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David Langman, Director of the New Zealand Centre for Photography, provides his thoughts on this disquieting exhibition of contemporary German 'photo-art'.

'The medium of photography is entitled to provoke ideas.'
Martin Kippenberger

For the last ten years, New Zealand has been increasingly reliant on one key cultural organisation to provide photographic exhibitions of high calibre. That organisation is the Goethe-Institut, based in Wellington. Its director, Dr Gerrit Bretzler, is a staunch advocate of German culture. How fortunate for us that (together with painting, theatre, music, opera, poetry, writing and performance) Germany counts photography as a major art form that requires and receives substantial support.

Curated by Wulf Herzogenrath, FotoKunst (PhotoArt) continues a tradition of sending important treatments of German contemporary photography to non-German-speaking audiences throughout the world, bringing together nine contemporary artists who each have been influential in shaping the field of artistic photography in Germany. The artists – Dieter Appelt, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Thomas Florschuetz, Jürgen Klauke, Astrid Klein, Sigmar Polke, Klaus Rinke and Katharina Sieverding – consider photography as their central medium and use it parallel to other art forms such as painting, graphic design and performance.

It is not a straightforward task to consider an exhibition based on its catalogue; however, as I write, FotoKunst has not yet reached New Zealand (the exhibition is currently in Singapore). From the catalogue, it is not difficult to see that each artist occupies a different place in German contemporary photography. As Herzogenrath says, The exhibition does not seek to give a comprehensive overview of contemporary photo art in Germany. Instead it gives insights into the photographic work of a number of artists who are helping to shape the field of artistic photography in Germany. So, rather than giving a broad impression, FotoKunst provides insight to a wide variety of approaches in German contemporary art.

From different generations, the artists take different starting points and standpoints, and use the tool of photography in quite different ways. Appelt's 'strictly conceptual' approach blends with intuition; the Blumes use wit and depth of meaning to parody typically German themes; Florschuetz isolates excerpt-like photos of faces and body parts, enlarging and re-presenting them; Klauke uses the camera as a means of documenting ideas and fantasies; in large-scale; Klein uses grainy reproductions from mass media to cause uncertainty in the viewer; Polke combines techniques developed from his involvement in painting and drawing, as well as film and photography; Rinke's works have a sculptural character; and Sieverding, often focusing on threat and desolation at the end of the twentieth century, uses scientific knowledge for artistic processes. Changing formats, experiments with chemical processes, combinations and serialisation of motifs, and references to amateur, journalistic and commercial photography are just some of the techniques the artists have used to create novel picture compositions.

The images in the catalogue both fascinate and, at times, repel. In 'real life', so to speak, the size of the works (the largest is two and a half metres tall) can only add to their impact.

Visitors will have easier entrée into this exhibition if they have had the opportunity to see past exhibitions, which went to selected venues only. Therefore, to round out visitors' experience of this exhibition I heartily recommend a visit to see another Goethe-Institut import,  Deutsche Vita – Photos by Stefan Moses, at Christchurch's SoFA Gallery.

Reading the catalogue notes, I see references to famous German photographers Albert Renger-Patzsch, Karl Blossfeldt and August Sander. These references may be lost on many visitors without a reasonably intimate knowledge of contemporary German art. One is also reminded of the legendary Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, the subject of yet another touring Goethe-Institut show of photograms and photo-reproductions in 1996. It is scarcely possible to make a good study of world photographic history without encountering him or his Bauhaus colleagues. However, such has been the pervasive influence of strong twentieth-century German photography, one strand of which we now know as New Objectivity, that suites of photos such as these seem almost commonplace.

We became further used to the austere vision of German photography via The World as One – Die Welt als Ganzes: Photography from Germany after 1989, which premiered at the Dowse Art Museum in 2001. These works seem much more personal and engaged; but while they are passionate, they are nonetheless also rigorous. Without being able to compare successive exhibitions it is difficult to assemble a coherent view of this complex contemporary practice. A more integrated strategy of sharing touring exhibitions would facilitate this growth in awareness of contemporary international art.

Can we speak of a German photography? Possibly. If so I would rate Thomas Florshuetz as archetypical. Each of these artists references German art in major ways, and the presence of works by Joseph Beuys, Sander, Gerhard Richter or the documentation of other performance artists or Bauhaus photographers in proximity to these recent works would greatly elucidate the considerable breadth that these artists encompass. Be that as it may, FotoKunst stands alone as a an important landmark in New Zealand's understanding of German photographic art; the Goethe-Institut is to be commended on its tireless efforts to promote German culture.

FotoKunst (PhotoArt) is in Touring Galleries A and C, ground floor, from 2 April to 27 June. The exhibition is developed and toured by the German Institute of Foreign Cultural Relations and presented in Christchurch in association with the Goethe-Institut, New Zealand.

Text courtesy B.136

David Langman

David Langman is the Director of the New Zealand Centre for Photography, Wellington.

Exhibition number 713