4th Triennial of Photography in Hamburg

From the 11th to the 20th of April, Hamburg will be the centre of photography in Germany for the fourth time. During ten days, exceptional ideas, enthusiasm and commitment for photography concentrate in lectures, films, lightshows, and encounters. Ten museums and various galleries complement the Triennial of Photography with exhibitions, which can also be seen after the festival. Ten days, during which people interested in photography and art, scientists, photographers, and experts for media and art have the possibility to meet and to have an intensive look at photography.

The triennial presents photographers from various countries throughout the world, who bring in their personal experiences and ideas and who show what is going on in the world. Aside from works of established artists, a forum is offered to new talents. Due to numerous photo exhibitions in museums, galleries, and other locations, round table talks as well as gallery tours and receptions, the 4th Triennial of Photography will become Hamburg’s cultural event of the year 2008.

The Haus der Photographie (House of Photography) marks the beginning of the triennial with its definite retrospective of F.C. Gundlach’s work, one of the most renowned German fashion photographers of the postwar era. The exhibition "Das fotografische Werk" (The Photographic Oeuvre) shows fashion photography of four decades, in which F.C. Gundlach staged fashion and therefore made fashion history - the history of clothing, but as well the history of poses and gestures, props and locations, and changing ideals of beauty.

Further exhibitions of the Triennial of Photography present photographs by Sharon Lockhart,Candida Höfer, Fischli-Weiss, Walter Schels, Karin Székessy, and Winston Link. In addition, Hamburg's galleries enrich the festival program.

A marquee at the Deichtorplatz in front of the Haus der Photographie will be the meeting point of the Triennial 2008. As a central information point and venue, evening lightshows as well as lectures on the motto of the triennial "Say Cheese – About Smiling in Photography" will take place there. Furthermore, visitors can get information about the Triennial of Photography at this place. For expert visitors and press a meeting point will be at their disposal.

The portfolio viewing on the second weekend of the triennial offers both young and established photographers the special opportunity of meeting the directors of international photo festivals and of having their work assessed.

In 1999, the first triennial took place in Hamburg in eight museums and instituions as well as forty galleries and other organizations. At the 3rd Triennial of Photography the number of organizers doubled and 250,000 guests visited the festival.

If you want to find out more about the festival or even come to Hamburg for a portfolio review or to see the many exhibitions and meet photographers from all over the world, check it out here

New Links Added

I also added more artists links in the section on the right side. Feel free to browse and visit the websites of great photographers and see fantastic work.

Skylines

I am working on a new series with the title "Skylines". The statement is as follows:

The white lines on a blue sky are fascinating to me. They appear for a short time and form beautiful lines on the sky, form patterns when there are more of them and then disappear as quickly as they were formed. The definition of these lines (contrails) is as follows:

A contrail, also known as a condensation trail, is a „cirrus-like“(High level cloud - Cirrus are thin, wispy clouds composed of ice crystals that originate from the freezing of super cooled water droplets and exist where temperatures are below -38 degrees Celsius) trail of condensed vapor (often resembling the tail of a kite) that is produced by jet aircraft flying at high altitudes. Contrails are produced at altitudes high enough for water droplets to freeze in a matter of seconds before they evaporate. Temperatures at such altitudes are typically below -38 degrees Celsius.

Contrails form through the injection of water vapor into the atmosphere by exhaust fumes from a jet engine. If there is sufficient mixing between the cold upper tropospheric air and the hot exhaust gases to produce a state of saturation, ice crystals will develop. Even tiny nuclei released in the exhaust fumes may be sufficient enough to generate ice crystals.

Contrails spread apart and evaporate with time. If the air in which the cloud develops has a low relative humidity, the cloud particles will quickly evaporate. However, even in the presence of higher relative humidities, upper level winds can spread contrails apart, forming a horizontal sheet-like cloud. For a contrail to remain in tact for a long period of time, the air must have high a relative humidity and light winds.

On the Internet you can also find theories like this:

The Chemtrail conspiracy theory claims that some trails left behind jet aircraft are different in appearance and quality from those of normal contrails, may be composed of harmful chemicals, and are being deliberately produced, and covered up by the government. These unusual trails are referred to as "chemtrails" (a portmanteau of "chemical trails").
The term "chemtrail" does not refer to common forms of aerial dumping (e.g. crop dusting, cloud seeding or aerial firefighting). It specifically refers to systematic, high-altitude dumping of unknown substances for undisclosed purposes, resulting in the appearance of these unusual contrails.

Suggested purposes of the chemtrails include:
Weather control (perhaps to counter the effects of global warming)
Military purposes
Wireless network system component
Sophisticated radar system
Scientific study
Biological warfare
Hegemonic mind control
Occult purposes

Here are some images from the series






©Michael Werner

Welcome Sparky

Super Sparky

Sparky has his own blog now. So welcome Sparky to the world of bloggers. He is an art star and his collection of artworks will be shown this spring at the Project Space @ Schroeder Romero/ Winkelman Gallery, 637 West 27th St, New York. Check out his blog here and if you want to be part of his fantastic project, you have to hurry, but there is still time till the 15th of April. More details are on his blog. You can also find Sparky on Flickr

Congratulations Sparky you are the next big thing in Chelsea and the world is waiting for you as well.

Tim Hailand

Tim Hailand is a New York and Berlin based photographer who‘s work I really like. He has many wonderful projects on his website and his photograph on Tracy Chapman's album Telling Stories is just amazing. His exhibition at Baldwin Gallery in Aspen Colorado in February / March 2008 was a huge success and his work is to find in collections as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Guggenheim, New York and many more. And beside of all his success as an artist, he is a great guy as well.



Gilbert and George in New York City in Provincetown, 2005, from the series Photos Rephotographed



Berlin, 2007, from the series Statues


Bernd Becher, 2004, from the series Men

© all images Tim Hailand

Knees are weird - call for submissions

Ian Aleksander Adams started a new project called Knees are weird and wants to have your submissions. I think it's a cool and funny project.

This is what he writes about it:

This is about knees. Well, it's about art about knees.

Why knees?

They are an under-represented body part. I'm extremely self conscious about my knees, and I don't know why. In specific, I posted an image of my knees to a self portrait community, and was asked to censor it, because it was somehow offensive. This amazed me, because my knees are awkward, but it never occurred to me that they might be offensive. There is something about knees, and hopefully, by putting this together, we can figure out a little more about them.

They are also intended as a launching point. They can directly remind us of things: distance from our head, the idea of hiding a body part, feeling ashamed or amazed/confused/bored by our own bodies. They could more abstractly inspire ideas of supporting, joining, bending.

Work about how knees are weird. Or not weird. Photographs of knees. Or not photographs. Animal knees. Metaphysical knees. Start with the idea and run with it. Just follow the submission guidelines, and if you are chosen, I'll probably need a version of your image at a size I can print.

If you want to submit words, even, go ahead, but keep to the submission requirements. Each piece must stand on it's own inside a 600x600 image area, so if you write a poem, or even make a font to express the words knees, remember to save it as a jpg or gif image. The font and organization of words is a matter of your artistic expression, not mine.


So, drop your trousers, take a photo of your knees, or of other knees or get inspired by knees or whatever and get your submission to Ian

The link to the project is here

Deborah Hamon in Berlin

Deborah Hamon has her first solo show in Germany at the moment. To be more precise, she actually has two solo shows. One with her paintings and one with her photographs. If you are in Berlin make sure you go and see the shows at Galerie Schuster and at Galerie Schuster Photo. The link to the gallery's homepage is here The show runs through March 29.





Deborah Hamon, American Girl at Galerie Schuster, Berlin