Making Strange (Literary Review)

The photography of Steffi Klenz and Thomas Weinberger

In this article by Alexandra Stara, the work of contemporary German-born photographers Steffi Klenz and Thomas Weinberger is linked to having a shared interest in 'making strange': a device used for 'bringing visibility to the processes that shape our environment'. Stara states that Klenz and Weinberger are two of the most interesting contemporary photographers who are part of the growing movement 'producing landscapes and cityscapes representing our late-modern notion of place, revealing complex modes of inhabitation, appropriation, alienation and destruction without representing action, focusing instead on the settings within which it occurs'. 

The two photographers have different focal points in terms of subject matter and technique, but their work shows 'common concerns within the topographic sensibility... share an investment in the elliptical, enigmatic and disorientating as mechanisms of estrangement from thinking anew of everyday and familiar subjects'. 

Klenz, untitled, from the series Nonsuch, 2005

Klenz focuses on the 'notion of "non-place"... the homogenous, transient spaces' with little or no means of 'cultural relevance'. The intention that such "non-places" exist I find a little debatable, as does the article's author, but the idea is interesting, that 'alienation to the archetypal "place"', as pictured above, can focus the critique on something more strange, something unsettling about the "home" as being unfamiliar. In one of her series, La Posa, she even blacks out the windows and doors of the buildings in the images, 'reducing the houses to a series of bare walls with sheer darkness pouring from their openings'. The engagement and opinion of the viewer is left open for interpretation, but there are definitely implications of abandonment, as if the 'claustrophobic walls, which are treated as geological elements themselves, map an enigmatic topography'.

Klenz, untitled, from the series La Posa, 2008

Some of Thomas Weinberger's bodies of work have a united key concept: the idea of 'concealment and the denial of action, where the urban fabric itself is made to reverberate with mood and possibility'. These are images that tend towards a more detailed approach, as opposed to his other, larger-scale landscape images. The more panoramic the image, the more the viewer is 'wrenched back to the distance from which we attempt to take in the whole of the scene'. 

Weinberger, Isardamm, 2004

'Displacement, loss of scale and proportion are expressions that work on two levels in Weinberger's images – the aesthetic and the ethical. It is precisely this play of what are effectively techniques of estrangement that succeeds in conveying the fraught relationship between man and nature, building and land, without losing the exhiliration of the work.'

Weinberger, Paradise 1, 2010

I found this article to be a really interesting discussion of how some contemporary photographers are tackling the renewed challenge of finding a fresh way to explore capturing urban landscapes. Both Klenz and Weinberger invite us to rethink environments, 'its modes of construction, consumption and abandonment'. They both ensure there is a distance, or estrangement, for a viewer from an image, to ensure there is space for critical judgement, whilst keeping an entirely subjective openness for any viewer's interpretation. Theirs is a relevant way of looking at our 'built environment that does not attempt to simplify and rationalise'; it remains complex and unresolved.

All images reproduced from article
Stara, A., 2013, 'Making Strange': The Photography of Steffi Klenz and Thomas Weinberger, History of Photography, Vol 37.3, pp 353-359

Rodchenko and a Vision of the New World

Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) was a hugely influential Russian artist. Originally a painter, he ditched his paintbrush in 1921 in order to produce work which tied into his personal philosophies surrounding art and in order to fulfil his strong commitment to the Russian Revolution. He then worked across an array of media, including photography and graphic design. 

Rodchenko

Rodchenko

Although credited as a pioneer of of Constructivism, he also contributed to the manifesto of Productivism. Often conflated with Constructivism, Productivism arose from a differentiation of philosophy surrounding the role art plays in industry. Constructivist believed in the abstraction of space and isolating art from political or social agenda. In other words, they believed in Kant’s philosophy of art for art’s sake. 1 Productivists appose this concept, worked in the applied arts and believed “artistic still should have a practical, socially useful role as an element of industrial production”2.

Influenced by futurists and perhaps inspired by the change instilled by the Revolution, Rodchenko and his fellow Productivists has a vision. “We had visions of a new world, industry, technology and science. We simultaneously invented and changed the world around us. We authored new notions of beauty and refined art itself”. 3  This quote is one which resonates strongly with me when considering the futurist concepts of today and the move towards to sustainable global development. I question the the role of art of the sake of art. Is it still sustainable? Should we not be dedicating more of our artistic and creative talent to developing new innovative ideas and problem solving? 

