17.09.2024 – 25.01.2025
LOOKS LIKE ABSTRACTION
Group Exhibition
Opening: 14. September 2024, 2-6 pm
We are pleased to invite you to our new group exhibition LOOKS LIKE ABSTRACTION, which is dedicated to the theme of abstraction in photography. In addition to five artists from our gallery programme, we have invited three guest artists to take part in the exhibition.
LOOKS LIKE ABSTRACTION explores the question of when a photograph is perceived as abstract. Was this the artist's intention from the outset? Isn't every photograph initially concrete, only to become something else, such as an abstract image, through the cropping of the picture? The tour of the exhibition answers some of these questions, but also leaves plenty of room for free flight of thought and emotion.
The presentation is divided into two sections. In the first section, we show photographs that have their origins in architecture; in the second section, nature provides the basis for the works presented. The chronological arc spans from the 1960s to the present day in 2024.
The guest artist is the Japanese photographer Natsoumi, who studied art history at the Université de Paris and now lives with her family in Miyagi, Japan. Her works shown in the exhibition were created this year.
The artist Stefanie Seufert is also a guest. She lives and works in Berlin. Her works have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions (Berlinsche Galerie, Eskenazi Museum of Art Bloomington, Louisville, Penumbra Foundation NYC and many more).
The sculptural works in the exhibition were created in 2016.
Janos Frecot is a photo historian, author and was curator and head of the photography collection at the Landesmuseum Berlinische Galerie from 1978 to 2002. As a photographer, he created a Berlin series in the 1960s, from which we are showing a small selection of works.
From our programme we are showing new works by Maria Jauregui Ponte, Loredana Nemes and Anna Szprynger as well as photographs by Ingar Krauss and Edward Burtynsky.
We would like to thank Janos Frecot and Loredana Nemes for their support in the conception and realisation of the exhibition.
30.04. – 13.07.2024
Anna Szprynger
Paintings and Photographs
Opening: 27. April 2024, 2-6 pm
For the first time in more than eleven years, Galerie Springer Berlin is once again showing an
exhibition dedicated to painting as well as photography. And for the first time we are presenting
works by the Polish artist Anna Szprynger. She was born in Warsaw in 1982 and studied graphics
and painting at the College of Fine Arts in Kazimierz Dolny and at the Maria Curie
Skłodowska University in Lublin. This was followed by a doctorate at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Warsaw under the supervision of Professor Dorota Grynczel.
For a long time, Szprynger worked in the field of geometric abstraction. Recently, she has left her
comfort zone and ventured into new territory. "As an artist, you observe, think, feel and then slowly
begin to steer your work towards abstraction - this is a very common path of artistic exploration. For
me it's the other way round - I'm looking for a way out of abstraction because I'm a bit fed up with it
and I'm trying to expand the artistic landscape".
Anna Szprynger's painting is based on a black primed canvas on which she creates delicate lines with fine size 000 brushes. The Polish writer Marek Bieńczyk writes in a text: "I like to imagine your hand thinking. I like even more to imagine or simply realise that all these little lines (lines, stripes, wires, threads, sticks, rays) are the thoughts of her hands." In his remarkable essay, he compares the effect of Szprynger's painting with the feeling of happiness he experienced when reading Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". "Perhaps this happiness is connected to musical sensation." Bieńczyk writes a little later.
He also speaks of melodic compositions and generated tones. This is what we feel when we look at Anna Szprynger's art and what ultimately determined the title of the exhibition. In both painting and photography, we perceive deep minor tones. And isn't it ultimately the deep tones and compositions in a minor key that trigger great moments of happiness?
In the exhibition, we are showing new works that have emerged from her observations of textures and patterns while travelling in nature. Alongside the exhibited paintings by Anna Szprynger, photographs created in parallel will be shown, which for the artist are not an inspiration but a symbiosis. Without the photographs, the painted pictures would not exist and she does not know whether the photographs would have been created if she had not visually perceived the underlying themes.
In addition to the new works, we present classical works from her repertoire.
One remark at the end:
The fact that the artist - in Polish spelling - has the same name as us and our gallery may be a coincidence, but the fascination that Szprynger's art has exerted on us since we got to know her a good eight years ago contradicts the principle of chance.
Heide & Robert Springer
02.03. – 20.04.2024
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
PART 2 - NEW WORKS
OPENING: 01. März 2024, 18 - 21 UHR
On 14 February 2024, the Saatchi Gallery in London opened Edward Burtynsky's most extensive solo exhibition to date. The Springer Gallery is taking this important exhibition as an opportunity to present new works by Burtynsky from the years 2022 and 2023.
On display are works from the series "Coast Mountains", which were created in the summer of 2023 on the Canadian Pacific coast during the devastating forest fires. The beguilingly beautiful images show rapidly melting glaciers under a threatening, smoke-filled sky. This is complemented by images of lignite mining in Australia from 2022.
Media Partner:
PIB Photography Berlin
https://www.photography-in.berlin
07.11.2023 – 01.03.2024
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
AFRICAN STUDIES
On 4 November, we will open the exhibition "African Studies" by Canadian photographer Edward
Burtynsky. This will be the fourth solo exhibition by this internationally renowned artist since 2014.
For decades, his concern for the environment has been the driving force behind his artistic work. In
stunningly beautiful images, he shows us the serious marks that industry leaves on the earth. At the
same time, his images often document alarming ecological disasters.
The exhibition includes work from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa. The photographs
show bird's eye views of the mining of sulphur, coal, iron, diamonds and salt. Breathtaking
images from Namibia reveal the beauty of the country's unspoilt nature.
The exhibition includes work from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa. The photographs
show bird's eye views of the mining of sulphur, coal, iron, diamonds and salt. Breathtaking
images from Namibia reveal the beauty of the country's unspoilt nature.
Artist Statement:
»My interest in Africa owes its genesis to an earlier body of work that I produced about China back
in 2004. For that project, and while researching several topics including the Three Gorges Dam, urban
renewal, and recycling, I learned how the new Chinese factories were being created. At the time,
heavy machinery was literally being unbolted from concrete floors in Europe and North America,
then shipped and refastened to the floors of gigantic facilities in China. This represented a paradigm
shift of industry, and it seemed obvious that China was rapidly becoming a leading manufacturer for
the world. I realized even then that the African continent was poised to become the next, perhaps
even the last, territory for major industrial expansion.«
12.09. – 26.10.2023
WINFRIED MUTHESIUS
1.000 ODYSSEEN
OPENING: 09.09.2023, 14–18 UHR
On 9th September from 2 to 6 p.m. we will be celebrating the opening of the exhibition »1000 Odysseys« by Winfried Muthesius. In his new photographic series, the artist tackles the globally sensitive issues of flight and expulsion. As in his paintings, he concentrates his focus on what he intends to show in such a way that ambiguity is revealed. In addition to photographs, we will be presenting drawings and paintings from the »broken gold« series (gold leaf on wood, sawed).
On 13 September 2023 at 3 p.m. we invite you to the presentation of the book "1,000 Odysseys" in the exhibition rooms. The publisher of the book, Christhard-Georg Neubert, the chairman of the board of the Christian Art Foundation Wittenberg and the KERBER VERLAG will be available to answer your questions.
»One never knows enough. The known also carries within it the unknown.«
(Eduardo Chillida)
»As if the wanderer on the shores of the Cape Verde Islands had made this sentence of Eduardo Chillida's the focus of his work. Camera and sketchbook always at hand, Winfried Muthesius observes exactly what presents itself to his eyes. He photographs, he draws. In this way he intensifies his sight.
Cape Verde has become worthless; among it are remnants of life jackets, parts of fishing nets, plastic waste of almost every kind and variety - and then also flip-flops. The known carries within it the unknown. Who wore these lightest of all footwear? Why are there comparatively many lying here? "The lost shoes or flip-flops that I found on the beaches of the Cape Verde Islands," says Winfried Muthesius, "are the simplest footwear of poor people. The loss of a shoe usually means that the rest of the way has to be done barefoot. The washed-up flip-flops represent for me a symbol of flight and displacement.« Quote by Christhard-Georg Neubert
About Winfried Muthesius:
Born in Berlin in 1957, lives and works in Berlin, Brandenburg and Cap Verde. Winfried Muthesius studied painting at the HDK (today's UDK) Berlin from 1979 - 1984. Numerous exhibitions followed at home and abroad. The works of Winfried Muthesius are represented in numerous private and public collections, including the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.
07.03. – 22.07.2023
LOREDANA NEMES
TREES, SEAS, AND
THE BEE’S KNEES
On the occasion of EMOP Berlin - European Month of Photography, Galerie Springer Berlin presents the first solo exhibition of photographer Loredana Nemes entitled "Trees, Seas, and the Bee's Knees". The selection of work on view includes the current series of works "Greytree and Heavensea" created from 2019 to 2023, the series "Immergrün" from 2020, the group of works "Blossom Time" from 2012 and the series "Greed", 2014-2017.
For two decades, the artist Loredana Nemes has worked mainly on the theme of portraits, which have been presented in numerous series and institutional exhibitions. Since 2019, Nemes has increasingly approached nature. On Rügen she creates the cycle "Greytree and Heavensea", in which she complements photographs of the beech forest in Jasmund National Park with views of the immensity of the sea. 14 visits in all seasons let her deeply explore this unique natural place and tell of the continuous change inherent in all life.
During the same time she photographs the series "Immergrün" in 2020, searching for lovers who have been together for several decades. Poetic texts and pictures emerge from the stories told by the 14 couples who showed up. In doing so, she explores the question of how the interweaving of souls and bodies of the lovers can be expressed through photography and chooses condensation through analogue double exposure for this purpose.
In the second portrait series, "Blossom Time" from 2012, the artist captured young people on their way to adolescence. She chooses to take group pictures, but photographs each young person individually and then assembles the images into diptychs or triptychs. "The cycle Blossoming is an ode to youth. The young people do not pose, they are simply there, in the fullness of their existence, just like spring and the blossoming trees that Loredana Nemes has also portrayed." (Katya Petrovskaya).
What unites all the series is their inherent stillness, Nemes' empathetic gaze and her non-judgemental portrayal - regardless of whether she shows us portraits of people or of trees. There is tangency in everything: that of the trees standing together like families on a stage, that of the merging old couples or that of the young people who pause mysteriously in front of the photographer and express the friendship and tenderness that unites them.
20.09.2022 – 11.02.2023
10 JAHRE
GALERIE SPRINGER BERLIN
JUBILÄUMS-
AUSSTELLUNG
Verlängert bis zum 11.02.2023
We are delighted to invite you to our group exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of
Galerie Springer Berlin. When we opened the gallery in its current format 10 years ago,
it was founded on Robert Springer’s 20 years’ experience of gallery work stemming from
a long family tradition. The decision to run the gallery with Heide Springer resulted in a
reorientation of the gallery programme towards photography.
Over the past decade, we
are proud to have made an international name for ourselves as a gallery in this diverse
field. And alongside the necessary commercial focus, we have always placed great value
on quality and curatorial concepts, and see our gallery work as a cultural task. Luck has
also played a role in our on-going work in this direction and we are grateful for it.
For example, the area around our traditional location in Berlin-Charlottenburg has again
developed into a much sought-after area for galleries. Important public and private
institutions as well as photography galleries have since taken up residence close by, so
that the area has become an attractive and recognised quarter for all interested parties.
