The Photographic is a group exhibition that gauges the present significance of photography.
The Photographic I – Other Pictures is the first part of a diptych spread over two years. The exhibition comprises new and existing work by around 20 international artists and photographers ranging from the 1960s to the present.
The selection demonstrates a lively interest in the power of the still image as a means of examining the world. It concentrates on indefinable images with an open view, whose multi-layering requires slow reading.
John Szarkowski once formulated the familiar distinction between photos that act as a window on the world and photos intended to reflect their maker. Other Pictures demonstrates that photographic images can perform both functions at the same time: they focus on the world and they invariably approach their subject in a subjective and sensory manner.
Photographic images not only show the world we live in, but are among its essential building blocks. New ways of producing and distributing images, and technological innovation in the civil and military spheres, make the medium repeatedly evolve in new directions and also seep into current artistic practice. The way photographers and artists handle these recent possibilities and challenges is one of the focal points of this exhibition.
The Photographic I – Other Pictures comprises work by artists and photographers including Lewis Baltz, Tina Barney, Mohamed Bourouissa, Moyra Davey, Marc De Blieck, Sara Deraedt, Patrick Faigenbaum, Peter Fraser, Alair Gomes, Jitka Hanzlová, Roni Horn, Stephanie Kiwitt, Aglaia Konrad, Jochen Lempert, Zoe Leonard, Jean-Luc Moulène, Zanele Muholi, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Trevor Paglen, Doug Rickard, Torbjørn Rødland, Michael Schmidt, Arne Schmitt, Allan Sekula, Ahlam Shibli, Malick Sidibé, Dayanita Singh, Wolfgang Tillmans, Marc Trivier and Tobias Zielony. In addition to this exhibition, we also show two films of the German filmmaker and artist Harun Farocki.
The exhibition is curated by Martin Germann with Tanja Boon and Steven Humblet. To accompany this presentation, Roma Publications Amsterdam are publishing an exhibition magazine.
