Artist

The 2009 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize goes to Paul Graham

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©Paul Graham, Untitled (Pittsburgh 1), From the series "a shimmer of possibility," 2004, Pigment ink print

I think The Photographers' Gallery made the right choice here. I like all the nominees this year but British/American Photographer Paul Graham's "a shimmer of possibility" is just a bit more successful for me and a bit more current / new. A few nights ago Paul Graham was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and the £30K that accompanies it.

From the press release (PDF):

Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK), has been awarded the 2009 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize.

The Award was presented at a special evening ceremony on Wednesday 25 March 2009. Jefferson Hack, co-founder of Dazed & Confused, presented the £30,000 award.

The Prize is presented by The Photographers' Gallery and sponsored by Deutsche Borse group.

Paul Graham was selected by the Jury for his publication, a shimmer of possibility (steidlMACK, October 2007).

Now in its thirteenth year, this annual Prize of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe, through either an exhibition or publication, over the past year.

The other shortlisted artists in this year's Prize, each awarded £3,000, are:

Emily Jacir (b.1970, Palestine) nominated for her installation, Material for a Film, presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale (7 June - 21 November 2007).

Tod Papageorge (b.1940, USA) nominated for the exhibition Passing Through Eden - Photographs of Central Park at Michael Hoppen Gallery, London (7 March - 12 April 2008).

Taryn Simon (b.1975, USA) nominated for her exhibition An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar at The Photographers' Gallery, London (13 September -11 November 2007).

The Jury this year: David Campany (writer/lecturer, University of Westminster, UK); David Goldblatt (photographer, South Africa); Chus Martinez (Chief Curator, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain); and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Borse, Germany). The Director of The Photographers' Gallery, Brett Rogers is the non-voting Chair.


© Paul Graham, Untitled (New York/North Dakota), From the series "a shimmer of possibility," 2005, Pigment ink prints, 15 pieces, Edition of 5 + 2 a.p.


© Paul Graham, "a shimmer of possibility," 2005

I like how the book and the photography installation work with each other. Each is similar but changes to fit the ideal conditions for viewing. The 12 Book collection (photo-eye was too expensive for me but there is a compiled version on its way in April.

This is quite a year for Graham with solo shows at MoMA, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany Greenberg Van Doren Gallery and Salon94 currently up, and now this award.

Check out this interview with Paul Graham and PDN here. There is also an article in the Telegraph

Shepard Fairey Copyright Battle

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There has been a lot of talk online about the now infamous Shepard Fairey Obama poster that was produced with the help of a picture made by former AP Photographer Mannie Garcia. While I have held back from posting anything on this debate I think Stephen Colbert moderates a debate between David Ross, the former head of the Whitney Museum and founder of Artist Pension Trust and Ed Colbert, Stephen's lawyer brother. I am not sure where the legal case is with this issue I did notice that on Mannie Garcia's Hope Page he states:

In a telephone conversation on the 17th of February, Shepard Fairey acknowledged that my photograph was used and that credit should have been given as such.

via wooster collective

Jane & Louise Wilson, Unfolding the Aryan Papers

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Unfolding the Aryan Papers by Jane and Louise Wilson

Unfolding the Aryan Papers by British artists Jane & Louise Wilson, exploring Stanley Kubrick's unrealized project entitled Aryan Papers.

watch the film here at the animate projects website. Geoffrey Cocks argued in his book The wolf at the door: Stanley Kubrick, history & the Holocaust that Kubrick gave up work on this project because he felt that cinema couldn't accurately depict something so deeply horrible as the holocaust. Instead Cocks believes that Kubrick tried to address this issue indirectly, specifically Cocks believes The shining is Kubrick's Holocaust film. I'm not sure about the validity of this argument but its an interesting theory next time I watch The Shining I'll keep this in mind.

Jane & Louise Wilson's project is more about mood and atmosphere of Kubrick's unfinished project and the act or non-act of film making.

from the press release:

This new commission by Animate Projects and the BFI, focuses on Stanley Kubrick's unfinished project Aryan Papers, a film about the Holocaust based on Louis Begley's book Wartime Lies. Prior to telling the story of a Polish Jewish woman and her nephew, who pretend to be Catholic in order to avoid persecution during the Nazi occupation of their country, Kubrick researched the project for many years and got as far as choosing the actors and the locations, but unfortunately the film was never made.

Researching the material available, Jane & Louise Wilson have focused on wardrobe research stills as well as period stills from the pre-production phase of Aryan Papers. The Gallery installation concentrates on newly-shot footage of Johanna ter Steege, the actress featured in the photographs originally taken by Stanley Kubrick and chosen by him as the female lead of the film. In a statement on this project, they commented on the 'enigmatic quality' of having only fragments of Aryan Papers available, something which they consider 'profoundly cinematic'. It is precisely the fragmentary nature of Aryan Papers which allowed the artists to work freely with the available material, without the constraints of competing with an already existing film. Despite not having been able to appear in the film, the female figure in the Wilsons' work is granted a visibility which was denied to her by the final course of events.

Jane & Louise Wilson are considered to be among the best artists of their generation in using the moving image. They have worked collaboratively for over 20 years on projects which are frequently research-based. Whether dealing with the Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugee community of Derby, decaying World War II bunkers or the dilapidated former Stasi headquarters in Berlin, the artists' sensibility for difficult subjects is expressed by carefully presenting their photographs and technically challenging moving image installations. The controlled nature of their works and the importance of meticulous research provide an interesting link between Kubrick and the Wilsons, which makes this project particularly fascinating. The exhibition also coincides with an extensive Stanley Kubrick season at BFI Southbank, providing an entrancing new context for the artists' work.

A commission by Animate Projects and the BFI with The Stanley Kubrick Archives, University of the Arts London.

If you're in london I'm sure it would be a good show to visit:

The Gallery at BFI Southbank London, SE1

13 February-19 April 2009
Admission free
11am-8pm, Tuesday-Sunday

via e-flux and reminded of via Horses Think