Over the past ten years, we have succeeded in putting on exhibitions with world
renowned photographers, including Edward Burtynsky who we represent exclusively in
Germany, Evelyn Hofer, Ingar Krauss, Saul Leiter, Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler, Joel
Meyerowitz, Loredana Nemes, Arnold Odermatt and Georges Rousse, and we have
enjoyed a successful working relationship with the latter two artists for well over 20
years now.
We also present recognised European artists for the first time in Berlin: Catherine Gfeller
and Aitor Ortiz.
And of course our programme includes Berlin-based photographers, covering new
approaches as well as new discoveries, such as Kathrin Linkersdorff who is now active
internationally, Maria Jauregui Ponte, Anna Lehmann-Brauns, Lohner Carlson, Wiebke
Elzel and Jana Müller, Winfried Muthesius, Ashkan Sahihi, Michael Schäfer and Sebastian
Wells, and Jens Liebchen and Peter Klare whose new series were shown in our most
recent exhibition.
In our anniversary exhibition, we are presenting a special selection of personal
favourites, chosen gems and highlights from the previous decade, and premiering a few
new works by our artists.
24.05. – 27.08.2022
PETER KLARE /
JENS LIEBCHEN
COLLAGES /
L.A. CROSSING
Opening: 21 May 2022, 1 – 6 p.m.
Every picture inevitably asks - apart from everything visible - about the author's position. After all, at the moment of viewing the picture, you find yourself in exactly this spot.
In our double exhibition with Peter Klare and Jens Liebchen, both artists are fundamentally concerned with their own standpoint in relation to the photographic motif. While Jens Liebchen's pictures are created as »drive-by-photography« on a year-long drive through Los Angeles, Peter Klare pushes himself with his collages directly in front of the camera lens into pictures from a distant past.
PETER KLARE:
Hard-edged lines, overlapping images, positive and negative forms and the unexpected complementation. The monochrome color field on the found footage creates new pictorial spaces. Barriers are piled up and overcome at the same time. While the colored forms make the existing images partially unrecognizable, curiosity is aroused in the viewer. In his new collages, Peter Klare inserts works from the »Shapes« series into landscape photographs taken from private family albums. In this way, the compositions become mental places of longing of the artist and, in tracing his own identity, as well describe the origin. Like on a chessboard, opposing assertions collide, press against and complement each other. Together they form the new image.
Peter Klare was born in Jena, Germany, in 1969. He studied painting in Montevideo, Uruguay, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the University of California in Los Angeles. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. His work receives international recognition and has been shown at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Deitch Projects in New York, and the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, among others. Peter Klare lives and works in Berlin. To accompany the exhibition, the artist's book COLLAGEs will be published in a limited edition of 200 copies.
JENS LIEBCHEN:
In his series »L.A. Crossing«, which has been in the making since 2010, Jens Liebchen shows us the capital of unconditional automotive mobility like most of its inhabitants prefer to look at it: through the windows of their cars. Out of the moving car, Liebchen looks at a city that embodies the opposites of utopia and dystopia. »L.A. Crossing« itself sounds like the title of a movie, accordingly the street becomes a stage and photography becomes a kind of still image. Bathed in Californian light, the city appears fictitious and real at the same time. Stephen Shore’s image»La Brea Avenue and Beverly Boulevard« serves as a theoretical starting point for Liebchen’s work.
Beginning with the »La Brea Matrix Project«, which was centered around said photo, Liebchen has reversed the common view and now looks back from the street to the city. Neither does he stop, like Lee Friedlander in »America by Car«, nor does he follow a strict gird like Ed Ruscha in »Every Building on the Sunset Strip«. Liebchen drives and drives. From the privileged and air-conditioned perspective of the driver’s seat, light and dark sides of the metropolis are revealed.
Jens Liebchen (*1970) has worked as a freelance photographer since studying ethnology. His work has been exhibited worldwide and can be found in the collection of the DZ BANK Kunstsammlung in Frankfurt a. M., the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the art collection of the German Bundestag, among others.
Liebchen lives and works in Berlin. Liebchen's series »L.A. CROSSING« will also be presented in a large group of works in the exhibition »Hollywood« at the Helmut Newton Foundation from 2 June. On the occasion of the two exhibitions, the book of the same name »L.A. Crossing«will be published by Hartmann Books. It will be introduced in the exhibition at Galerie Springer Berlin.
01.03. – 14.05.2022
INGAR KRAUSS
DER HARTE KERN DER SCHÖNHEIT*
Opening: 26. Feb. 2022, 13-18 Uhr
The exhibition shows photographs by Ingar Krauss that trace the development and recurrence of nature as a theme in his work – from early portraits to his latest serial works. His pictures reflect a realism that is magical in a natural way: as a perception of the poetic, the surreal and sometimes the sinister in everyday life. An intensive experience of nature as well as animals and plants, their becoming and passing in a seasonal cycle, play an important role in this.
Krauss works solely with analogue equipment and preferably in black and white, i.e. in the darkroom. No computer is used in his image production and if he processes images he does by hand, with a paintbrush and varnish.
His genres are the classics of painting: portrait, still life and landscape. The photographer comes closest to painting with his still lifes and yet this series touches on fundamental questions of the photographic medium. Its depth, colour and consistency in the composition of the image reflect the first decade of the medium in the 19th century while at the same timing being of great clarity and rich in allusion.
Krauss finds his motifs in the rural surroundings of his studio. He builds stage-like boxes of different sizes for them and allows the fruits, plants and also animals to appear in them in a natural, virtually metaphysical light. Measured in terms of their presence, the pictures could also be seen as portraits of these things of nature that, being freed and eliminating of time to the same extent, become symbols of transience. One sees in them the slow development process: Krauss is a master of materiality.
* Title based on a poem by William Carlos Williams
Ingar Krauss was born in East Berlin in 1965. He lives and works in Berlin and Oderbruch. He has been involved in numerous international exhibitions, for example at the Hayward Gallery (London), the Musée de l’Elysée (Lausanne), the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence) and the ICP (New York). His works are included in many collections, including the Hermès Collection (Paris), the Hasselbladfoundation (Goteborg) and the Berlinische Galerie (Berlin).
Books of his work have been published by Hatje Cantz, Thames & Hudson, Mondadori Electa, Kerber, Skira Editore and Hartmann Books, among others.
19.10.2021 – 29.01.2022
MARIA JAUREGUI PONTE & AITOR ORTIZ
NATURAL APPEARANCE
In the exhibition Natural Appearance by Maria Jauregui Ponte and Aitor Ortiz,
Galerie Springer Berlin is showing two series that have emerged independently of each other, but
which are dedicated to the same theme, namely the appearance of nature. Both artists have used
photography to capture the visible and the invisible in different ways.
In the series Wo Fuchs und Hase (Where Fox and Hare), which Maria Jauregui Ponte has been
working on since 2018, the gallery is showing pictures from a small location in Mecklenburg. The
cycle deals with wild animals that share their living space with people. By day, they live
withdrawn, distanced from human beings. As soon as it gets dark and residents have withdrawn to
their houses, the animal world re-conquers the terrain. Maria Jauregui makes this reconquering
visible with the help of a wildlife camera. In the daytime, the artist takes the camera with her as
she searches for traces the animals have left behind in the night.
Ortiz photographs the fascinating formations of swarms of starlings on the Basque Country’s
Atlantic coast. Isolated from their natural background, they form dark specks on empty canvases.
These structures or clusters are jointly coordinated by hundreds or thousands of creatures. They
constitute an agile, unpredictable choreography in which the individual disappears. Ortiz captures
this natural wonder with his camera and alienates it with technical sophistication.
Maria Jauregui Ponte and Aitor Ortiz come from the Basque Country in Spain; Ortiz lives near
Bilbao, Jauregui Ponte in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
About Maria Jauregui Ponte:
Maria Jauregui Ponte, born in the Basque Country in 1972, has been living and working in Berlin
since 1996. She is a self-taught photographer and honed her skills in internships and
assistantships before studying at the New School for Photography, graduating in 2012. Ponte sees
photography as a testing ground, offering her a variety of opportunities for expression. The
tension between coincidence and control forms part of her approach. Since 2000, she has
participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and Europe, including at the Haus
am Kleistpark, the Fotohaus ParisBerlin and the Rencontres d'Arles 2017 (solo exhibitions) and at
the Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim (group exhibition).
About Aitor Ortiz:
Born in Bilbao in 1971, Aitor Ortiz is one of the best-known Spanish photographers. His work has
been shown in numerous major museums in Europe, Asia and America, in both group and solo
exhibitions. His major solo exhibitions include: Museo Universidad de Navarra (2018),
Fotografiska Stockholm (2012), Sala Canal de Isabel II, Madrid (2012), Museo Guggenheim,
Bilbao (2011). The book published by Hatje Cantz in 2011 is an important monograph on his work,
which has been lauded by critics and honoured with numerous awards. His works are included in
many different collections, including: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Museo
Guggenheim Bilbao, Fundación La Caixa, AXA. Belgium, IVAM. Instituto Valenciano de Arte
Moderno, Norman Foster Collection and many others.
06.10.2020 – 27.03.2021
UTE MAHLER & WERNER MAHLER
AN DEN STRÖMEN
OPENING: 03.10.2020, 13-18h / 1-6pm
Galerie Springer Berlin is opening the exhibition An den Strömen (At the Streams) by von Ute Mahler und Werner Mahler on October 3 to mark the EMOP European Month of Photography Berlin 2020. This new and previously unpublished series emerged from the summer of 2019 onwards for the exhibition Kontinent – Auf der Suche nach Europa (Continent – in search of Europe) by the Ostkreuz photographers’ agency at the Academy of Arts.
For this series, both photographers toured Europe’s major rivers and streams – the Elbe, Rhine/Waal, Danube, Po and Volga – where social, ecological, political, economic and historical themes become apparent and enable both artists to create a superlative portrait of Europe. In images that are both emotionally powerful and photographically impressive, they depict extracts from life, architecture, and portraits along Europe’s biggest streams. The artists started at the Elbe, the Rhine and the Danube in Bulgaria in 2019.
The Po followed that autumn and in February 2020 they continued on their journey to the Volga. Visits to other rivers – the Rhône, Dnieper and Tagus – are planned.
Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler who have been working together for a few years now are photographing the series in black and white with an analogue large-format camera. In parallel with the exhibition at the Academy of Arts,
In July this year, Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler photographed their first fashion spread for 27 years, this time for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazine. The series came about at a small location on the Elbe. Both photographers again took black-and-white pictures using a large-format camera. Sections of this new, unusual and outstanding series will provide a stunning complement to the exhibition.
Werner Mahler (b. 1950), 1973–78, photographic studies, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig; since 1978, freelance photographer; 2005, founder of the Ostkreuzschule for Photography, Berlin; school director and lecturer
Ute and Werner Mahler: 1990, founding members of the OSTKREUZ agency; 2014, work exhibition at the House of Photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, at the Rostock Art Gallery, and many more besides
25.02. – 01.08.2020
GEORGES ROUSSE
UTOPIA
With the exhibition UTOPIA, Galerie Springer Berlin is presenting new works by Georges Rousse, an artist with whom the gallery has been collaborating since the start of the 1990s. The ‘physical interventions’ he performs in the spaces portrayed in his photographs continue to fascinate and confuse the observer.Even in the digital age, this fascination lives on. Rousse’s ingenious manipulations using constructions, drawings and panting are more surprising than ever in a world where the boundaries between reality and virtual reality are increasingly blurred. Using colour, light and architectural elements, Rousse transforms the three-dimensionality of the space into a two-dimensional photographic surface. Does reality become vision or vision become reality?
