Exhibition: ‘Intractable and Untamed: Documentary Photography around 1979′ at Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Exhibition dates: 28th June – 5th October 2014

Curator: Barbara Engelbach

This looks like a very interesting exhibition, one which “examines documentary photographs dating from around 1979 in terms of their aesthetic, ethical, performative, and political engagement with reality” by examining one series of work for each of the thirteen artists. The exhibition investigates the photographs in terms of the documentary approaches they embody not through individual images, but through a series of images.

As the press release rightly notes, “Documentary standpoints are revealed not only by the photographs themselves, but also by the way in which they are used. The exhibition thus addresses five sets of issues in relation to each series of photographs: who the photographers were or are; when and where the photographs were taken; who commissioned them; where, how, and with which target audience in mind they were first published; and the extent to which they open up possibilities for photography today.”

The selection of the series offers a broad range of styles, continents and subject matter – as well as illustrating the changing nature of documentary photography between the years 1974 – 1985, between Candida Hofer’s series Turks in Germany and Thomas Ruff’s Portraits. I think I have to buy the catalogue.

Marcus

.
Many thankx to Museum Ludwig for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

David Goldblatt
9:00 Going home: Marabastad-Waterval bus: For most of the people in this bus the cycle will start again tomorrow at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m.
From the series The Transported of KwaNdebele. A South African Odyssey
1983-1984
Silver gelatin print
55.5 x 37cm
Courtesy of David Goldblatt and the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg

David Goldblatt
AM/PM Travelers from KwaNdebele buying their weekly season tickets at the PUTCO depot in Pretoria
From the series The Transported of KwaNdebele. A South African Odyssey
1983-1984
Silver gelatin print
55.5 x 37cm
Courtesy of David Goldblatt and the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg

Candida Höfer
Volksgarten Köln 1978 (People’s Garden Cologne 1978)
1978
From the series Türken in Deutschland (Turks in Germany)
Silver gelatin print, vintage, signed, dated, titled
13.50 x 18.50 cm
Museum Ludwig
© Candida Höfer, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

Candida Höfer
Weidengasse Köln 1974
1974
From the series Türken in Deutschland (Turks in Germany)
Silver gelatin print, vintage, signed, dated, titled
13.50 x 18.50 cm
Museum Ludwig
© Candida Höfer, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

Boris Mikhailow
From the series Serie von vier (Series of four)
1982-1983
Silver gelatin print, unique copy
From a 20-part series
Each 18 x 23.80 cm
Museum Ludwig
© Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Miyako Ishiuchi
Apartment #45
1977-78
Silver gelatin print
35.5 x 28cm
Courtesy of Miyako Ishiuchi and The Third Gallery Aya, Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka

Miyako Ishiuchi
Apartment #47
1977-78
Silver gelatin print
35.5 x 28cm
Courtesy of Miyako Ishiuchi and The Third Gallery Aya, Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka

Gabriele and Helmut Nothhelfer
Lady at Pentecost concert, Berlin
from the Berlin series, 1974-82
Gelatin silver
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Museum Ludwig © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

“In his short book Camera Lucida, written in 1979 and first published in 1980, Roland Barthes distinguished two responses to photography – its taming by means of aesthetic categories, including authorship, oeuvre, and genre, and its acceptance as an unflinching record of reality relying on untamed effects. Some twenty years later the exhibitions documenta 10 and 11, set up in 1997 and 2002 respectively, proved that viewing photography both as an art form and as a reproduction of reality need not be a contradiction in terms. On the contrary, Okwui Enwezor has shown that in its documentary capacity photography can redefine the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. Today, thirty-four years after the publication of Barthes’s volume, our exhibition examines documentary photographs dating from around 1979 in terms of their aesthetic, ethical, performative, and political engagement with reality.

The far-reaching social upheavals and crises associated with the period around 1979 highlighted the documentary approach as a major artistic concern. In his Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914‒1991 historian Eric Hobsbawm described the decades after 1975 as a period of crisis. The U.S.A. and the Soviet Union fought proxy wars in Latin America and many African countries in an attempt to cement their spheres of influence; the Islamic revolution took place in Iran; destabilization of the Soviet Union began around 1980; and China developed into one of world’s most dynamic economic regions. In addition, banking policy worldwide led to a debt crisis in the so-called Third World and the power of transnational economies, promoted by revolutions in transport, manufacturing, and communication technology, grew in proportion to the decreasing influence of territorial states.

Artists and photographers monitored and documented these global changes over longer periods of time, generally in the places where they lived. This activity often resulted in a multitude of photographs. The exhibition therefore focuses not on individual images, but on series. It features one series for each of the thirteen artists and photographers represented in the museum’s collection, including Robert Adams, Joachim Brohm, Ute Klophaus, and Candida Höfer. Loans of works by David Goldblatt, Miyako Ishiuchi, and Raghubir Singh complement the collection.

Barthes based his discussion on the immediate emotional effect of single photographic images, on their arousal of feelings of wonder, sorrow, and empathy. His analysis revolved around viewer responses to what he perceived as the essence of photography. By contrast, the exhibition investigates photographs in terms of the documentary approaches they embody. Do they represent an ethnographic view, for example, aimed solely at recording change, or are they linked to a policy of investigative disclosure? Documentary standpoints are revealed not only by the photographs themselves, but also by the way in which they are used. The exhibition thus addresses five sets of issues in relation to each series of photographs: who the photographers were or are; when and where the photographs were taken; who commissioned them; where, how, and with which target audience in mind they were first published; and the extent to which they open up possibilities for photography today.

The catalogue, which contains an introductory essay and a text on each of the thirteen series of photographs, outlines the basic attitudes to photography and documentary work apparent in the works. Addressing the current role of documentary photography from a historical perspective, the volume constitutes a major contribution to the ongoing discourse on documentary work. Its extensive bibliographies also make it an important a resource for further research. Moreover, since the majority of the photographs come from the Museum Ludwig’s holdings, the catalogue acts as a reevaluation of its collection.”

Press release from the Museum Ludwig website

Joachim Brohm
Bochum
1983
From the series Ruhrlandschaften (Ruhr landscapes)
Color print
50 cm x 60 cm
Museum Ludwig
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

Joachim Brohm
Gelsenkirchen
1983
From the series Ruhrlandschaften (Ruhr landscapes)
Color print
50 cm x 60 cm
Museum Ludwig
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

Raghubir Singh
Marwaris bidding outside the Calcutta stock exchange, Calcutta
1988
From the series Calcutta. The Home and the Street
Color print
40 x 50 cm
© Succession Raghubir Singh

Raghubir Singh
Subhas Chandra Bose statue, Calcutta
1986
From the series Calcutta. The Home and the Street
Color print
40 x 50 cm
© Succession Raghubir Singh

Robert Adams
From the series Our Lives and Our Children
1981
Silver gelatin print
From a 74-part series
Each 31.50 x 22.50 cm
Museum Ludwig
© Robert Adams

Thomas Ruff
Gisela Benzenberg, Aug. 1985
1985
From the series Portraits
Color print
41.5 cm x 33.5 cm
Museum Ludwig
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014