Josef Sudek

During a legendary career that spanned almost six decades, Czech photographer Josef Sudek, the ‘poet of Prague,’ developed a craftsmanship and technical virtuosity that was unparalleled among his contemporaries. Early in his career, though the prevailing art movements of the 1920s and ’30s included cubism, surrealism, and the Czech avant-garde, Sudek sought his own approach characterized by a striking mastery of light. Working in Prague all his life, Sudek devoted himself to creating poetic still life images taken from his studio. His magical orchestration of rich, dark tones and the ethereal luminescence of his highlights render Sudek’s world in a spiritual and dream-like tone, where light is substance. The difficulties in Sudek’s life, the loss of his right arm during World War I and the hardships suffered during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Prague, color his evocative and emotional work. Despite his handicap, he used large view cameras, including a 12 x 20 panoramic format that he wielded both horizontally and vertically, photographing without the help of an assistant. He compiled seven books of Prague photographs, working in the streets until old age and his physical limitations made it too difficult to haul his cameras around. LINK icp.org

Prof. Panayot Panayotov PANETO

Professor Panayotov's work covers many disciplines. During every visit to his studio, he showed me a lot of work. I took pictures at his request. In memory of his incredible versatility, I have made a selection of these beautiful works of art.

Link blog Panayot Panayotov PANETO

Terry Kurgan

Everyone is Present

Terry Kurgan is an artist and writer based in Johannesburg. Her artistic interest is in photography, and her focus-across a broad range of media-is on the volatile and complex relationship between photography and fiction. Kurgan received her BAFA from the California School of Arts in San Francisco, her MFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, and her MA in Creative Writing from Wits University in Johannesburg. She has exhibited and published widely-in South Africa and internationally-and over the years, received numerous prestigious Fine Art awards. Kurgan has more recently turned to creative non-fiction to uncover a haunting family history, passed down through two generations, inflecting her own experience of the world. Her book, “Everyone is Present” was shortlisted for the Photo Arles Book Prize (France), was selected as a Finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards (USA), and won what is considered to be South Africa’s premier non-fiction literary prize, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award.

LINK review by Andrew van der Vlies

Odessa (Odesa) in better times 1995 (Одеса в кращі часи 1995)

Photography by Dolf Pauw

August 24, 1991 Ukraine became independent, four years later I visited Odessa with my sister Sandra and her friend Jan. We were received incredibly hospitably by my family. My aunt Klawa her son Andre and Natalia picked us up from the airport. When we arrived at Klawa's flat, they had made a feast. The following days we were treated with sights of this beautiful city. A stay that I still carry warmly in my heart. That is now almost 28 years ago. Today Odessa is under Russian fire and my family has been drained to Slovenia, Germany and the Netherlands! They and many others did not deserve that! Only by a madman (Putin) who wants to restore the past say Soviet Union. We people of the free world should prevent this misconduct. Here a photo impression of Odessa in 1995. Dolf Pauw

Link more about Odessa

Johan van der Keuken

From 8 October 2022 till 5 February 2023, Rotterdam The Netherlands 

Photo 1, collection Dolf Pauw, 2 and 3 source the Netherlands photo museum.

In recent years, the Nederlands Fotomuseum has managed Johan van der Keuken’s (1938-2001) artistic legacy. Van der Keuken was a Dutch filmmaker, photographer, and essayist. He gained national and international fame with his photos, photobooks, and films that explicitly transcend the boundaries between visual poetry and documentary. One of his works, Wij zijn 17 (We Are 17), can be seen in the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography. A large exhibition featuring Johan van der Keuken’s work will be on display at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam: The Art I Love Most. The ‘Fifties’ generation Together with several contemporaries, 

Van der Keuken shared the renewed spirit of the Vijftigers (the Fifties), a group of rebellious young writers and poets from the decade of the same name. He also loved to travel, was extensively engaged with political and social issues, and was highly interested in ordinary people and everyday life. 