About Georges Rousse:
Georges Rousse was born in Paris on 27 July 1947. He lives and works in Paris and Nice. He received his first camera, a Kodak Brownie, as a gift when he was nine years old. Since then, the camera has never left his side. He left medical school to study photography and printing techniques. After opening his own studio, he dedicated himself to architectural photography.
He has received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Prix de Rome, Italy (1986), the Prix ICP (Institute Center of Photography), New York (1988) and the national Grand Prix for photography, France (1993). In 2008, he succeeded Sol LeWitt as associate member of the Royal Academy in Belgium.
His works are included in many private and public collections around the world.
He has received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Prix de Rome, Italy (1986), the Prix ICP (Institute Center of Photography), New York (1988) and the national Grand Prix for photography, France (1993). In 2008, he succeeded Sol LeWitt as associate member of the Royal Academy in Belgium.
His works are included in many private and public collections around the world.
28.09.2019 – 01.02.2020
AITOR ORTIZ
EXPANDED PHOTOGRAPHY 2002-2018
OPENING: 27.09.2019, 19h / 7pm
In the exhibition Expanded Photography 2002–2018, Galerie Springer Berlin is showing three different work cycles by the Basque artist Aitor Ortiz in which traditional photographic boundaries are surpassed in surprising and fascinating ways.
The highlight of the exhibition is the presentation of works from the related series Vicinay and Link (2018). Vicinay is a chain factory in the former industrial area of Zorrotzaurre in Bilbao. The manufacturing plant, which produced a total of 10,000km of ship-mooring chains over a 60-year period, was moved to a new location as a result of urban-development measures and gentrification. Ortiz, who grew up in the vicinity of the industrial site and has been based there via his studio for many years, had parts of the steel floor panels in the former manufacturing plant removed piece-by-piece, involving extensive effort.
These heavy steel plates are characterised by distortions, folds and scars resulting from decades of pulling kilometres of extremely heavy, hot chains. The steel plates from Vicinay, which are being shown in the exhibition in the original (100 x 100cm), are therefore prints or impressions in the wider sense of the words.
The related series Link is the photographic treatment of Vicinay. With great clarity and striking sharpness, the works give expression to the work processes that formed or deformed the steel plates over decades, and to the cracks and ‘injuries’ caused to them as a result.
In the series Espacio Latente (2008/2018) and Modular Mod (2002), Ortiz works with space and architecture as source elements in order to puzzle us both visually and cognitively. His works, which he presents only in back and white, go way beyond a documentary form of architectural photography and emphasise the dissolution and conversion of the real that is concomitant with the photographic representation. Ortiz has an unending interest in highlighting a series of contradictions between representation and interpretation (perception).
About Aitor Ortiz:
Born in Bilbao in 1971, the artist is one of the best-known Spanish photographers. He has already exhibited in numerous major museums in Europe, Asia and America, in both group and solo exhibitions. His major solo exhibitions include Museo Universidad de Navarra (2018); Fotografiska Stockholm (2012); Sala Canal de Isabel II, Madrid (2012); and Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao (2011). The 2011 book published by Hatje Cantz is an important monograph on his work, which has been celebrated by critics and honoured with numerous awards. His works are featured in many different collections, including Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museo Guggenheim Bilbao; Fundación La Caixa; AXA, Belgium; IVAM – Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno; the Norman Foster Collection and many others.
13.07. – 14.09.2019
KATHRIN LINKERSDORFF & MARIA JAUREGUI PONTE
LUMINESZENZEN
Die Galerie Springer Berlin stellt mit der Ausstellung LUMENISZENZEN zwei Künstlerinnen vor, die von nun an das Programm der Galerie erweitern.
Die beiden Fotografinnen ergänzen sich in der Ausstellung auf beeindruckende Weise.
Beide arbeiten und experimentieren seit Jahren mit Licht und Schatten, Farbe und Dunkelheit. Die Ergebnisse dieser Prozesse, die in der Ausstellung präsentiert werden, sind im Ansatz sehr unterschiedlich, verbinden sich jedoch auf überraschende Weise zu einer Einheit.
With the exhibition LUMINESCENCES, Galerie Springer Berlin is introducing two artists who will be expanding the gallery’s programme from now on.
The two photographers complement each other in the exhibition in an impressive way.
Both have been working and experimenting with light and shadow, and colour and darkness for many years. The results of this process are to some extent very different, but they come together in a stunning combination in the exhibition.
12.02. – 18.04.2019
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
ANTHROPOCENE - NEW PHOTOGRAPHS
»Humankind reached an unprecedented moment in planetary history. Humans now affect the Earth and its processes more than all other natural forces combined.« The Anthropocene Project is a multidisciplinary body of work combining fine art photography, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research to investigate human influence on the state, dynamic, and future of the Earth.
Galerie Springer Berlin is showing a high-quality selection of new photographs from the Anthropocene project.
The entire body of work is currently being shown simultaneously at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada. The documentary film The Anthropocene: The Human Epoch by Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky will soon be shown in cinemas.
The book The Anthropocene has just been published by Steidl in Göttingen.
Detailed information about the entire project is available at https://theanthropocene.org
30.04. – 29.06.2019
WINFRIED MUTHESIUS
GENIUS LOCI
After the first exhibition in 2016, Galerie Springer Berlin is delighted to present two new series by the artist Winfried Muthesius. True to his style, he is again working with a cross-border approach, layering several tiers of painting and photography on top of each other, so that the different image elements become intertwined and create completely new realities in which parts of the photographic element almost completely withdraw or largely recede into the background.
Galerie Springer Berlin is presenting two series in the current exhibition. The first, Genius Loci, which gives the exhibition its name, emerged in Berlin at ‘non-places’, such as former industrial sites on the edge of the Moabit district and around Zoo Station. In complete contrast is the Triomphe series, which originated in Paris at monumental and central locations such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and the Seine, close to the Place Concorde.
In both series’ works, the clichés that we associate with these locations interestingly disappear. The glamour of Paris and the dirt, stench and inhospitality of the ‘Berlin non-places’ merge, creating space for a new quality that can be poetic, violent, destructive and fascinating, and which sometimes comes very close to abstraction.
The exhibition is complemented with some of the artist’s pioneering works: a selection from the golden field (gold leaf on wood) series, a large-format piece from the Schädelbilder (oil paint on wood) series and a short succession of ink drawings from the Stadtlandschaften series.
About Winfried Muthesius:
Born in Berlin in 1957, Muthesius lives and works in Berlin and Drewen, Brandenburg. He studied painting at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin (Hdk) – now the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) – from 1979–1984. Numerous exhibitions followed at home and abroad. His works are included in numerous private and public collections, for example at the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.
02.10.2018 – 26.01.2019
UTE MAHLER & WERNER MAHLER
ESSENZEN – FOTOGRAFIEN AUS 4 DEKADEN
Verlängert bis 26.01.2019
As part of EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography 2018, Galerie Springer Berlin is showing works by the photographers Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler for the first time and in doing so enriching the gallery’s programme. The comprehensive exhibition Essences – Photography from four decades includes works by Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler from various creative periods. The gallery is also presenting a selection from the joint series Monalisen der Vorstädte (Mona Lisas of the Suburbs) that Ute und Werner Mahler created from 2009 to 2011.
Fashion photographs taken for the magazine Sibylle from 1977 to 1994 take up a central position in the exhibition. Ute Mahler’s 1980 photos with the dancer Jutta Deutschland are also on show, as is a series by Ute Mahler from a stay in Paris in 1978, which she had won as first price in the competition 'Work and Leisure', announced by the Photokina Cologne in the same year. The gallery is also showing early works by Werner Mahler (1975 to 1978) as well as a series of landscape photographs from the 1980s.
Although the exhibition can only show an extract of the wide-ranging and impressive oeuvres of both photographers, it nonetheless provides in-depth insights into their diverse and creative work. Not least, a few iconic photographs provide an excellent illustration of a unique visual language and technique that the artists developed and perfected. Both the founding members of the OSTKREUZ agency now mostly work together.
The series Monalisen der Vorstädte (Mona Lisas of the Suburbs) and Die Seltsamen Tage (The Strange Day)s have emerged since the foundation of the artistic relationship in 2009. The new series Kleinstadt (Small Town) will shortly be published by Hartmann Books. All these projects are a fusion of the qualities and experiences of both photographers in series and artworks they have developed together.
20.02. – 07.04.2018
RAUM / RÄUME II
LEHMANN-BRAUNS · LIEBCHEN · ROUSSE · MEYEROWITZ · ORTIZ
Opening: 17.02.2018, 13 – 18 h / 1 – 6 pm
Die Ausstellung greift zum zweiten Mal das Thema "Raum / Räume" auf und führt die unterschiedlichen Raumauffassungen und Raumempfindungen der Künstlerinnen und Künstler zusammen. Nicht nur die angewandten Techniken unterscheiden sich, es zeigen sich auch elementare Unterschiede in der Darstellung, Interpretation und Umsetzung der gezeigten Positionen.
Revisiting the theme of "Raum / Räume" (space/spaces) for a second time, the exhibition combines different concepts of space as presented by the showcased artists. Not only do they use different techniques but their distinctive approaches also feature basic differences in presentation, interpretation and execution.
05.12.2017 – 03.02.2018
EVELYN HOFER
CITIES, INTERIORS, STILL LIFES
Opening: 02.12.2017, 13 – 18 Uhr / 1 – 6 pm
Zum ersten Mal präsentiert die Galerie Springer Berlin die Fotografin Evelyn Hofer, deren Werk insbesondere in ihren Publikationen über Florenz, London, Spanien, New York, Washington und Dublin manifest wird. Sie hat sich gleichermaßen als Fotografin von Architektur, Interieurs, Landschaften, aber auch von Stillleben und Porträts verdient gemacht. In der Ausstellung werden ausgesuchte Arbeiten aus verschiedenen Werkreihen gezeigt. Evelyn Hofer ist seit Mitte der 1940er Jahre als Fotografin tätig. Ihr Werk ist unvergesslich verbunden mit den Büchern über Florenz, London und Spanien, sowie New York, Washington und Dublin,
die sie mit Schriftstellern wie Mary McCarthy und V.S. Pritchett in den späten 1950er und 1960er Jahren in renommierten Verlagen publiziert hat. 1986 entstand in ähnlicher Weise die Serie Italien. Zudem sind ihre Fotografien durch Magazinbeiträge z.B. für Life, das London Times Magazine und das New York Times Magazine bekannt geworden. Und doch ist sie die »berühmteste ›unbekannte‹ Fotografin Amerikas«.
Das fotografische Werk Evelyn Hofers ist vielfältig und umfasst Architektur, Interieurs, Landschaft, Stillleben und Porträts. Kompromisslos und mit großem Einfühlungsvermögen fühlt sie sich dabei stets der Ehrlichkeit, Direktheit und vor allem Schönheit verpflichtet. Ihr Zugang zum Gegenstand oder zur Person ist intuitiv.
Es ist zu spüren, dass sie sich Zeit nimmt, bevor sie zur Kamera greift. Zeit zu haben, ist ihr wichtig. Das heißt für sie anzukommen, Teil zu werden oder Nähe herzustellen. Es bedeutet für sie - und durch ihre Fotografien auch für uns -, das Wesentliche zu erfassen. Bevor dies nicht geschehen ist, kann auch die Kamera nicht zum Einsatz kommen. Den persönlichen Bezug herzustellen, bildet die Grundvoraussetzung eines Bildes für sie. Wesentliches, Essentielles im Bild festzuhalten ist ihr Ziel. Evelyn Hofer ist dabei nie modischen Zeitströmungen gefolgt. Ihr Werk ist eher klassisch denn avantgardistisch zu nennen, gleichwohl sind ihre Bilder überaus charakteristische Zeitzeugen. Dabei ist ihr Blick für Proportionen, Formen, Farben und Licht präzise und klar.
