tendencí současné fotografické tvorby poměrně málo. Naštěstí součástí programu byla i řada svěžích expozic mladých autorů mimo hlavní téma, fotografické a filmové projekce, besedy a diskuse, prezentace evropských fotografických festivalů a dobře zorganizované hodnocení portfolií. Festival  Transphotographiques tak po roční pauze prokázal, že patří k předním fotografickým přehlídkám nejenom ve Francii, ale v celé Evropě. Ostatně jeho mezinárodní charakter letos v létě ještě umocní nový fotografický festival v polských městech Gdaňsk, Gdyně a Sopoty, na jehož organizaci se bude Transphotographiques významně podílet.

Vladimír Birgus
Zdroj: Fotograf 9/2007

Pražský dům fotografie – Prague House of Photography, o.p.s.
Vás srdečne zve na výstavu / cordially invites you to the exhibition

Weronika Lodzinska a Andrzej Kramarz
Domov / Home

19. 6. – 29. 7. 2007

Výstava je pořádaná ve spolupráci s Polským institutem v Praze.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Polish Institute in Prague.

Vernisáž se koná v pondělí 18. června 2007 od 18.00 hodin v Pražském domě fotografie v prostorách Nadace ABF, Václavské nám. 31, Praha 1.
Opening Monday, June 18th 2007 at 6 pm at the Prague House of Photography in the premises of the ABF Foundation, Vaclavske namesti 31, Prague 1.

Otevřeno denně 11.00 – 18.00 hodin.
Open daily 11am – 6pm.

Kino Hvězda, čtvrtek 14.06. 18:00,
14. 6. - 15. 7. foyer kina Hvězda

Vernisáž výstavy spojená s hradišťskou premiérou filmu Chřiby - hory lidí a mýtů je ve čtvrtek 14.6. od 18:00 hod.. Autory fotografií výstavy Setkání pod Buchlovem jsou: Milan Biegoń (Ostrava), Lenka Grossmanová (Zlín), Alexandr Hudeček (Praha), Jiří Kudělka (Ostrava), Lenka Urbišová (Havířov), Marek Malůšek (Uherské Hradiště), Martina Novozámská (Praha), Michal Popieluch (Frýdek Místek), Pavel Mária Smejkal (Slovensko, Košice), Martina Zielinská (Zlín).

Program:
18:00 – úvodní slovo – Mikroregion Buchlov – Miroslav Kovářík
18:15 – vernisáž výstavy fotografií SETKÁNÍ POD BUCHLOVEM – Marek Malůšek a autoři
18:30 – představení filmu „Chřiby – hory lidí a mýtů“ – Ivan Stříteský, Jiří Jilík

SRDEČNĚ VÁS ZVEME NA VÝSTAVU
BAKALÁŘSKÝCH A MAGISTERSKÝCH
PRACÍ STUDENTŮ
ATELIÉRU REKLAMNÍ FOTOGRAFIE
FAKULTY MULTIMEDIÁLNÍCH KOMUNIKACÍ
UNIVERSITY TOMÁŠE BATI VE ZLÍNĚ

VERNISÁŽ  7. 6. 2007 v 19 HODIN

VÝSTAVA POTRVÁ OD 8. 6. DO 21. 6. A BUDE OTEVŘENA OD 15: 00 - 19: 00.
32. BUDOVA V AREÁLU BÝVALÉHO SVITU (NAPROTI MRAKODRAPU).