This exhibition is curated by Frits Gierstberg, Nederlands Fotomuseum.
Special thanks to: Noshka van der Lely and Willem van Zoetendaal.
Loan institutions: Universitaire Bibliotheken Leiden, MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris, FR), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), FOMU – Fotomuseum Antwerpen (BE), Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Noshka van der Lely and Willem van Zoetendaal (Amsterdam) Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.

LINK read more

Люба Халева (Luba Haleva)

Корици-морици

Люба Халева завършва Националната художествена академия (2002) в специалност Плакат и визуални комуникации. Работи в сферата на съвременното изкуство и графичния дизайн. Има участия в Sofia design week, в групова изложба BOUNDLESS Amsterdam и в Триеналето на плаката в Търнава, Словакия, както и опит в областта на театралния афиш (Народен театър Иван Вазов и Театрална работилница Сфумато). Първа награда в конкурса на Venus Febriculosa за корицата на Лолита от Владимир Набоков (2010). 

Luba Haleva is an illustrator based in Sofia, Bulgaria, graduated from the National Academy of Arts (2002) majoring in Poster and Visual Communications. Works in the field of contemporary art and graphic design. She has participated in Sofia design week, in the group exhibition BOUNDLESS Amsterdam and in the Poster Triennial in Trnava, Slovakia, as well as experience in the field of theater posters (Ivan Vazov National Theater and Sfumato Theater Workshop). First prize in the Venus Febriculosa contest for the cover of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (2010). Luba is a novel artist working in the field of contemporary art and graphic design.

Link via National Academy of Art Sofia

Joachim Lambrechts

Joachim Lambrechts (b. 1986) is a renowned urban artist from Antwerp, Belgium. In 2001, he began his studies at an art school in Antwerp. Later he became very involved with the graffiti and street art scene in his home city and in 2004 he distanced himself from his academic education and left art school without graduating. In the years that followed, Joachim spent a great deal of time experimenting with various approaches to graffiti and quickly became integrated into the Belgian street art scene. Since 2010, painting on canvas has been Joachim’s main focus, in addition to creating street art across Europe. In contrast to his murals, Joachim never makes preliminary studies or sketches when he starts working on a canvas. Paradoxically, he feels freer within the four walls of his studio which is reflected in his paintings, which are the result of a more spontaneous process, and as such, possess a sense of urgency and innocence.

LINK les-nouveaux-riches

Framing the War, hundred days of war in Ukraine

This exhibit shouldn't have been here now. That war shouldn't have happened!

From day one, the war in Ukraine has also been a media war. There are more images than ever, made by journalists, civilians, media and press agencies. Ukrainian and foreign journalists and media try to report the war objectively and independently. In Russia, the state controls all media with no space for independent and free journalism. Framing the War portrays the first hundred days of the war through the lens of international news photographers and through the pen of international cartoonists. The documentary photography and satirical cartoons combined to paint a unique picture of the conflict. They invite you as a visitor to take a critical look at coverage of the war: what do I know and what do I see, and how important and how influential are the makers of the images? This exhibition is a collection of news photos and cartoons. It includes work by news photographers who stayed in Ukraine during the first 100 days of the war. Cartoons are made by, among others, Vladimir Kazanevsky (Ukraine), Gatis Sluka (Latvia), Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands) and Emad Hajjaj (Jordan). Photography by photographers ANP. 

The exhibition is a production of press agency ANP, media museum Sound and Vision The Hague and cartoonists platform Cartoon Movement. It is made possible by the support of the V-Fonds and the Municipality of The Hague.

Note: It is of course strange that you cannot have free entry to this loaded exhibition Dolf Pauw

LINK Museum Den Haag beeld en geluid

Arturo Kameya

Arturo Kameya is an established, mid-career contemporary artist, who originates from Peru. Born in 1984, Arturo Kameya's creative work was predominantly inspired by the 1990s. In the United Kingdom, a collective of artists known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, dominated the artistic culture of the decade. They were a loosely affiliated and diverse group, connected generally by their age and nationality. A number of the members had attended the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths in London, and were favoured by Charles Saatchi, the ‘super collector’ of art at the time. 