Ihre Kompositionen sind subtil und durchdacht. Und da sie eine technisch brillante Fotografin ist, benötigt sie keine Effekte, ist für sie die Technik immer nur Mittel zum Zweck - eben zum Bild. Ihrem Werk ist nicht das Aufklärende, der entdeckende Wille von Dokumentarfotografie eigen. Sie will nicht verblüffen oder überraschen. Das erstaunt bei ihrer unbedingten Fähigkeit zur Genauigkeit in der Wahrnehmung und Wiedergabe auch kleinster Details. Nie wirkt ein Porträt Evelyn Hofers entlarvend. Ihr Blick auf den Porträtierten ist nicht nur wach, klar und präzise, sondern auch warmherzig. Von ihr stammt der Ratschlag, für ein Porträt immer eine sehr lange Belichtungszeit zu wählen, denn auf diese Weise kann mehr von der Persönlichkeit des Fotografierten ins Bild gebracht werden.
Über Evelyn Hofer (1922 – 2009):
Geboren in Marburg 1922, emigrierte Evelyn Hofer 1933 mit Ihrer Familie in die Schweiz und anschließend nach Spanien. 1942 erfolgte der Umzug nach Mexico, seit 1946 lebt die Fotografin in New York.
Ihre fotografische Ausbildung absolvierte Evelyn Hofer während ihres kurzen Aufenthalts in der Schweiz. Sie ging beim Fotostudio Bettina in Zürich in die Lehre und lernte bei Robert Spreng in Basel. Zusätzlich nahm sie Privatunterricht bei Professor Hans Finsler an der Fotografieschule Zürich. Ihre Karriere als freischaffende Fotografin startete sie 1947 in New York. Erste Aufträge im Bereich Modefotografie erhielt sie durch den Maler Richard Lindner und durch Alexey Brodovitch Anfang der 1950er Jahre für die Zeitschrift Harper’s Bazaar.
16.09. – 18.11.2017
PETER KLARE
SILVER
OPENING: 15.09.2017, 18 h / 6 pm
With the exhibit, SILVER, Gallery Springer presents, for the first time, the work of the artist Peter Klare. The large-scale colored photos were fashioned in the city of Montevideo, located on the shores of the Rio de la Plata. Developed by hand, Klare initially enlarges his motifs to an extent that not only reveals the smallest details but also makes visible the grain of the film.
In a second step, Klare paints over the photos in a silver gouache. The metallic color strokes flowing over the photographic surface are at once free and awkward, as well as guided by contours. With the fading of details, on the one hand, and the hazy reflection of light, on the other, Klare successfully reveals an independent image scheme caught between reality and imagination. For the viewer, an almost three-dimensionally open field unfurls within the photograph.
23.05. – 29.07.2017
JENS LIEBCHEN
SYSTEM
Opening: 20.05.2017, 15 – 20 h / 3 – 8 pm
Zum ersten Mal präsentiert die Galerie Springer Berlin den Künstler und Fotografen Jens Liebchen und dessen Serie »System«.
Das im Jahr 2014 unter gleichem Titel bei Peperoni Books/ White Press erschienene Fotobuch sorgte bei den Kritikern für große Begeisterung und war schon nach kurzer Zeit vergriffen. Um so glücklicher schätzt sich die Galerie, die Arbeiten nun großformatig zeigen zu können.
Jens Liebchen studierte Ethnologie an der Freien Universität Berlin, bevor er sich ganz der Fotografie widmete. In seinen Arbeiten setzt er sich mit politischen und gesellschaftlichen Themen auseinander. Von 2010 bis 2013 lebte er in Tokio, was ihm einen reflektierten Einblick in die japanische Gesellschaft und Kultur ermöglichte. Dort, im Zentrum der Metropole Tokio, entstand auch die Serie »System«. Liebchen fotografierte im äußeren Teil des Imperial Palace Gardens Kiefern während eines Schneesturms.
„Baumformationen“ beschrieben Michael Klein und Peter Lindhorst im Photonews-Blogbuch die Serie von Fotografien, „die ähnlich kontemplativ wirken wie die Schwarz-Weiß-Kunst der Tuschemalerei, die in Japan bis zur Vollendung praktiziert wird“. Was auf den ersten Blick wie ein Arrangement der Natur in unberührter Umgebung erscheint, ist tatsächlich ein Setting inmitten der Megacity Tokio. Durch das dichte Schneetreiben hindurch lassen sich im Hintergrund Autos und Teile der Stadtsilhouette erahnen, dabei stellen die Lichtverhältnisse die Formen und Strukturen der Bäume deutlich heraus und lassen die Farbfotografien fast wie Schwarz-Weiß-Darstellungen erscheinen. Die Bäume wirken dabei wie Protagonisten auf einer Bühne, teils stellen sie einzelne Charaktere dar,
teils wirken sie in Gruppen. Für Jens Liebchen haben die Bäume exemplarische Funktion. Sie werden systematisch geformt und entsprechen so gesellschaftlichen Normen. Sie spiegeln auf diese Weise die Gesellschaft. Seinem Buch stellt er den folgenden Text voran: „The tradition of tree shaping has come to assume an emblematic role in Japanese culture. Trees and shrubs in Japanese gardens are often drastically modified. Sculptors both control the location of trees and manipulate the growth of trunks, branches, and leaves. Little, if anything, is left to nature. The trees get cut, bent, buckled, diverted, redirected, and twisted into what is considered a perfect shape. In other words, they hold a mirror to a system meant to create individuals that invariably suit the needs of society“. (J.L.)
Ergänzend zu der Serie »System« zeigt die Galerie Arbeiten aus der Serie »Tsukuba-Narita 2011/03/13«. Die Serie ist Liebchens unmittelbare künstlerische Reaktion auf die Erdbeben-Tsunami-Reaktorkatastrophe in Japan im März 2011 und hinterfragt den medialen Wahrheitsgehalt von Bildern im Kontext der globalen Berichterstattung. In chronologischer Abfolge in der Art eines Roadmovie zeigen die Bilder den Blick aus dem Fenster eines Busses auf der Fahrt zum Flughafen Narita außerhalb von Tokio. "I left Japan two days after the quake. The situation was unclear. Information from Japanese and Western media differed to a great extent. The bus to Narita left on time, as usual." (J.L.)
Christoph Schaden schreibt in seinem Essay: „Wie werden wir heute gelesen?,fragen die Bilder. Wie werden wir morgen wahrgenommen? Und was wird in uns erkannt werden? Die 80 Bilder von Jens Liebchen verdanken sich einem künstlerischen Skeptizismus, der sich selbst nicht ausnimmt. Sie unterlaufen in der Anschauung auf virtuos vielschichtige Weise ein Dilemma des Erkennens, das uns auch zukünftig betreffen wird.“ Das gleichnamige Buch erschien 2011 bei Spector Books.
14.03. – 06.05.2017
ARNOLD ODERMATT
FEIERABEND
OPENING: 11.03.2017, 15 – 20 h / 3 – 8 pm
Die Galerie Springer Berlin präsentiert in der kommenden Ausstellung ausgewählte Arbeiten von Arnold Odermatt, die in dem kürzlich im Steidl Verlag erschienenen Buch „Feierabend“ veröffentlicht wurden. Das Buch beinhaltet fotografische Serien von Szenen und Motiven aus dem nahen Umfeld des Fotografen, darunter Seilbahnen, Viehhandel und dörfliche Veranstaltungen, daneben Porträts. Außerdem dokumentierte Odermatt den damals bahnbrechenden Bau der Schweizer Autobahn Lopper.
Parallel zur noch andauernden, von Daniel Blochwitz kuratierten großen Werkausstellung Odermatts in Zürich, ist es die erste Präsentation dieser meisterhaften Fotografien. Anlässlich der Züricher Ausstellung entstand bei Hartmann Books eine ausführliche biografische Publikation, die die Lücke in der deutschsprachigen Literatur über Arnold Odermatt schließt: „Ein gutes Bild muss scharf sein!“ Eine Buchpräsentation mit dem Team von Hartmann books ist während des Gallery Weekends geplant.
Am 07.04.2017 um 19 Uhr zeigt die Galerie Springer Berlin den Dokumentarfilm „Lopper“ von Arnold Odermatt und Urs Odermatt. Arnold Odermatt dokumentierte Anfang der 1960er Jahre den Bau der ersten Schweizer Autobahn „Lopper“. Dabei entstanden 300 Meter Schweizweißfilm auf 16mm Umkehrmaterial. Der Regisseur Urs Odermatt, Sohn von Arnold Odermatt, restaurierte und digitalisierte die Bewegtbilder und führte Regie beim Schnitt des historischen Filmmaterials.
13.12.2016 – 25.02.2017
FIRST CHOICE ll
BURTYNSKY · LEITER · LEHMANN-BRAUNS · MUTHESIUS · ORTIZ · ODERMATT · ROUSSE
In First Choice II zeigt die Galerie Springer Berlin jetzt bisher nicht gezeigte Werke und Werksgruppen einer Auswahl ihrer Künstler. Sieben vertretene Positionen und ganz unterschiedliche Motive und Themen – und dennoch besteht eine sichtbare Korrespondenz innerhalb der gezeigten Werke und Werksgruppen.
24.09. – 03.12.2016
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
Under the EMOP Berlin, European Month of Photography 2016 Galerie Springer Berlin presents the Essential Elements exhibition by Edward Burtynsky showing a selection of works from his various series. The exhibition accompanies the publication of a book by the same name, (Thames & Hudson, September 2016). The German edition Essenz is being published at the same time by Prestel Verlag. The book and exhibition provide an overview of Burtynsky's many different projects and include a selection of works that have never been seen before.
Whereas nearly all previous exhibitions and publications have been limited to a specific theme (mines, oil, water...), various cycles will be combined together in this book and exhibition.
Furthermore, two large-scale works from the Indian Salt Pans series from 2016 will be presented. A book with the same title will be published this fall by Steidl Verlag.
Edward Burtynsky's work is described by the Canadian author and curator William A. Ewing in his text in Essential Elements aptly: “In the past decade Canada’s Edward Burtynsky has risen to prominence as one of the world’s most accomplished photographers. His large-scale works are both aesthetically engaging and impressive in their lucid depiction of massive human interventions upon the landscape.
Yet they never let the social and environmental costs of this relentless transformation slip out of sight. While Burtynsky respectfully acknowledges our collective accomplishments, he reminds us of the steep price we pay for unbridled material wealth. If Huxley’s warning of a ‘superlative catastrophe’ fell on deaf ears in 1928 (after all, industry was roaring along, and the wealthy readers of the article in Vanity Fair were wallowing in dividends) Burtynsky’s stark picture of a ravaged Earth, coming almost a century later, should gain firmer purchase on minds alarmed by the mounting evidence of climate disruption.“
About Edward Burtynsky:
Edward Burtynsky, born in 1955 in Ontario, studied Photography and Media Design at Ryerson University in Toronto. In his work he explores the complicated connections between nature and industry. Edward Burtynsky is considered one of the most well-known and renowned photographers in Canada, and his works can be found in over 50 major museums throughout the world: National Gallery of Canada, MoMA, Guggenheim NYC, and many more.
