GalerieEstherWoerdehoff Press Release Michael von Graffenried

Press Release
Exhibition:
11.05 – 12.20.2014
Opening Reception:
Wednesday, November 5th 2014, from 6 to 9 pm, the artist will be present.
Michael von Graffenried
Bierfest
For this year’s edition ot the Mois de la Photo-OFF, the Galerie Esther Woerdehoff is
pleased to present Michael von Graffenried’s new series Bierfest.
“What does privacy look like nowadays? Do we find it in the private space, in the closed
sphere? Or rather on the internet, especially on the social networks, those mixed areas
in between public and private spaces where the invitation is too irresistible to the users
to make public, in a continuous flow, their most intimate feelings, the small events of
their life, such as visits in museum, meetings, sexual experiences, and any other little
facts or states of mind. As soon as we ask this question, the ground seems to shift under
our feet. “Where and what is privacy today ?”; this has become a major philosophical
and artistic question of our time.
And what if that same privacy let itself shown in bright daylight, during events with
a long history and tradition, whose apparent repetition was in fact hiding the true
revolution of a contemporary privacy that finds its own conscience and well-being only
when exposed?
With Bierfest, his latest important series, Michael von Graffenried, Swiss photographer
based in Paris for the past 25 years and winner of the 2010 Erich Solomon-Preis,
the most important German award for photography, decided to address this particular
subject. This complete series can soon be discovered in an upcoming book, published
by Steidl and also in an exhibition during the Mois-Off de la Photographie, in Paris.
The artist book soon to be released by Steidl is not just showing the Oktoberfest in
Munich, this beer festival and gatherings under gigantic tents created in 1810 by the
Bavarian monarchy to mobilize the population against Napoleon’s France, held for two
weeks every year, before the first Sunday in October and considered today as the largest
alcohol consuming celebration in the world. In nowadays Germany to state that the
artist worked on the famous Oktoberfest in Munich would be too controversial and lead
to polemics.
Michael von Graffenried went there in 2010 and 2011 as a casual visitor although he
had the support of an artist residency program by the city of Munich. While working with
a middle format panoramic camera and films, same as in his previous impressive series
on the civil war in Algeria - “the only way to take a sincere photograph” according to
him, Michael was the opposite of an invisible photographer keeping his distance behind
a telephoto lens. The panoramic camera requires - and allows -, to get as close as
possible to the people photographed. Michael von Graffenried takes his photographs at
about one meter from his subjects without looking trough the viewfinder and composes
his image thanks to his sole experience; the camera resting on his chest “becomes
one with the photographer’s body”, according to Hans Ulrich Obrist. If you are only
one meter away from a person, a couple or a group to take a photograph, you have
already entered his or her personal space. This constitutes the first important dimension
of Michael von Graffenried’s new work. He is the first to show us the Oktoberfest in
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
For any inquiries, please contact Sabine Guédamour by email at
[email protected] or by phone at +33 9 51 51 24 50
1
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Munich, this international celebration of intimacy without censorship but with equal
consideration for everyone.
On a second level, Michael von Graffenried offers us a unique and stunning insight on
a freed privacy which now exist among individuals and groups, like the ones we can
meet at this beer festival in Munich, now an international meeting for “recomposed
privacies” (like recomposed families). Through fifty images, the photographer gives us
an unforgettable reflection on this meeting place, apparently opened and visible but
in fact segmented and subject to certain codes in order to get in. This only reminds us
of the international gay prides photographs also by Michael von Graffenried, which will
remain anthology images of our time.
Finally, when we look at this series of photos, we can see through the eyes of many
individuals seeking privacy in the crowd, or who tried to find it, or experienced a great
disappointment, a terrible evening. Every time, we get a little closer to their privacy
without the photographer taking advantage of it. Often, this privacy is experienced only
when exposed. Michael von Graffenried’s new series, Bierfest, can make you happy
and sad at the same time. If humanity can sink so low, it can also elevate itself like,
for instance, through the pictorial achievement in this series which celebrates all its
“characters”.
Text by Robert Fleck, Art critic, Art and Public Space Professor, vice-director of the
Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf.
(translated from French)
Exhibition catalogue to be published by Steidl :
Bierfest
112 pages, 29,5 x 24 cm
ISBN : 978-3-86930-680-3
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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Press Images
Michael von Graffenried, Bierfest, 2011
Lambda print, 124,5 x 284,5 cm, Edition of 3
Michael von Graffenried, Bierfest, 2010-2011
Lambda print, 124,5 x 284,5 cm, Edition of 3
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
The use of images is exclusively reserved for promotion of the exhibition and
valid up to three months after the end date of the exhibition.