Footnotes:

1 S. West & S. West (eds.). Art for Art's Sake. The Bloomsbury guide to art. http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/art_for_art_s_sake/0 [13 April 2015].

2 S. West & S. West (eds.). Productivism. The Bloomsbury guide to art. http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/productivism/0 [8 April 2015].

3  The Art Story 2014. Alexander Rodchenko. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-rodchenko-alexander.htm# [7 April 2015]. 

References:

Moore, J 2014. Communist and Constructivist: A Perspective Look At The Work Of Alexander Rodchenko. Available from: <http://www.booksie.com/non-fiction/essay/john_moore/ communist-and-constructivist:-a-perspective-look-at-the-work-of-alexander-rodchenko> [8 April 2015]. 

Constructivism. 1996. [Online]. In S. West (ed.). The Bloomsbury guide to art. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Available from: <http:// search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/constructivism/0> [8 April 2015].

The Art Story 2014. Alexander Mikhailovch Rodchenko. Available from: <http:// www.theartstory.org/artist-rodchenko-alexander.htm> [7 April 2015].

The Art Story 2014. Constructivism. Available from: <http://www.theartstory.org/movement- constructivism.htm> [7 April 2015]. 

Art for Art's sake (1996). [Online]. In S. West , S. West & S. West (eds.). The Bloomsbury guide to art. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Available from: http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/art_for_art_s_sake/0 [13 April 2015].

Productivism (1996). [Online]. In S. West , S. West & S. West (eds.). The Bloomsbury guide to art. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Available from: http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/productivism/0 [8 April 2015].

Gabo, Naum (Naum Neemia Pevsner) (1890 - 1977) (1996). [Online]. In S. West , S. West & S. West (eds.). The Bloomsbury guide to art. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Available from: http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/content/entry/bga/gabo_naum_naum_neemia_pevsner_1890_1977/0 [13 April 2015].

'Drawing Parallels' by Quintin Lake

‘Drawing Parallels’ is a great book on architectural photography by the photographer Quintin Lake. It includes many pairs of photos from all over the world and focuses on architectural details or concepts which visually weave together unrelated places, such as the corridor between the apartments in France and a metro station in Russia; neon sign in China and glazed tile of 13th Century shrine in Iran; or windows on the facade of State Kremlin Palace and ‘Gherkin’ building in London. 

"The photographer not only recognizes great established relationships between familiar structures and their environment, but also observes the constantly evolving realignments or mutations, which exist between tradition and modernity, as much as between manmade structures and nature".

The author sheds some light on the basic principles of visual associations, and gives examples of how it can enough to just notice subtly similar shapes, from one small detail to an overall impression, to find parallels between two buildings or places.

“...part of the art of photography is seeing and registering the wealth of changing forms and patterns that are created by the harmony and clash of buildings with their environments”. 

And sometimes it is more about the surface and texture through which we discover subtle resemblance between aluminium sunscreens of the modern theatre and roof tiles of an alpine hay barn.

These moments of recognizing something familiar in something alien helps to understand some principles that lay in foundation of man-altered landscapes and can be observed all over the human-built world.

Sources: 

Lake, Q 2009, Drawing parallels: architecture observed, Papadakis, Berkshire

http://blog.quintinlake.com/

Cities and Development - Jo Beall and Sean Fox

The book Cities and Development by Jo Beall and Sean Fox provides ideas and insights into the key challenges of urban poverty and development in the twenty-first century. The book begins with defining key terms to allow a clear understanding and insight into their ideas and theory’s on urbanisations history, its influence on the environment, the economy and politics. Beall and Fox describe the process of human migration from rural areas to towns and cities, and how this rapid urbanization means that the rate at which the migration from rural to urban takes place very quickly and has detrimental effects on cities. The condition varies from country to country as the number of cities and rural areas in the countries are different. Emphasis on is also placed the difference of the conditions in various countries. Conditions are dependent on the development nature of the country; some countries are developed and continuing to, others are developing while others are considered least developed.

The history of urbanization is explained, how in developed areas it can be traced from the industrialization era when the populace migrated from the rural/ancestral home to towns. The book explains how for the first time in history more people around the world live in urban areas than in rural ones. Economically advanced nations are predominately urban, having urbanised rapidly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Most importantly, in my opinion seeing as I have lived in a metropolis of a highly developed country, the book particularly highlights the stability of global environments and how it is under threat, particularly in cities.