07.05. – 30.07.2016
WINFRIED MUTHESIUS
NOLI ME TANGERE
Photographic Works – Opening: 06.05.2016, 18 h / 6 pm
Galerie Springer Berlin presents photographic works by Winfried Muthesius.
rnrn"Winfried Muthesius organises the aesthetic blending of opposites, in the best sense of the word: surface movements in the painterly flow and the depth of the image created by the photographic image.
This triggers a sprawl of overlappings that no brain could possibly plan or imagine. Tiny particles collide in the pictorial spaces. The result is breathtaking and it reveals the most important identity of the artist – that with his work. Various pictorial elements on several layers are interwined. Chance spaces overlap. Muthesius combines image-surfaces and image-segments and applies tension to them until they generate images and eventually become world.
„Winfried Muthesius organises the aesthetic blending of opposites, in the best sense of the word: surface movements in the painterly flow and the depth of the image created by the photographic image. This triggers a sprawl of overlappings that no brain could possibly plan or imagine.
Tiny particles collide in the pictorial spaces. The result is breathtaking and it reveals the most important identity of the artist – that with his work. Various pictorial elements on several layers are interwined. Chance spaces overlap. Muthesius combines image-surfaces and image-segments and applies tension to them until they generate images and eventually become world. Not a beautiful, but an unpredictable world in which, in a matter of seconds, a vineyard can turn into a desert, a sacred space into a dizzying abyss. These pictorial worlds encompass out time.”
This brief and concise description by Christoph Tannert, Artistic Director of the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, incorporates the work of Winfried Muthesius particularly well. Christoph Tannert, who has known and supported the artist for many years, will be leading the artist's talk with Winfried Muthesius at the Galerie Springer Berlin on 28.05.2015 at 12 pm.
About Winfried Muthesius:rnBorn in Berlin in 1957, he lives and works in both Berlin and Drewen / Brandenburg. Winfried Muthesius studied painting from 1979–1984 at the HDK Berlin (today the UDK Berlin – Berlin University of the Arts). Numerous exhibitions followed, both in Germany and abroad. The works of Winfried Muthesius are on display in a number of private and public collections, including the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.rn
20.02. – 01.05.2016
AITOR ORTIZ
INTERSTICES – Photographs and Elements
Opening: 19.02.2016, 19 h / 7 pm
The Galerie Springer Berlin presents photography and objects by the Basque artist Aitor Ortiz (1971) in Berlin for the first time. Ortiz works with space, architecture and objects as source elements in order to present us time and again with visual and cognitive puzzles. His work, which he presents exclusively in black and white, goes beyond documentary architectural photography and emphasises the resolution and transformation of ‘the real’ combined with photographic presentation.
Ortiz has an ongoing interest in pointing out a series of inconsistencies between presentation and interpretation (perception). He makes connections between the content of his images, the material characteristics of the carriers used to reproduce his work and their position in the exhibition space. In the course of this, the artist creates another framework for his work and the relationship between the places photographed and the conscious and unconscious means which come to fruition within his work processes: the eye (interpretation, scope, decontextualisation...), the camera (sharpness/blurring, optical distortion, motion transfer...) and the brain (the imperfection of its information intake and its empirical practices ...).
These relationships accumulate in the exhibition space, where the physical experience transcends the actual content of the image. A process of ongoing interaction between presentation and perception emerges. In “Aitor Ortiz”, published in 2011 by Hatje Cantz, curator Michelle Marie Roy writes: “When I consider Ortiz’ work, I am reminded of a quote from Jan Szarkowski from the introduction to his book, “The Photographer’s Eye”: “An artist is a person who seeks new structures in which he may rearrange and simplify the reality of life.”rnThis, according to Michelle Marie Roy, is what Aitor Ortiz accomplishes in his work.
Although traces of various influences from classical photography can be found in Ortiz’ work, primarily from the Düsseldorf School, his photographs are in no way documentary – rather, he creates an entirely new reality. The artist skilfully combines analogue and digital processing technology in his works. Michelle Marie Roy: “He edits his images to adjust them to his vision.”
In the current exhibition, INTERSTICES, the Galerie Springer Berlin presents a selection of works from different ranges by the artist, the common theme of which is interstices.
The artist, born in Bilbao in 1971, is one of the best known Spanish photographers. He has already held group and solo exhibitions in numerous big museums in Europe, Asia and America. The largest solo exhibitions included the following: Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao (2011), Fotografiska Stockholm, 2012, Sala Canal de Isabel II, Madrid (2012). The book “Aitor Ortiz” published by Hatje Cantz in 2011, is an important monograph about his work, for which he has been celebrated by critics and awarded numerous prizes. His works have been included in many different collections, including: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Fundación La Caixa, AXA. Belgium, IVAM. Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Norman Foster Collection and many more.
17.11.2015 – 06.02.2016
ASHKAN SAHIHI
DIE BERLINERIN – A SELECTION
Opening 14.11.2015, 13 Uhr / 1 pm
For the first time, Galerie Springer Berlin presents American artist Ashkan Sahihi, who has recently been added to the program. The exhibition features a selection from Sahihi’s extensive portrait series 'DIE BERLINERIN'. A book with the same title was published in October 2015 by DISTANZ Verlag and includes 375 portraits on 848 pages.
Born in Iran in 1963, Sahihi lived in Germany from 1970 to 1987, where he completed his A-levels. He then moved to New York, where he lived for nearly 30 years. Sahihi worked as a photographer for leading magazines such as New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Vogue, Spiegel, Geo and Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin.
He became known to a broader public in 2001 when MoMa/PS1 exhibited his DRUG SERIES as a special exhibition. After moving to Berlin in 2013, he quickly became fascinated by the city. Its rapid development, dynamic pace, and the significant changes in the makeup of its population were the inspiration for his large-scale project DIE BERLINERIN.
The project consists of portraits of 375 women living in Berlin, produced from September 2013 to August 2015. He started by defining 35 categories according to age, origin, social class and profession. A questionnaire was developed for each woman to fill out. Sahihi was often only able to find the women that he had in mind for a given category after conducting a long and extensive search. He worked with a simple digital camera and natural light. The women were asked to choose the setting, clothing and expression – they staged themselves. The resulting portraits underwent minimal post-production and were not cropped.
Yet DIE BERLINERIN is not documentary photography but rather Sahihi’s artistic expression, his seeing eye. It is the quintessence of research, encounters, oftentimes long and in-depth discussions. The series reflects the personality of each woman, her cultural background, profession or vocation and gives small clues as to time and place.
Galerie Springer Berlin will present its own selection of portraits from November 2015 to February 2016 at the same time as the exhibition in the municipal GALERIE IM KÖRNERPARK, Berlin, where the complete series will be shown from October 2015 to January 2016.
12.09. – 07.11.2015
ANNA LEHMANN-BRAUNS
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS
Opening 11.09.2015
To mark the launch of her new book published by DISTANZ Verlag, Galerie Springer Berlin is for the first time showcasing the latest works from Anna Lehmann–Brauns in a separate exhibition.
"Looking at these photos, everyone is for themselves. They have a sort of magic in the way they cross over from the everyday to the mysterious. Moments of uneventfulness and idleness are shown, which impart something of a bias from the viewer’s own perspective and from the solitude in the subjective.” This is how Dr. Sabine Ziegenrücker describes the work of Anna Lehmann–Brauns in her latest monograph. A further text from Dr. Matthias Harder, Curator of the Helmut Newton Foundation Berlin, along with an in-depth interview between him and the artist complete the publication.
On Friday, 9 October 2015 at 7pm, Galerie Springer Berlin invites you to a talk with artist Anna Lehmann–Brauns and Dr. Matthias Harder. To mark this occasion, ANNA LEHMANN–BRAUNS‘ book, which is soon to be published by BRAUNS‘ book, which is soon to be published by DISTANZ Verlag, will be making its first public appearance.
About Anna Lehmann-Brauns: She was born 1968, lives and works in Berlin. Anna Lehmann-Brauns studied art photography at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig (Masterclass Joachim Brohm).rnHer work focusses on deserted spaces, stages, bars, cinemas, etc. She generally seeks out these spaces, but sometimes creates these herself in the form of doll’s house models. Light influenced environments are significant for her work; her pictures are always devoid of humans but have a strongly emotional quailty.
She has won multiple awards and has exhibited at numerous national and international shows, including Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Haus am Lützowplatz, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Kunsthalle Frisch, Stadthaus Ulm, Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, New York Photo Festival, Frauenmuseum Bonn, Museum für angewandte Kunst Gera. She has received several scholarships from Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, DAAD Travel Grant, Hospiz Art Prize, Brita Kunst Prize, and the Kodak Sponsorship Award, a residency fellowship at Schloß Balmoral in 2015.
02.05. – 25.07.2015
ARNOLD ODERMATT
90th BIRTHDAY – SELECTED WORKS
Photographs 1948 – 2015
Opening: 01.05.2015, 18 Uhr
Masterpieces by Arnold Odermatt on the artist’s 90th birthday
Arnold Odermatt is celebrating his 90th birthday, and Galerie Springer is joining in: For this very special occasion, the gallery will host an exhibition displaying a selection of his masterpiecesIn addition to his well-known jewel, ‘Karambolagen’, the exhibition will feature some of the masterful works from his series ‘In Zivil’ and ‘Im Dienst’. Books of all three series are published by Steidl.
Like many times in the past, Arnold Odermatt surprises the art world again, even at this age: Galerie Springer is proud to present a new, previously unseen series by the artist at the 90th birthday exhibition in Berlin. Odermatt photographed an enormous tree close to his home over several years, always from the same perspective.
For Arnold Odermatt’s birthday on 29 May 2015, we are pleased to invite you to the gallery for an artists’ discussion between Odermatt and Dr. Beate Kemfert, chair and curator of the Opelvillen Rüsselsheim Foundation for Art and Culture, at 7pm. Dr. Kemfert curated the first exhibition Odermatt’s work, ‘Karambolagen’ for the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt Police Headquarters in 1998,
where Harald Szeemann saw Odermatt's photographs for the first time. From this exhibition, a close collaboration developed between Dr. Beate Kemfert, Arnold Odermatt, Urs Odermatt, the son of the artist and publisher of his books, as well as the Galerie Springer.
14.02. – 18.04.2015
WIEBKE ELZEL / JANA MÜLLER
52°3’21’’N,13°6’48’’E Photographs 2003–2015
Ausstellung verlängert bis 18.04.2015
Galerie Springer Berlin is showing the new series ‘Coordinates’ – and also, for the first time as a complete exhibition, the ‘Archive Elzel / Müller’
All the collaborative work produced by this artistic duo since 2001 is united by a common theme: an engagement with social crises, threats and collective anxieties and their representation in the media.
The work ‘Coordinates’ shows forest-like scenes bathed in bright sunlight. A closer look at these scenes reveals traces of human civilisation: part of a wall, a fence, the gleam of buildings through thick foliage. The viewer is confronted with photographs of an area which was evidently inhabited once upon a time but which, as the advanced growth of the trees and plants shows, was abandoned some time ago. The pictures themselves do not shed any light on what and where this place actually is. The only clue is in the coordinates that make up the picture’s title.
Wiebke Elzel and Jana Müller are interested in the process of the disintegration of human settlements and the crises and events that might have preceded this disintegration. They also engage with the rapidly changing possibilities in the fields of picture creation, visual aesthetics and reception – a consequence of the digitalisation of photography, its ubiquitousness and its increasing presence online.
