BLICK IN DIE ZEIT /KÖLN 2024
I’m an exhibition enthusiast, I confess. Walking into a gallery and immersing myself in the maze of walls showcasing artistic works allows me to connect with them in ways that activate me both emotionally and creatively. I think it has to do with the fact that I’m quite scatterbrained, and in a well-designed exhibition space, it’s hard for my mind to drift elsewhere. It’s about the immersion in an environment created so that the only thing you breathe in is the universe of the artwork and the artist. I also find that experiencing photography or art in general—displayed at a proper size and presented with exquisite attention to detail—is a whole different experience. Anyone who has seen original prints by Sarah Moon, for instance, knows what I’m talking about.
LOOKING BACK IN TIME – AGE AND AGEING IN PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS. An exhibition to create a multi-layered portrayal of age and ageing at the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Köln.
Title: Blick in die Zeit -alter und altern im photographischen Porträt
Theme: The Elderly. The Gaze of Time in Photographic Portraiture
Artists: August Sander, Imogen Cunningham, Natalya Reznik, Jess T. Dugan, Albrecht Fuchs, Cindy Sherman, Larry Sultan, Deanna Dikeman and more.
Venue: Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Köln.
Dates: March 2nd - July 7th 2024
I particularly value the work of an exhibition curator. I enjoy all kinds of exhibitions, but I think my favorites are those where a theme is chosen and the curator builds a journey or narrative around it through the work of various artists. That’s why I’m sharing this exhibition today, which brings together the work of several of my favorite photographers to present and spark conversation about the representation of age and ageism in portrait photography.
© Jess T. Dugan / Cindy Sherman / August Sander
The exhibition shows 18 positions and includes photographs from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. Using the example of the portrait, photographers of different generations and origins approach the many facets of the phenomenon of "age and ageing" in serial projects.
Above all, life means development and thus implies change and ageing. What is perceived as progress or regression depends on individual and social values. The images that find expression in art and photography are correspondingly diverse. Photography is particularly suited to dealing with time-related aspects. It gives age and ageing a face and confronts us with many different questions: How is life experience reflected in the appearance, physiognomy and posture of older people? What personality, what characteristics do the people portrayed radiate? What social roles are conveyed in the image? Do the gestures change against the background of different times and places of origin? What is the attitude towards death?
There is no doubt that the passage of time is the unity that defines the past, present and future as a fundamental variable. Within this unity, photography offers measuring and stopping points that serve as orientation.
Classical positions such as those of August Sander or Imogen Cunningham were on display, while the series by Natalya Reznik or Jess T. Dugan, for example, lead into the contemporary. The works of Albrecht Fuchs, Martin Rosswog and Wilhelm Schürmann show how life circumstances and life experience are inscribed in faces and attitudes. And while John Coplans takes a look at himself and his own ageing body, Cindy Sherman reflects in the exhibited work on what the physical traces of age can mean for female role models. Long-term projects such as those by Andreas Mader, Christian Borchert, Deanna Dikeman and Larry Sultan address changes in family relationships over the course of time. Existential human experiences such as saying goodbye and death often go hand in hand with old age - aspects that are also impressively addressed in the exhibition by Daniel Schumann, for example.
*Texts from the press release of the exhibition
Thanks to Chelena, Tori, and Javier for being my exhibition companions. It was the day after my birthday, and seeing it together led to some very interesting conversations about photography, family, aging, and health.
I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to attend this exhibition. It is through photography’s ability to capture time and its effects on human beings that I find myself drawn to portraiture. Above all other reasons for photographing one’s own family, what interests me most is the idea of building a visual legacy, creating the memory of the future, and documenting who we are today and how we change over time.
©Larry Sultan. Pictures from home.
The book I bought at this exhibition:
There wasn’t an official exhibition catalog, but if there had been one, I would have bought it because I was particularly interested in how the different works related to each other.
I bought Albrecht Fuchs’ book Portraits 1989-2020 because I especially connected with his portraits of Franz Erhard Walther, Gerhard Richter, and Lawrence Weiner during the exhibition. Also, Pictures from Home by Larry Sultan has been on my bookshelf for years.
Albrecht Fuchs
ALBUM
portraits 1989-2020
Buchhandlung Walter König 2020
A short video of how Pictures from Home by Larry Sultan looked on those walls. Seeing Zander, Sultan, and T. Dugan from the same spot, just by turning on the same axis, was the entrance to the exhibition. I was speechless for a moment.
