Category: Helmut Schmidt

Hommage to Walker Evans

The American photographer Walker Evans became famous for his work with the farm security authority during the great depression and for portraying the industrial neighborhoods around the steel and mining industry in Alabama, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Since he worked for the government many of his photos became part of the public domain and everybody can download and use them for free. Correspondingly large is the number of artists who use it for their own projects. Museum Helmond presents a juxtaposition of Evans’ photographs with works inspired by them.

Here is one of my attempts: nature takes it all back

Geese foraging in a pond created by the demolition of part of a chemical plant in Delft

Einmal (Once)

I had a lot of inspiration from the discussion we had in the short lived photo book club. We were talking about pictures in the Wim Wenders’ book “Einmal” (Once). Wenders is a famous movie director – I assume many of the photos were taken while scouting for moving locations. Main aspects for the selection are dilapidation, ruin and desertion. We were discussing aspects of the composition of the photos. Wenders is not afraid of empty spaces in his pictures. Many are structured by straight lines from roads, edges of buildings. Fragments of cars, buildings, rails or signs give hints to what is happening outside the obvious. Parts of the pictures are out of focus. Masts are included to give significance to disruptive elements, well known sights are disfigured by objects which normally do not show up in tourists shots.

I went into the most unattractive parts of town and tried to take pictures following these instructions. Each picture has a spot for the actors.

Waterloopbos

Since most of the Netherlands are below sea level an intricate system of dykes, locks and barriers is necessary to prevent flooding. To test the installations an open air laboratory was created. Scale models of coastal fortifications, ports and shorelines were tested with machines constructed to create flood waves and coastal currents. The laboratory was not only used to test layouts for Dutch building projects but also for foreign clients. That way tests for the ports in Bangkok, Thyboran or Lybia were carried out. For years the facilities decayed and were recovered by the surrounding forest. Today it is a national monument and the most important devices are restored.

Giethoorn

Giethoorn is called the Venice of the Netherlands. If so, it is a very rural Venice. Old Farmhouses line the canal, which serves as Main street. Most are used as accomodation for tourists. In summer the canals are filled with excursion boats and the foot paths with lightly dressed tourists. In winter everything is closed. The local band “de flagellanten” play in the last pub which stays open, and the only open hotel has plenty of space. On a nice November day this is the time to come here.

JR – “I own the largest gallery in the world: the walls of the city”

While spending his nights roaming the backstreets of Paris as a teenager, JR realized that his skills were insufficient to become a graffiti artist. After he found a cheap camera in the metro he started taking photos, which he printed and glued to the walls of Paris. To mark these spots for the time after the paper of the photos had disappeard he surrounded them with a frame of red spraypaint. These highly illegal activities became sanctioned after he drew the attention of then President of France, Hollande. Today his art projects and installations have extended to all continents and he lives in New York. The Kunsthalle in Munich organised a fascinating exhibition.

This early picture of JR shows one of his friends with a film camera.
JR took pictures of the people of the poor and delapitated suburbs of Paris. The pictures were glued onto the inside walls of appartment buildings to be demolished. Upon demolition, the photos became visible to the outside world
In Kenia, JR printed pictures of the inhabitants of a slum on plastic film which was used as cover for the leaking roofs of the shacks of the slum.
In the project “wrinkles of the city” JR photographed old inhabitants of cities around the world like Shanghai, Berlin, Los Angeles or Havanna and recorded their stories in an attempt to draw attention to the changes affecting these people
In another project JR put together hundreds of pictures of inhabitants of, for example, New York or San Francisco. All were asked to present themselves in a typical pose and record a story. The recorded stories are part of the installation and could be followed during the exhibition via smartphone
After the border fence to Mexico was built JR glued a huge photo of a boy onto a wooden panel on the Mexican side of the border. After one month the panel was taken down and transformed into a table to celebrate a huge lunch on both sides of the border

“The essence of photography is to immortalize faces” JR