Here, for the first time in their collaboration, the two artists engage with the photographic form of the snapshot. For several years now this visual aesthetic – most commonly associated with amateur photography – has been increasingly used in reports from crisis zones. Pictures taken by civilian eyewitnesses, usually on mobile phones, are coining a new visual language and
influencing our ideas about how a ‘documentary’ photograph should look.In ‘Coordinates’ the artists make use of this visual aesthetic, transforming it into a new form of panel picture. The photographs are presented in similar sizes to those displayed as part of the series ‘Imagery of Disaster‘ (2002 – 2010).
Both series are based on an examination of media images used to report crises and disasters. Elzel and Müller study these images, appropriate them, question them. Just as in 2001, when the coverage of 9/11 brought a new and terrifying visual aesthetic flickering across our screens – an aesthetic which felt almost cinematic, or staged – in more recent times it is amateur snapshots taken by eyewitnesses that have come to characterise a new form of documentary photography.
As a result of this new form, the old question is posed afresh: when can a photo be considered ‘trustworthy’ or ‘authentic’?
Alongside ‘Coordinates’, the exhibition presents an overview of the ‘Archive Elzel / Müller’. Since its inception in 2003, this series has only ever been shown in excerpts. This means that the ‘Archive Elzel / Müller’ is now being displayed as a whole for the first time, in addition to the ‘work in progress‘ begun over ten years ago. The individual works in the archive are single stand-alone pictures, but their format (standard stamp, identical size, grey passe-partout) consistently points to the complete archive behind the individual picture – an archive that originally existed only as anticipation and which has grown into a substantial one over the years.
About Wiebke Elzel and Jana Müller:
Wiebke Elzel, born in Hanover in 1977, studied photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig from 1999 to 2006, gaining her diploma under Timm Rautert. She then began her post-graduate studies under Peter Piller, graduating in 2009. She has worked for over twelve years with Jana Müller, born in 1977 in Halle/Saale, who also studied photography with Timm Rautert at the Academy of Visual Arts from 1999 to 2006. Both artists continue to work on collaborative photographic series alongside their own individual projects.
The artists show their work at exhibitions in Germany and abroad, in places such as the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, the Museum der Bildenden Künste in Leipzig, the Vienna Fotogalerie and the Rostock Kunsthalle. Numerous grants, including travel grants from DAAD, have taken them to cities such as Venice and Banja Luka, where they developed and presented work based on these locations.
31.08.2014 – 31.01.2015
GEORGES ROUSSE
STARS – CIRCLES – SQUARES / New Photographs 2010–2014
Opening: 17.10.2014, 19h / 7p.m.
Galerie Springer Berlin presents as part of the
6th European Month of Photography Berlin new works by the French artist Georges Rousse. Previewing is possible on 16 October 2014. The official opening of the exhibition takes place on 17 October at 7pm.
On 7 November 2014 at 7pm, we invite you to an artist's talk with Georges Rousse. For an exclusive interview, please contact us.
Georges Rousse is not "only" a photographer, his work moves between architecture, painting and photography.
The starting point and inspiration for his large-format photographs are derelict spaces, often abandoned for demolition. In these spaces, he draws, paints or builds structures which only when seen from that uniquely possible viewpoint of the camera give rise to a new, generally two-dimensional subject. Georges Rousse transforms the three-dimensionality of space through colour, light and architectural elements into a two-dimensional photographic image area. Is this reality becoming vision, or vision becoming reality?Georges Rousse's spaces are real; the photographs are not manipulated, but instead reflect the artist's work in an unadulterated way, often outlasting their place of origin.
The simple geometric forms of his new works, which originated in Japan, India and Europe, captivate with force, expression and colour.
Georges Rousse was born in Paris on 27 July 1947. He lives and works in Paris and Nice. At the age of six, he was given his first camera, a Kodak Brownie; since then the camera has never left his side. He broke off his medical studies and studied photography and printing techniques. After opening his own studio, he first devoted himself to architectural photography.
When he later discovered land art and Malevich's Black Square against a white background, his relationship with photography changed and he began with his unique approach to paint abandoned spaces. Spaces left to decay always had a great attraction for him. From the early 1980s, he began to combine painting and spatial representation with photography. Even at that time he was showing a preference for large format prints. Georges Rousse has since been working all over the world, most recently in India, Brazil and Mexico. Since the late 1980s, his works have been displayed worldwide in exhibitions and museums.
He has received numerous grants and awards, including the Prix de Rome in 1986, Prix ICP (Institute of Contemporary Photography), New York, in 1988 and the Grand Prize for photography, France in 1993. In 2008, he succeeded Sol LeWitt as member of the Royal Academy in Belgium.
His works are represented in many international private and public collections.
06.09. – 11.10.2014
JOEL MEYEROWITZ
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS 1963 – 2011
Opening: 05.09.2014, 7pm
For the first time, Galerie Springer Berlin is displaying colour photographs by Joel Meyerowitz
Berlin, 28. August 2014
Galerie Springer Berlin is premiering the works of the American Photographer Joel Meyerowitz in their exhibition rooms.
In collaboration with the New York Howard Greenberg Gallery, an selection of colour photographs will be displayed. Simultaneously, the largest museum exhibition of the artist will be held:
Joel Meyerowitz – Retrospective, 27/09/2014 – 11/01/2015 in the NRW Forum Düsseldorf.
Joel Meyerowitz is a “street photographer” in the tradition of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, who influenced him greatly at the beginning of his career. Since the mid-seventies he has photographed exclusively in colour.
The artist was born in 1938 in the Bronx. He initially studied art, history o art and medical illustration at the Ohio State University. Back in New York City he began his career in 1959 as an Art Director and Designer. Particularly impressed by an encounter with the photographer Robert Frank, he started taking photographs in 1962 and in the same year he left the agency, devoting himself from this point on, exclusively to photography. He travelled through New York City and capturing the mood of the streets. He soon developed his distinctive sensitivity and his candid, people-focussed style, a very unique visual language.
In 1966, he embarked on an 18 month trip through Europe, which both profoundly affected and also influenced him and can be described as an artistic turning point. Meyerowitz photographed many of his works from a moving car. These works were displayed in 1968 in his first exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: “Photographs from a moving car“, curated by the photography legend John Szarkowski. From the late seventies onward, Joel Meyerowitz concentrated exclusively on colour photography. In the first half of the seventies, he created numerous unique works of “street photography”.
In order to further improve the image quality, the artist took another crucial step: in the mid 1970s he changed from the 35mm format to the 8x10’ plate camera.
In 1979, his first book “Cape Light” was published by Phaidon Verlag. The picture book sold over 100,000 copies and is to this day regarded as a milestone in colour photography. 17 further publications followed, most recently in 2012 with a comprehensive two-volume edition “Taking my Time”, a retrospective of 50 years of his photography, also published by Phaidon Verlag.
A few days after the attack on the World Trade Center, Meyerowitz began to document its destruction and reconstruction. As the only photographer, he received unrestricted access to the site of the incident. It resulted in over 8000 photographs for the “The World Trade Center” exhibition, which was displayed in the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City.
Joel Meyerowitz’ works have been and will be shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world; several times in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. On 27 September, the NRW Forum in Düsseldorf opens the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist. In addition, the works are represented in many international collections, including in the Museum of Modern Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
31.05. – 26.07.2014
ARNOLD ODERMATT
KARAMBOLAGE
1948 – 1995
Unknown Works
The Galerie Springer Berlin exhibits previously unseen “Karambolagen” by Arnold Odermatt
The current exhibition at the Galerie Springer Berlin presents the previously unknown work of Arnold Odermatt from the “Karambolage” series. Since his spectacular first solo exhibition at the gallery in 2000, Arnold Odermatt has become one of the outstanding permanent fixtures of the programme at the Galerie Springer Berlin. This will be the sixth solo exhibition of Arnold Odermatt’s work at the Galerie Springer Berlin. The photographs on show, which have never before been exhibited, amaze with their quality and ingenuity, demonstrating the unmistakable mark of the artist in a unique way.
Silke Homann, Editor of the art magazine Monopol, described the work of Odermatt as „accurate compositions of metal, chrome, tyre marks, mountain ranges and clouds”. The Galerie Springer Berlin is pleased to welcome you to the exhibition. Arnold Odermatt, who celebrates his 89th birthday this month, will attend the opening. If you are interested in an interview, please register in good time.
The artist was born in 1925 in Oberdorf, in the Swiss Canton of Nidwalden. He attended the primary and secondary school in Stans and trained as a baker and confectioner. In 1948, Odermatt joined the police force and in 1990 retired with the rank of First Lieutenant, Head of the Traffic Police and Deputy Commander of the Nidwalden police. At the start of his term of service, he asked if he could photograph the numerous accidents that he attended as part of his work.
He developed the negatives at home and used the images to complete his accident reports. Once Odermatt’s photographs had proved to be useful in court, a dark room was set up for him in a small room at the police station. At the start of the 1990s, his son, the film maker Urs Odermatt, was researching for a film when he discovered decades of archived traffic accidents that had happened in the Canton of Nidwalden. Impressed by the quality of the work, he became the editor of all Arnold Odermatt’s books that have been published to date. The books “Karambolage”, “Im Dienst/On Duty” and “In Zivil/Off Duty” were published by Steidl. In 2001, Harald Szeemann exhibited a selection of 32 works by Odermatt at La Biennale in Venice.
Numerous international solo and group exhibitions followed, including solo exhibitions at The Art Institute of Chicago (2001), Centro Cultural Okendo in San Sebastian (2005) and La Cambre, Stasbourg (2012). The works of Arnold Odermatt currently form part of numerous international collections and are displayed at a number of international museums. The artist lives and works in Stans.
28.03. – 24.05.2014
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
WATER Part II
NEW RELEASES
The Galerie Springer Berlin is pleased to present to you Part 2 of the exhibition WATER by EDWARD BURTYNSKY. The second part of the exhibition features, for the most part, new, previously unpublished works from the series.
Along with the film WATERMARK and the BURTYNSKY – WATER book (Steidl), it is Mr Burtynsky’s largest project to date, documenting the scale and impact of manufacturing and consumption on the world’s water supplies. Burtynsky chronicles the various roles that water plays in modern life – as a source of healthy ecosystems and energy, as a key element in cultural and religious rituals and as a rapidly depleting resource. The photographs, both beautiful and haunting, create a compelling global portrait that illustrates humanity’s past, present and future relationship with the natural world.
Shooting in ten different countries for the WATER project, Burtynsky’s subjects include dry-land farming in Spain, pivot irrigation sites in Texas, and the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In these instances, Burtynsky took to the air using conventional helicopters, remote controlled helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft, to bring the scale of the human imprint into a more meaningful perspective. He also travelled to photograph millions of people bathing in the cleansing power of the sacred Ganges River in India; mega-dam construction on the upper Yangtze and the once-a-year silt release on the Yellow River in China, the precious virgin watersheds of British Columbia and the dry beds of the Colorado River Delta.
The documentary WATERMARK by Edward Burtynsky and the multiple award-winning director Jennifer Baichwal ("Manufactured Landscapes") shows in fascinating images the universal significance of water and the importance of this essential resource for the future. After the celebrated European première of the film at this year's Berlinale, the film launches nationwide on 15 May 2014. The world première took place at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Here, the work was awarded the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award 2013.
