Shortlisted artist announced for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2009

above image from “a shimmer of possibility” by Paul Graham (steidlMACK 2004-2006)

The Photographers Gallery in London has announced the four shortlisted artists in the running for the 2009 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. I have been following this photography award since I first learned of it while I was living in London and attending University of Westminster. The first time I learned about the Photography prize was in 2000 when the winner was Anna Gaskell. The following year I finally made it to the exhibition when i snuck into the ticket opening. That year the nominees were Roni Horn, Hellen van Meene, Boris Mikhailov, Jem Southham and hanna Starkey. Looks like this year's big winner is the prestigious german photography publishersteidl with three of the four artists selected published from there.

The Prize was founded by Citibank Private Bank in 1996 to reward the individual judged to have made the most significant contribution to the medium of photography over the previous year. Deutsche Börse has sponsored the £30,000 prize since 2005.

In its five year history, The Photography Prize has consistently recognised a high calibre of winners: Walid Raad /The Atlas Group, Lebanon (2007), Robert Adams, USA (2006), Luc Delahaye, France (2005), Joel Sternfeld, USA (2004), Juergen Teller, Germany (2003), Shirana Shahbazi, Iran (2002), Boris Mikhailov, Ukraine (2001), Anna Gaskell USA (2000), Rineke Dijkstra, The Netherlands (1999), Andreas Gursky, Germany (1998) and Richard Billingham, UK (1997).

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009

This annual award of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to the medium of photography in Europe between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008.

The four shortlisted artists for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 are:

Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK) is nominated for his publication, “A Shimmer of Possibility” (steidlMACK, October 2007).

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

Tod Papageorge (wiki) (b.1940, USA) is 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) is 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 is: David Campany (writer/lecturer, University of Westminster, UK); David Goldblatt (photographer, South Africa); Chus Martínez (Chief Curator, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain); and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Germany). The Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, Brett Rogers is the non-voting Chair

Paul Graham's book “A Shimmer of Possibility” although very expensive is still available at Amazon. Sadly, way out of my price range. Anyone know if the Library has a copy?

Taryn Simon's book “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar” is in its second printing. I bought a copy of this book when Taryn Simon spoke at Aperture a few years ago and its a book I find i keep going back to for inspiration and intrigue.

Tod Papageorge's book “Passing Through Eden - Photographs of Central Park” is available from Amazon. Although, I haven't purchased this book yet I must say I really enjoy looking at the old Central Park, the Central Park from my childhood.

The Photography Prize consistently points out new photographers that I haven't learned about. Although this year I was familiar with everyone who was nominated I'm sure they will continually surprise me. And hopefully, one day they'll give me 30,000 pounds!

Hair Hats by Japanese Pop Artist Nagi Noda

all above images © 2005 Nagi Noda/Uchu-Country Co. Ltd.

I came across these Hair Hats images via Gawker (via omgowned) and haven't stopped regularly coming back to look at them. I wasn't going to post anything about it but then I noticed that neither Gawker or Omg OWNED didn't point out that these images were produced by Japanese Pop ArtistNagi Noda (wiki). Noda is well known for her videos that have become viral sensations like the Weird exercise routine by Mariko Takahash below.

YouTube - Poodle Exercise with Humans

These Hair Hats pictures, I just found out, were photographed at MILK Studios in New York by Kenneth Cappello.

Also, Nagi Noda has directed these other great clips:

YouTube - Coca Cola "What Goes Around Comes Around"

Scissor Sisters - She's My Man

The meeting of medium and message.

Clifford Ross, HARMONIUM MOUNTAIN I, Archival Pigment Print 70 3/4 x 203" (framed quadriptych) 2008, Archival Pigment Print 42 3/4 x 93 7/8" (frame) 2008, Archival Pigment Print 26 1/4 x 54 3/4" (frame) 2008

Recently Jorg Colberg wrote a post in reference the use of various mediums and photography. Colberg argues intelligently that sometimes photographers confuse the format choice for actual content in photography. In his original post he argues:

Using a so-called toy camera, for example, doesn't automatically produce a great photo. A light leak or a soft lens might contribute to what makes a particularly photo good, but that doesn't mean that if you buy a Diana camera (which are now in production again and sold for way too much money - seriously, if you want one buy a vintage one on Ebay) you're guaranteed good photos.

The same is true for large-format cameras. There almost is a cult of large-format photography out there. It's true, large-format cameras can lead to very spectacular results, but using a large-format camera is no guarantee for that.

Or take vintage/alternative photography processes, many of which are notoriously hard to use. But as before, using a wet-plate collodion-type process (or whatever that might be called) does not guarantee good photographs.

The medium a photographer uses does not grantee quality artwork and this conversation reminded me of a lecture my professor of last semester, Philip Perkis (book) gave to the class. In the short lecture, Perkis, strongly urged the class to stick to a particular medium; that is find the medium that you like best and stay with it learn it inside out use it all the time. He even went so far to argue against the zoom lens. After Perkis's lecture I kept thinking about his arguments while I was looking at established artists in the New York galleries and museums and on the whole the majority of the shows the medium of the photographer what integral to their style.

Colberg brings up Gursky and an example of a photographer who:

produces equally large and involved images (please don't email me to start arguments about whether or not those are "Gigapixel" or "What-have-you-pixel"!), using Photoshop (or whatever else), but whose images are vastly more interesting. Seriously.

I think part of Gursky's strength flows from his evolutionary track. Andreas Gursky uses a large format 5x7 camera and has learn over the years what the world looks like through this particular view. Gursky found a format that suited him and committed to it.

A photographer does not have to work in the same format their whole life but Clifford Ross's scattershot approach lead to the flop of his most recent exhibition Mountain Redux. I really enjoyed his previous work for the Hurricanes and then the Mountain work with his new R1 Camera. Part of what I really enjoyed with Clifford Ross's R1 camera and the Mountain series is described by Peter Galassi in his introduction to Andreas Gurski's Book (MoMA 2001):

A small picture is illegible except from near at hand, but a large one may be viewed from a distance and then by degrees more closely. This range of regard is an old story for painting, but it became familiar to photography only recently. Many artists have treated it with indifference, making big pictures whose imagery, as we approach, simply dissolves into the unlovely industrial material of photographic paper. Some of Gursky's largest productions, sacrificing precision of detail to grandeur of effect, do suffer slightly at close range. Most of his pictures, however, offer a continuous reward from very far to reasonably near, as the macrocosm reveals its microcosmic structure.

Clifford Ross made a successful first crack at exploration this relationship that larger photograph can have with the viewer. But in moving from his R1 camera into remixing these images into "Harmoniums" through the use of 3d software and a lot of computer power I believe he is loosing the original qualities that I enjoyed in the original Mountain Series.