David Bailey | The 60s have never ended

Posted on 25/04/2011 by W&V

David Bailey is an inspiring, unique and remarkable photographer who shot fascinating fashion and celebrity photos. In 1959 he became a photographic assistant at the John French studio, and in May 1960, he was a photographer for John Cole’s Studio Five before being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine later that year. Along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, he captured and helped create the ‘Swinging London’ of the 1960s: a culture of high fashion and celebrity chic. The three photographers socialised with actors, musicians and royalty, and found themselves elevated to celebrity status. Together, they were the first real celebrity photographers, named by Norman Parkinson as “the Black Trinity”.

Last year a retrospective of his most iconic photographs with the title “Pure sixties. Pure bailey” was on show at Bonhams. Fifty years on from a decade that changed our cultural history, his images celebrate a period of spontaneity and decadence, capturing the glamour and hedonism of the era. Among the famous faces immortalised by Bailey’s lens are Mick Jagger, Michael Caine and the Jean Shrimpton. In the below video interview he had an interesting talk with Sarfraz Manzoor about Picasso, body language and his dread of photographing modern celebrities.

Some of David Bailey’s photo’s are currently on exhibition at the NRW Forum Düsseldorf. This exhibition carries the title Zeitgeist & Glamour and will run until May 15, 2011. Read more about it in this article on the W&V Blog.

Photos by: David Bailey | Video by: The Guardian | David Bailey website

Testcuts | Projected Data Images Art Installation

Posted on 20/02/2011 by W&V

Katharina Sieverding , a German artist, made with her Art installation: projected data images Test-cuts for the first time a comprehensive and fascinating review of her photographic archives. Basis of this work were not Photo negatives but Test-cuts which are actually fragmentary by-products of the analog photographic enlargement process. These random images from over 1,800 photos where assembled in digital montages and provide an anti-historical, personal memorial construction of people, exhibitions and happenings in the Düsseldorf and international art scene starting from the year 1966 and running to our current time.

Photos and video: Ralph Goertz and IKS | Katharina Sieverding | Curator: Renate Buschmann | NRW Forum

ModeMuseum Hasselt | The Future That Never Was | Alter Nature

Posted on 07/01/2011 by W&V

From the 29Th of January 2011 until the 5Th of June 2011 the Fashion Museum of Hasselt (MMH) shows visions of the future from the past, and the possible future of tomorrow. The Future That Never Was presents a ‘futuristic’ view on the magical year 2000 from fashion designers from the sixties and shows you a glance of new possibilities of tomorrow.

Throughout fashion history there has always been a strong connection between fashion and scientific, industrial innovations. Fashion designers have always used new technologies in their designs and the possible image of the future also springs from the new sciences and innovations. Modern discoveries and progress are often directly reflected in their designs and collections.

In the sixties a new generation of these ‘modern’ designers rises. Pierre Cardin, Andre Courrèges, Rudi Gernreich and Paco Rabanne amongst others experimented with new forms and (synthetic) materials. These designers often represent an era in which fashion does not find inspiration in the past, but eagerly looks at the future.

The Future That Never Was places these new possibilities next to the vision of the future of prominent designers from the Space Age period. A period that changed fashion forever.

In Alter Nature the focus is on changing nature. That humankind has an impact on nature is beyond question: we have been consciously changing nature since the beginning of time. This can range from the displacement and demarcation of nature to the setup of selective cultivation programmes; from animal species being bred into the perfect specimens and plant types that are grown to be more productive, to roses and carnations produced in all colours of the rainbow.

Over the last decade, developments in bio-science and technology have given this evolution new momentum. Conjuring genetic material out of nothing, or growing human skin in a laboratory; it may sound like futuristic science fiction, but this is reality.

What’s more, these developments have inspired not just scientists, but also artists, fashion and other designers. For this reason, Z33, the Fashion Museum Hasselt, CIAP, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, the University of Hasselt and the MAD faculty have joined forces to present four different exhibitions and a symposium. 50 artists and designers explore how we can and do change nature, and how this changes our view of the world.

The Exhibitions will run from the 29th of January 2011 until the 5th of June 2011 at the ModeMuseum (Fashion Museum Hasselt) Hasselt, Belgium.

Curator & concept: Kenneth Ramaekers
Assistant Curator: Eve Demoen
Research: Lise Braekers & Romy Cockx
Scenography: Lien Wauters
Design: Brusatto

Photos and source: ModeMuseum Hasselt | ModeMuseum website

Phillip Schulze and Manuel Graf | Audi art award 2010

Posted on 15/12/2010 by W&V

Phillip Schulze won the Audi art award 2010 together with Manuel Graf.

Schulze got awarded for his project “Tiller girls” which he has realized together with Louis Philippe Demers and Armin Prukrabek. Phillip Schulte works in composition and media art. With his works, he would like to address the relationship between people, objects and environments.

Manuel Graf won with a narrative video work which carries the title “La Médieterranée”, a poetic film about the sea. Graf designs utopias which have become real(ity).He combines computer animated videos and quotes from music and film which result in fascinating works of art.

The below video by Ralph Goertz and Phillip Schulze gives a short impression of the award show and the winning works.

Video and photos by Ralph Goertz | Sounddesign by Phillip Schulze | Institut für Kunstdokumentation

Diary 061210 | Vernissage Verbeke Foundation november 2010

Posted on 06/12/2010 by W&V

The above video gives a snapshot impression from the vernissage of various new exhibitions at the Verbeke Foundations of modern avantgarde art.

One of the fascinating exhibitions is Certified Copy.
In a world where numerous multinationals multiply data banks destined to the patented reproduction of genetic information, the Verbeke Foundation organised an exhibition on the notions of copying and cloning. The exhibition unites the works of over twenty international contemporary artists, like for example: L.A. Raeven, Jonas Vansteenkiste and Janieta Eyre, who are concerned in the question of the reproduction of living and lifeless materials.

From delftware from the museum of Leiden over the masterpieces of Hirst, Murakami or Cattelan, to fluorescent transgenic fishes, all presented works give us the possibility to draw a parallel between both contemporary artistic and scientific practices. The characters of the Coco Chanel logo on the exhibition poster also evoke daily counterfeited products, and the expressions of Certified Copy, Carbon Copy and Creative Commons. In fact, the exhibition adopts a critical viewpoint on the motivations for reproducing works and living organisms, and on the stipulations of this reproduction in our globalised society.

Further exhibitions which opened at the vernissage are a retrospective of the works created by Mark Verstockt, Trou de Ville and De Wolkenbreier(s).

Certified copy, Mark Verstockt and Trou de Ville will run until 10th of April 2011.
Wolkenbreier(s) will run untill the 30th of Januari 2011.