31.01. – 15.03.2014
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
WATER
Photographs 2009 – 2013
We are pleased to present Canadian Photographer Edward Burtynsky. After his well renown OIL in 2012 at cIo Berlin we are showing a selection of work from his latest series WATER, in collaboration with Galerie Stefan Röpke, Cologne. Along with the film WATERMARK and the BURTYNSKY – WATER book (Steidl), it is Mr Burtynsky’s largest project to date, documenting the scale and impact of manufacturing and consumption on the world’s water supplies.
Burtynsky chronicles the various roles that water plays in modern life – as a source of healthy ecosystems and energy, as a key element in cultural and religious rituals and as a rapidly depleting resource. The photographs, both beautiful and haunting, create a compelling global portrait that illustrates humanity’s past, present and future relationship with the natural world.
Shooting in ten different countries for the WATER project, Burtynsky’s subjects include dry-land farming in Spain, pivot irrigation sites in Texas, and the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In these instances, Burtynsky took to the air using conventional helicopters, remote controlled helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft, to bring the scale of the human imprint into a more meaningful perspective.
He also travelled to photograph millions of people bathing in the cleansing power of the sacred Ganges River in India; mega-dam construction on the upper Yangtze and the once-a-year silt release on the Yellow River in China, the precious virgin watersheds of British Columbia and the dry beds of the Colorado River Delta.
14.12.2013 – 25.01.2014
FIRST CHOICE
ELZEL & MÜLLER ·
GFELLER · ROUSSE · LOHNER CARLSON · LEHMANN-BRAUNS · LEITER · ODERMATT
Zum Abschluss des Jahres zeigt die Galerie Springer Berlin in einer Gruppen-ausstellung eine besondere Auswahl von Arbeiten der Künstler, mit denen die Galerie im Jahr 2013 gearbeitet hat.
Die folgenden Künstlerinnen und Künstler werden in der Ausstellung präsentiert:
ANNA LEHMANN-BRAUNS 1968 in Berlin geboren, studierte Anna Lehmann-Brauns ebenfalls Fotografie an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig und absolvierte die Meisterklasse von Joachim Brohm. In ihren Fotografien dokumentiert und erzeugt sie reale und fiktive Räume. So fängt die Künstlerin beispielsweise die besondere Wirklichkeit von Künstler-
ateliers oder auch die künstliche Atmosphäre von Filmkulissen mit der Kamera ein. Wir zeigen erste Einblicke in ihre neue spannende Serie, die auf dem
Gelände einer ehemaligen deutsch-schlesischen Garnfabrik in Polen entstand.
WIEBKE ELZEL & JANA MÜLLER
Die Künstlerinnen, die beide in Leipzig studiert haben, arbeiten seit über zehn Jahren auch zusammen. Jana Müller lebt und arbeitet in Berlin und Leipzig. Aktuell absolviert sie ein Stipendium in Frankfurt im Rahmen des „Deutsche Börse Residency Program“ beim Frankfurter Kunstverein. Wiebke Elzel war Meister-
schülerin bei Peter Piller im Jahr 2009. Seit 2012 unterrichtet sie an der Kunsthoch-
schule für Medien in Köln. In ihrer gemein-
samen Arbeit nehmen die Künstlerinnen Inszenierungen in verlassenen und ungenutzten Räumen vor. Das Ergebnis sind meisterhafte Fotografien, die auf subtile Art Katastrophen und Krisen in unseren Köpfen entstehen lassen.
CATHERINE GFELLER
Die 1966 in Neuchâtel (Schweiz) geborene Künstlerin startete ihre künstlerische Laufbahn als Fotografin und reiste auf der Suche nach „abstrakten Landschaften“ um die Welt. Mitte der 1990er Jahre ließ sie sich in New York nieder und fokussierte sich auf urbane Landschaften. Sie begann eine Serie von großformatigen Friesen, kompositorisch mit Hilfe von Montagen, Collagen und Doppelbelichtungen gestaltet. Seit dem Jahr 2000 lebt Catherine Gfeller in Paris und Montpellier und fing zu dieser Zeit an, die Videokamera in ihr fotografisches Werk zu integrieren. Mit ihren Multikompo-
sitionen schafft sie ein Universum jenseits von Fiktion und Realität. Gestalten, Gesichter, Sätze und Stimmen vermischen sich mit dem unaufhörlichen Rhythmus
der Stadt.
SAUL LEITER
Die soeben beendete Ausstellung mit Fotografien und Zeichnungen des vor wenigen Tagen verstorbenen Ausnahmekünstlers hat überwältigenden Anklang und Begeisterung bei Besuchern und Presse gefunden. Der 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, geborene Saul Leiter gilt als Pionier der künstlerischen Farbfotografie. In seinem Werk verschmelzen unterschiedliche künstlerische Stilrichtungen, Übergänge zwischen Abstraktion und Figurativem sind aufgehoben. Flüchtige Momente, Unschärfen, Verfremdung durch beschlagene oder gefrorene Fenster-
durchsichten und Spiegelungen sind charakteristisch für die Fotografien Leiters.
ARNOLD ODERMATT
Der Schweizer Fotograf wurde 1925 in Oberdorf, Kanton Nidwalden geboren. Nachdem er seine Ausbildung als Bäcker und Konditor beendet hatte, wechselte er zur ortsansässigen Kantonspolizei. Im Jahre 1990 ging er als Oberleutnant in den Ruhestand. Bekannt wurde Odermatt mit seiner Reihe „Karambolagen“. 32 dieser Arbeiten wurden u.a. im Jahr 2001 von Harald Szeemann auf der Biennale in Venedig präsentiert. 2002 folgte eine Soloshow im Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
LOHNER CARLSON
Henning Lohner (Filmautor und Komponist) und Van Carlson (Kameramann) haben ein Œuvre geschaffen, das Landschafts-, Stadt- und Porträtaufnahmen aus besonderen Perspektiven zeigt.
Der ausgewählte Ausschnitt der Welt bewegt sich, die Kamera ist regungslos. Das führt die Videoarbeiten, „Active Images“ in die Nähe von Fotografien, während gleichzeitig der alte Wunsch der Malerei nach bewegten Bildern eingelöst wird.
GEORGES ROUSSE
Der 1947 in Paris geborene Künstler gilt sicher als einer der Meister der Fotografie real existierender, aber zuvor nach künstlerischem Plan handwerklich selbst bearbeiteter Räume. Er verursacht mit seinen temporären Rauminstallationen irritierende Perspektiven, in denen die Wahrnehmung der Dreidimensionalität der Räume gestört oder sogar aufgelöst wird. Im finalen Arbeitsschritt des Künstlers wird dann der meist durch geometrische Gebilde enträumlichte Raum fotografisch festgehalten.
20.09. – 30.11.2013
SAUL LEITER
WORKS 1949 – 1960
PHOTOGRAPHY AND WORKS ON PAPER
SAUL LEITER
Painter and photographer, born in 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He left the Theological College in Cleveland in 1946 and moved to New York where he met the abstract expressionist Richard Poussette-Dart. In 1947 he visited the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In roughly 1948 he started with artistic colour photography and became its pioneer. He worked with three different cameras (Auto Graflex Junior, Argus C3, early Rolleiflex).
In the 1950s and 1960s he earned a living with fashion photography and opened his studio in East Tenth Street in 1952. The first black and white photographs were published in “Life Magazine”. In 1953 he took part in the exhibition: “Always the Young Strangers”, curated by Edward Steichen, which was shown in the Museum of Modern Art and in Contemporary Photography in Tokyo. From 1958 to 1967 Saul Leiter worked for “Harper's Bazaar”. In 1992 and 1993 Howard Greenberg exhibited black and white photographs by Saul Leiter in his New York gallery, exhibitions of early colour photographs followed in 1997 and 2005.In 2012 the Deichtorhallen Hamburg dedicated Saul Leiter his first retrospective worldwide.
Leiter lived with New York artist Soames Bantry until her death in 2002. Saul Leiter lives and works in New York.
For the first time Galerie Springer Berlin exhibits works by the New York photographer and painter, Saul Leiter. In collaboration with Fifty One Fine Art Photography, early colour and black and white photographs and works on paper are being presented.
After a comprehensive retrospective by Saul Leiter at the House of Photography Deichtorhallen Hamburg in 2012 this is the first individual exhibition by the artist in Germany. “Saul Leiter's street photography – he is unmatched in this genre – is actually photography that has become painting.”
With these words the photojournalist Rolf Nobel impressively describes Saul Leiter's photographic work. Saul Leiter started to paint when he was very young. In doing so he was to become a Rabbi and a scribe according to his father's wishes. However, Leiter went against his father's plans and moved to New York. There, he met the painter and graphic artist Richard Poussette-Dart who introduced him to photography and the works of Henri Cartier-Bresson amongst others. Saul Leiter started to take pictures, learnt quickly and and rapidly gained a large base of photographic knowledge. In a time where photography was mostly only viewed as an applied medium, the undeviating autodidact made a – for him – conscious artistic decision to change from black and white to colour
photography. With his large knowledge base and understanding for visual art, Saul Leiter always understood himself both as a photographer and as a painter. Different artistic style directions such as European impressionism and fauvism and also aspects of abstract expressionism merge in his works. He is the pioneer of artistic colour photography. The fleeting moments of his street photography – scenes in New York life, captured in passing – characterise a large part of his work. In this the transitions between the abstract and the figurative are removed both in Leiter's painting and in his photography. Large, mostly black areas which occupy a large part of the picture often appear in his colour photography. Highlights and details define the picture.
Fuzziness, blurring and disassociation using fogged up or frosted views through windows and reflections are characteristic of Leiter's colour photographic works. “Nevertheless, Leiter followed the crossroads between the visual arts and photography which was mostly only viewed as an applied medium at the time with the intuition of an aesthetic cross-media discovery. Today, in his more advanced years, it assigns him more and more clearly historical meaning as a pioneering experimenter, innovator and avant-gardist,” appreciates Ingo Taubhorn, curator of the retrospective at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, the life's work of the now 89-year old artist. In 1952 Saul Leiter opened his own studio and earned a living through fashion photography for magazines
such as “Harper's Bazaar” and “Esquire”. He found himself on an equal footing with the well-known photographer Richard Avedon and had already had an exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art by Edward Steichen by 1953.
His pictures could be seen together with works by Roy de Carava and Leon Levinstein in the exhibition: “Always the Young Stranger”. After this time it became quieter around Saul Leiter. It was not until the 1990s that he was rediscovered by the renowned New York gallery owner, Howard Greenberg. “I thought, I'd just sunk into oblivion,” said Saul Leiter.
“Galerie Springer Berlin is honoured and thankful to be able to show works by Saul Leiter in its rooms. We see the exhibition as an opportunity to make his excellent work known to a large audience in Berlin and Germany.”
Heide and Robert Springer
25.05. – 17.08.2013
CATHERINE GFELLER
PULSATIONS
Photography and Video
Erstmals präsentieren wir die Schweizer Künstlerin in Deutschland. Die Multikompositionen aus bewegten und stillen Bildern sind ihre Essenzen urbanen Lebens, das mit seinem unaufhörlichen Pulsieren alles durchdringt. Silhouetten bahnen sich ihren Weg durch eine pochende, fragmentierte Realität.
For the first time we are presenting the Swiss artist in Germany. The multicompositions of still and moving images are her essence of urban life, which penetrates everything with its incessant pulsating. Silhouettes pioneer their way through the beating, fragmented reality.