Kameya's work is rooted in personal stories and in the history of the urban subculture of the Peruvian capital Lima and Japan. Peru has traditionally had a large community of Japanese migrants. He reflects through paintings, music and objects on apparently insignificant experiences, memories and rituals from everyday life. His work thus touches on major and current themes such as migration, loss and change. The imagination of the past and the future also plays a role.

LINK grimm gallery

KROKODIL FESTIVAL: The Year of Magical Thinking

LOCATION 1: Center for Cultural Decontamination, Birčaninova 21, Beograd

 

“The Year of Magical Thinking is a title we owe to the recently deceased American author and essayist Joan Didion, whose insight into the roads travelled by the human species through the XX and XXI centuries, and her memorable descriptions of societal unrest and psychological fragmentation have left an important mark on the way we experience the contemporary world. Taken from her eponymous autobiographical book that talks of her facing the sudden death of her husband and terminal illness of her only daughter, this title, of course, represents a direct homage to the insuperable writer. However, it also directs our attention towards the collective, global, extremely complex trauma the population of planet Earth is facing today. In a direct head-on collision with the certainty of environmental apocalypse, new and mysterious pandemics, aggressive, bloodthirsty dictators with their fingers on the triggers of nuclear weapons powerful enough to destroy all of humanity, and the extreme stupidity and blindness of the human species that, due to the development of communications technologies, has been unveiled before us in all its splendour while as Arthur Koestler said, we “sleepwalk toward Armageddon”, it would seem we are unable to fully comprehend where we have led our civilisation. And in return, where our civilisation has led us. Connecting Emerging Literary Artists 

WHEN: Sunday, 19 June, from 7 PM PARTICIPANTS: CELA (Connecting Emerging Literary Artists) – Arianna Bonazzi (Italy), Andraž Rožman (Slovenia), Lisa Weeda (The Netherlands) and translators Ana Popović, Jelena Dedeić, and Bojana Budimir. Programme moderator: Mima Simić. POETS SOUNDS – speech art trio SPRECHBOHRER (Germany), Tone Avenstroup (Norway), Katalin Ladik (Hungary) and Miia Toivio (Finland). Programme moderators: Dragan Protić Prota and Florian Neuner. ADMISSION: Free LIVE STREAM: No online stream DEBATE PROGRAMME

LINK krokodil-festival

Miniaturbiennale

Mainstation Düsseldorf, Konrad Adenauer Platz 14 

76133 Düsseldorf Germany

The exhibition A World To Work With shows works by twelve artists in the Modellbahnautomat at Düsseldorf‘s main station. In the tradition of sculpture exhibitions in public spaces, works are presented as models on a scale of 1:87, ranging from unrealized to completely newly developed concepts. With works by: Gina Fischli, Alexander Janz, Daniel Kuge, Louise Lawler, Fritjof Mangerich, Isa Melsheimer, Gerardo Nolasco-Rózsás, Lucila Pacheco Dehne, Sophie Pape, Thomas Schütte, Maria Visser and Alex Wissel The exhibition is curated by Alexander Janz and Felix Koberstein. 

Models play an important role in artistic production. Many larger projects are first created on a small scale before they are realized in the size they are intended. This is mostly for pragmatic reasons. Many constraints that exist in reality are undermined in the model. In this way, ideas and thought experiments that cannot be easily realized due to size, cost, safety risks, or other limitations can be vividly put up for disposition. Models are used for experimentation in the studio, but also as a form of presentation for communicating ideas. It is therefore no coincidence that the aesthetics of the model-like, especially since the Neo-avantgardes, has itself become a field of interest for artistic reflection.

LINK miniaturbiennale (site in German)

May 5 freedom concert @ Amstel Amsterdam

Anita Meijer, Why Tell Me Why

The May 5 concert is traditionally the closing event of the national liberation celebration. Opera singer Tania Kross, rapper Fresku and rock band Navarone performed, among others. And the mentioned Anita Meyer of course. She sang her 1981 mega hit Why Tell Me Why. Freedom is something that cannot be taken for granted. I hope freedom remains especially now in Ukraine.

LINK Youtube