 

Source:

Beall, J. and Fox, S. (2009) “Cities and Development”, Book.

 

 

Oh this beautiful mundane world

William Eggleston once said: “I don’t particularly like what’s around me”. Reflecting on these words, we may come to conclusion that the process of taking photographs could be regarded as an attempt to make peace with the hostile environment by capturing it in a subjective and personal way. He is an authentic portrayer of american spirit.

Eggleston's fascinating treatment of color is something he was both most praised and accused for, when he first entered the world of black-and-white dominated photography. “Eggleston’s use of color in his photographs is unspectacular, incidental. He uses it so subtly that we are no longer aware of it as a separate component of the process by which we perceive an object visually” (Knape 1999). 

Some critics accused Eggleston of being totally indiscriminate when it came to the choice of subject matter. However, by his choice of seemingly accidental scenes he also “...introduced a new aesthetic, a new ‘democratic’ way of seeing through which the ordinary and banal become extraordinary and engrossing” (Knape 1999). Eggleston simply considers every object worthy of depiction, and this looks like a very healthy approach, because through his images he projects vivid and moody attitude onto places and objects we deal with on a daily basis. Eggleston is very talented at glorifying the mundane life, the very one we are striving to escape when we are looking at more glamorous photographs. And he puts us right back into this reality, showing that it's not so ugly and scary, after all.

Sources:

Gerard, V & Lempereur, L 2008, William Eggleston: Spirit of Dunkerque, Gingko Press, Corte Madera, CA

Knape, G 1999, William Eggleston: The Hasselblad Award 1998, Hasselblad Center, Sweden

Book review: Moby's 'Destroyed'

People whose occupation allows to travel all over the world get almost infinite opportunities to take very diverse and striking images. With that thought in mind, I opened ‘Destroyed’ - the book which includes 55 photographs taken by Moby. As a touring musician he visited many countries and wanted to document at least some of his wanderings. In the foreword Moby mentions his long-standing interest in photography, and how life on the road enabled him to pursue this hobby.

“I wanted to put out a book of tour photos, because touring is strange. I hope that somehow in these pictures I am able to convey the mundanity of touring as juxtaposed with those moments of the disconcerting and/or sublime. one minute on tour you’re by yourself in a soul-less backstage area, the next minute you’re on stage in front of 75,000 people”.

The idea sounded good in theory, because as a music photographer myself I deal with very similar subject matter: airports, hotel rooms, music venues and city views. So I was interested to see how a musician would photograph such environment. Despite containing several visually strong images, in general this book failed to meet my expectations. All in all, a lot of images looked somewhat 'accidental' and lacked real artistic value. Of course it would be unfair to treat a musician like a photographer, however this photo book seems to be aimed mostly at Moby’s fanbase and not general public. 

Moby, 2011, Destroyed. Damiani, Bologna, Italy

'House for Tree's' - Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Under rapid urbanisation, Vietnam has moved away far from its origins of tropical forests. An excessive amount of cars and motor-bikes, causes serious exacerbated air pollution for Ho Chi Minh City. Globally urbanisation is having detrimental effects on the planet. As a result, people in urban areas are forgetting their connection with nature. This project by a Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects was said to bring green space back into the city, and to be an accommodating high-density dwelling with big tropical trees as a cultural link. Vo Trong Nghia Architects, are uniquely and beautifully designing and creating accommodation for people, whilst expending a minimal global footprint.  Five concrete boxes are designed as pots to plant trees on their tops. The pots are utilized as storm-water basins that hold the water within them and contribute to decrease the danger of flooding in the city.

 

House for Trees by Vo Trong Nghia Architects is a two-bedroom home for a family of three. Built on unoccupied land, in one of the many heavily populated areas of Ho Chi Minh City, which only has 0.25 percent of its region covered in foliage, according to the architects.

"The aim of this project is to bring green space back into the city, accommodating high-density dwelling with big tropical trees. Five concrete boxes are designed as 'pots' to plant trees on their tops," said the architects. Simplistic and clever architectural designs such as ‘House for Trees’, is the future of architecture, aiding to sustain our planet.

 

 

Links:

http://votrongnghia.com/projects/