Die 1966 in Neuchâtel (Schweiz) geborene Künstlerin lebt und arbeitet in Paris und Montpellier. Sie begann ihre künstlerische Laufbahn als Fotografin und reiste auf der Suche nach »abstrakten Landschaften« um die Welt – eine Leidenschaft, die sie bis heute nicht loslässt. Mitte der 1990er Jahre ließ sich Catherine Gfeller in New York nieder und fokussierte sich auf urbane Landschaften. Sie begann eine Serie von großformatigen Friesen, kompositorisch mithilfe von Montagen, Collagen und Doppelbelichtungen gestaltet. Seit dem Jahr 2000 lebt Catherine Gfeller in Paris. Zu dieser Zeit begann sie, die Videokamera in ihr fotografisches Werk zu integrieren. Mit ihren Multikompositionen schafft sie ein
Universum jenseits von Fiktion und Realität. Gestalten, Gesichter, Sätze, Stimmen vermischen sich mit dem unaufhörlichen Rhythmus der Stadt, Orientierungspunkte werden unscharf und verschwimmen.
Der Titel PULSATIONS geht auf Catherine Gfellers Einzelausstellung von 2011 im Kunstmuseum Luzern zurück. Ebenso wie bei diesem wichtigen Höhepunkt ihrer Laufbahn zeigt die Galerie Springer jetzt Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2003 bis heute – sowohl Werke aus dem fotografischen Schaffen als auch aus dem Genre Video, die stets den für Gfeller charakteristischen Ausdruck eines »pulsierenden Pochens« beschreiben. Diese Art der bewegten Bildbehandlung gilt als
charakteristisch für die – so sie selbst – »in das Video verliebte Fotografin – oder in die Fotografie verliebte Videastin.«
The artist was born in 1966 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and currently lives and works in Paris and Montpellier. She began her artistic career as a photographer and travelled around the world in search of »abstract landscapes«: a passion, which she still has today. In the mid-1990s, Catherine settled in New York and focused on urban settings. That was the beginning of a series of large urban friezes, composed using montages, collages and double exposures. Catherine has lived in Paris since 2000. This was when
she began to introduce the video camera to her photographic work. Her multiple compositions created a world beyond fantasy and reality. Shapes, faces, sentences and voices blend with the incessant rhythm of the city. Landmarks become hazy and blurred.
The title, PULSATIONS, refers back to Catherine Gfeller’s 2011 solo exhibition at the Museum of Art Lucerne At this high point in her career, Galerie Springer is now showing both her photography and video work from 2003 to the present, which all bear the hallmarks of Gfeller’s characteristic »pulsating beat«. This style of moving image processing is typical of the self-proclaimed »photographer,
who loves video art – or video artist, who loves photography«.read online article at
ikono.org
02.02. – 04.05.2013
LOHNER CARLSON
SILENCES
Bewegte Bilder / Active Images
Henning Lohner (Filmautor und Komponist) und Van Carlson (Kameramann) haben ein Œuvre geschaffen, das Landschafts-, Stadt- und Porträtaufnahmen aus besonderen Perspektiven zeigt. Der ausgewählte Ausschnitt der Welt bewegt sich, die Kamera ist regungslos. Das führt die Videoarbeiten in die Nähe von Fotografien, während gleichzeitig der alte Wunsch der Malerei nach bewegten Bildern eingelöst wird.
Lohner Carlson sind der renommierte Filmautor und Komponist Henning Lohner, der als Regisseur und Drehbuchautor zahlreiche Filme sowie Dokumentationen über Künstlerkollegen wie Dennis Hopper und Gerhard Richter produziert hat und der mehrfach ausgezeichnete Kameramann Van Carlson, der bis zu seinem Tod (2011) u. a. mit Steven Spielberg, David Lynch und Mark Frost gearbeitet hat. In ihrer über 20-jährigen Zusammenarbeit haben Lohner Carlson ein bemerkenswert umfangreiches Œuvre geschaffen, das aus besonderer Perspektive aufgenommene Landschafts-, Stadt- und Portrait- Aufnahmen aus den unterschiedlichsten Gegenden der Welt zeigt.
Der Begriff active images (bewegte Bilder) beschreibt sowohl die äußere Form von Lohner Carlsons Arbeiten als auch ihr künstlerisches Hauptinteresse, das dem Grenzbereich zwischen Film und Fotografie gilt. Ihre gerahmten active images sind sowohl Film als auch Fotografie und zugleich weder das eine noch das andere. Sie formen vielmehr eine eigene Gattung. Wie ein Film unterliegen auch die active images einem zeitlichen Verlauf und einer Bewegung, im Gegensatz zu diesem sind sie jedoch so gut wie handlungs- und ereignislos. Der ausgewählte Ausschnitt der Welt bewegt sich, während die Kamera regungslos ist. Viele der active images sind isolierte Sequenzen aus den zahlreichen Filmproduktionen, an
denen Lohner Carlson mitgewirkt haben. Das führt die Arbeiten in die Nähe von film stills, im Gegensatz zu diesen sind sie jedoch bewegt. Jede einzelne Arbeit von Lohner Carlson birgt die hier angesprochene paradoxe Struktur in sich und löst damit den alten Wunsch der Malerei ein, bewegte, lebendige Bilder zu schaffen. Unabhängig von den kunstphilosophischen Betrachtungen, zu denen ihre Arbeiten immer wieder Anlass geben, bestechen die kontemplativen Bilder vor allem visuell. Es ist schwer, sich den meisterhaften Kompositionen und Blickwinkeln, der Intensität, der subtilen Spannung und letztendlich der beeindruckenden Schönheit zu entziehen.
Zeitgleich zur Ausstellung erscheint im Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln »LOHNER CARLSON SILENCES Active Images 1990 – 2012«, 224 Seiten. Das Buch liegt in der Galerie für Sie bereit.
23.10.2012 – 12.01.2013
RAUM / RÄUME
JANA MÜLLER / WIEBKE ELZEL, GEORGES ROUSSE, ANNA LEHMANN-BRAUNS,
LOHNER CARLSON
Raum / Räume führt unterschiedliche Raumauffassungen der gezeigten Künstlerinnen und Künstler in den Medien Fotografie und Video zusammen. Die Ausstellung zeigt, wie individuell und unterschiedlich die Künstler Raum und Räume nutzen, diese verändern, manipulieren oder sie durch ihre eigene künstlerische Sichtweise darstellen und interpretieren.
Der 1947 in Paris geborene GEORGES ROUSSE gilt sicher als einer der Meister der Fotografie real existierender aber zuvor nach künstlerischem Plan handwerklich selbst bearbeiteter Räume. Er verursacht mit seinen temporären Rauminstallationen irritierende Perspektiven, in denen die Wahrnehmung der Dreidimensionalität der Räume gestört oder sogar aufgelöst wird.
Im finalen Arbeitsschritt des Künstlers wird dann der meist durch geometrische Gebilde unräumlich gemachte Raum fotografisch festgehalten.
JANA MÜLLER, geboren 1977 in Halle/Saale, studierte 1999 – 2006 Fotografie an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig und machte
dort ihr Diplom bei Tim Rautert. Sie arbeitet seit über 10 Jahren mit
WIEBKE ELZEL zusammen, die ebenfalls von 1999 – 2006 an dieser renommierten Hochschule studierte. Als Meisterschülerin von Peter Piller beendete sie ihr Studium 2009.
In ihren beeindruckenden Fotografien
von verlassenen oder ungenutzten Räumen inszenieren sie auf meisterhaft unmerkliche Art Situationen, die den
Betrachter Spuren von Krisen, Katastrophen und Kontrollverlust assoziieren lassen und ihn somit subtil auf eine falsche Fährte locken.
ANNA LEHMANN-BRAUNS, 1968 in Berlin geboren, studierte ebenfalls Fotografie an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig und absolvierte die Meisterklasse von Joachim Brohm. In ihren Fotografien dokumentiert und erzeugt sie reale und fiktive Räume. Sowohl die tatsächliche Atmosphäre von Künstlerateliers als auch die künstliche (Atmosphäre) von beispielsweise Filmkulissen werden von ihr mit der Kamera eingefangen. Gleichzeitig erstellt sie fotografische Raumporträts von Menschen, die auf Miniaturnachbildungen von Innenräumen basieren.
Die unterschiedlichen Themen rufen beim Betrachter immer das Gefühl von etwas Geschehendem, einem Lauf der Dinge oder etwas bereits Abgeschlossenem hervor.
LOHNER CARLSON sind der 1961 in Bremen geborene Filmemacher und Komponist Henning Lohner und der aus Colorado stammende Kameramann Van Carlson. In Ihren umfangreichen Arbeiten, alltägliche reale Szenen zu filmen und als sogenannte Videobilder zu präsentieren, gelingt es Ihnen meisterhaft, einen Blickwinkel zu finden, der uns fasziniert. Zustände wie Lärm, Gestank, Bewegung oder Geschwindigkeit werden zu entrückten, meditativen Bildern. Raum und Weite nehmen einen wichtigen Stellenwert ein. Entfernungen und Begrenzungen werden neu interpretiert.
01.06. – 29.09.2012
DENMARK
ARCHIVES – CONTR’ARCHIVES
„In einer ganzen Nacht kann ich noch nicht einmal
eine einzige Zeitung oder Zeitschrift verarbeiten,
während im selben Moment schon wieder
Millionen Druckwerke das Tageslicht erblicken.“
Denmark
Nach seinem Studium der Kunstgeschichte an der Reichsuniversität Gent steckte der belgische Künstler bis zum Hals in Kunstbüchern. In dem Bewusstsein, dass es weder ihm noch sonst einem Menschen jemals gelingen könne der wachsenden Flut an Informationen Herr zu werden versuchte er genau dieses. Er zerschnitt Bücher, zerlegte und zerfaltete Zeitschriften, presste ganze Zeitungsauflagen in Druckstöcke – nicht mit der Absicht zu zerstören, sondern um zu verarbeiten, um mit einem gewissen Kontingent an Informationen ein für allemal abzuschließen. In seinen Arbeiten werden Informationen konserviert, stillgelegt, eingefroren, mit anderen Worten: unschädlich gemacht.
Nach seinem Studium der Kunstgeschichte an der Reichsuniversität Gent steckte der belgische Künstler bis zum Hals in Kunstbüchern. In dem Bewusstsein, dass es weder ihm noch sonst einem Menschen jemals gelingen könne der wachsenden Flut an Informationen Herr zu werden versuchte er genau dieses. Er zerschnitt Bücher, zerlegte und zerfaltete Zeitschriften, presste ganze Zeitungsauflagen in Druckstöcke – nicht mit der Absicht zu zerstören, sondern um zu verarbeiten, um mit einem gewissen Kontingent an Informationen ein für allemal abzuschließen.
In seinen Arbeiten werden Informationen konserviert, stillgelegt, eingefroren, mit anderen Worten: unschädlich gemacht. In den Werken erscheint die ewige Maschinerie aus These, Antithese, Kommentar zu diesen Thesen, Kommentar zu diesem Kommentar, etc. zurückgeführt auf ihren Ursprung - eine Wahrnehmung.
Diese steht nun wiederum am Anfang eines Diskurses, der sich in Texten wie diesem zu einer weiteren Papierlawine auswächst.
01.10. – 27.11.2010
ARNOLD ODERMATT
IN ZIVIL
Our new site is still under construction, but will be completed within the next weeks.
04.12.2009 – 06.02.2010
GEORGES ROUSSE
NOIR & BLANC
Our new site is still under construction, but will be completed within the next weeks.