Obligatory mention: © Michael von Graffenried, Courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
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Biography
Artist
Michael von Graffenried
Born in Bern, Switzerland in 1957, Michael von Graffenried lives and works between
Paris, New York City and Switzerland. Self-taught, he takes his first photographs in
the 1970’s and starts to travel the world and to work as photojournalist for numerous
publications. In 1991, he goes to Algeria to follow the free elections; this is the beginning
of a long series of trips in this country - from the civil war in the 90’s to 2000. This
photographic work, created with a panoramic camera (a very specific format and technic
which has become his signature) was followed in 2000 by a documentary film War
without Images - Algeria, I know that you know, co-directed with Mohammed Soudani
which was first screened at the Locarno film festival in 2002. Internationally published
and exhibited, his photographs can be found in the most important art collections. He
has published many books including Sudan, a forgotten war (Benteli 1995), Naked
in Paradise (Dewi Lewis 1996), Inside Algeria (Aperture 1998), Cocainelove (Benteli
2005), Eye on Africa (2009) and Bierfest (2014, Steidl). Michael von Graffenried
was given the title of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres of the French Légion d’Honneur in
2006, and in 2010, he is the third Swiss photographer to obtain the Dr. Erich Salomon
Prize of the German Society of Photography, after René Burri and Robert Frank. That
same year, the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris organized for him a
retrospective exhibition. While always trying to take a sharp and unique look at the
world, he has recently shifted to a more conceptual approach to photography and is now
involved in several artistic and media projects.
Solo exhibitions
2012
On the Edge, Varanasi, India
Shoreditch Stories, London
Inside Cairo, Parker’s Box, New York
35 mm Film, Leica Gallery, New York
2010
Eye on Africa, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Outing, Retrospective, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
2009
Eye on Africa, Paul Klee Zentrum, Bern, Switzerland
2008
photographies d’une guerre sans images, Hangar - UMAM, Beirut, Lebanon
2007
Our Town, Musée du Kornhausforum Bern, Switzerland
Panoramas 1997-2007, Galerie Bernhard Bischoff & Partners, Bern, Switzerland
Inside Cairo, Sur le toit d’un immeuble du Downtown au Caire, photography
installation, Egypt
2006
Graffenried à la page, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Mois de la Photo à Paris
New Bern, Bank of the Arts, North Carolina, United States
2005
Rosanna, Astrid, Peter und die andern, Landesmuseum Zürich, Switzerland
Rosanna, Astrid, Pierre et les autres, Musée national Château de Prangins,
Switzerland
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
2004
Rosanna, Astrid, Pierre et les autres, Kornhausforum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
2003
Michael von Graffenried - Panorama du monde, Library of the city of Bordeaux,
France
Kunstmuseum Bern (Museum of Fine Arts), Bern, Switzerland
2002
Helveticum 02, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Algérie, photographies d’une guerre sans images, Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich
photographies panoramiques, Galerie O, Schaffhouse, Switzerland
2000
Algérie, photographies d’une guerre sans images, National Library El Hamma, Algiers
Du Jura au vaste monde parcours d’un photographe, Ferme-Asile, Sion, Switzerland
Paris une comédie humaine, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Panorama del mundo, Autumno fotografico (Biennial), Sala Diego Chiesa, Chiasso,
Switzerland
1999
Weltpanorama, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
Weltpanorama, Galerie Arlecchino, Lucerne, Switzerland
Jura, visages d’une jeune république hors image, St Ursanne cloister, Switzerland
Algérie, photographies d’une guerre sans images, Usine à chaux, St Ursanne,
Switzerland
1998
Soudan, L’abbaye de l’Epau, Le Mans, France
Algérie, Centre National et Musée Jean Jaurés, Castres, France
Algérie, photographies d’une guerre sans images, Mois de la Photo, Pavillon
Delouvrier, Parc de la Villette, Paris
1997
Naked in Paradise, Witkin Gallery, New York
Soudan, Fnac, Troyes, France
Galerie Scalo, Zurich, Switzerland
Soudan, Fnac Avignon, France
Galerie Kabinett, Bern, Switzerland
Museum Zündorfer Wehrturm, Cologne, Germany
Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris
Museu Nogueira da Silva, Braga, Portugal (encontros da imagem, mai de la Photo)
Nu au Paradis, Montpellier Photovision, Montpellier, France
Soudan, Fnac, Saint-Étienne, France
Nu au Paradis, Galerie Focale, Nyon, Switzerland
1996
Soudan, Fnac Lyon-Part-Dieu, France
Soudan, Fnac Versailles Parly II, France
Soudan, Fnac Rennes, France
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
1995
Algerien zwischen Demokratie und Gottesstaat, Völkerkunde-Sammlung, Lübeck,
Germany
Un photographe au coeur de l’Algérie d’aujourd’hui, Arche de la Défense, Paris
Soudan, Gruner & Jahr, Hamburg, Germany
Soudan, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Soudan, Kornschütte, Lucerne, Switzerland
Algérie. Le rêve brisé de la démocratie, Archives départementales, Montpellier, France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
Soudan, Fnac Cnit La Défense, Paris
Algérie. Le rêve brisé de la démocratie, Maison de la Culture, Amiens, France
Algérie. Le rêve brisé de la démocratie, Centre des glacis, Belfort, France
Algérie, Sénat, Paris
1994
Hong-Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
1993
Saint-Gervais Photographie, Geneva, Switzerland
1991
Centre Saint-Gervais, Geneva, Switzerland
Swiss Institute, New York
Zappeion, Athens
Visa pour l’image, Perpignan, France
Palais de la Culture, Algiers
Witkin Gallery, New York
1990
Centre Culturel Suisse (Portes Suisse) dans le cadre du Mois de la Photo, Paris
1989
Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
1988
Cenre Culturel Suisse, Paris
1987
Photoforum Pasquart, Bienne, Switzerland & Galerie Schauspielhaus, Nuremberg,
Germany
1985
Galerie Nikon, Zurich, Switzerland
Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne, Switzerland
1984
Galerie de la Treille, Sion, Switzerland
Group exhibitions
2014
Drive In (en collaboration avec la Galerie Esther Woerdehoff), Galerija Fotografija,
Ljubljana, Slovenia
2006
En français sous l’image, Espace Electra, Paris
2002
Big is beautiful, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
2000
La grande illusion, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
1999
Afriques, Musée de la photographie, Charleroi, Belgium
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
1998
Le sport, Galerie du Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Summer group show, Witkin Gallery, New York
1997
Weltenblicke - Reportagefotografie und ihre Medien, Fotomuseum Winterthur,
Switzerland
1996
Ein Fenster zur Schweiz, Kiev, Ukraine
1995
Magic moments Leica, travelling exhibition, Germany, France, USA
1993
Havana (Cuba), Miami, Atlanta (USA)
A la recherche du père, Espace Photographique de Paris, Paris
La Slovénie au quotidien, Bank of Slovénia, Ljubljana, Slovénia
La Syrie au quotidien, Institut du monde arabe, Paris
1989
World Press Photo 1989 - travelling exhibition
1988
Photos d’artistes soviétiques en Perestroïka, Museum of Fine Arts, Bern, Switzerland
1986
Photokina, Cologne, Germany
1984
Berner Photogalerie, with René Burri
Portraits d’artistes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Berner Galerie, Bern, Switzerland
Palais des arts, Paris
Awards and grants
2010
Dr. Erich Salomon Prize of the German Society of Photography
2006
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Ministère de la Culture, France
1989
Prix World Press Photo
1987 et 1985
Federal grant for applied arts, Kornhaus, Bern
Collections
Fotostiftung Schweiz (Swiss Foundation for Photography), Winterthur, Switzerland
Kunstmuseum Bern (Museum of Fine Arts), Bern
Collection Charles-Henri Favrod, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
Fondation World Press Photo Holland, Amsterdam
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
Films and books
2014
Bierfest, Steidl
2012
35mm - El Gran Teatro del Mondo, Benteli Verlag, Bern (EN, DE)
2010
Michael von Graffenried, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Maison Européenne de la Photographie
(EN, FR, DE)
2009
Eye on Africa, Schwabe Verlag (EN, FR, DE, IT)
2005
Cocainelove, Benteli Publishers (EN, FR, DE, IT)
Risk, Contact Netz Nerg
2003
Journal d’Algérie, 1991-2001, éditions Autrement, Paris
Im Herzen Algeriens, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Benteli Verlag, Bern
2002
Swisspanorama, mvgphoto.com, Paris
Im Herzen Algeriens, Museum für Gestaltung Zurich and Benteli Verlag
2001
War without Images, feature movie, 35mm, 90‘
1998
Freie Sicht aufs Bundeshaus, Benteli Verlag, Bern, Der Festakt, 150 Jahre CH
Inside Algeria, Aperture, New York (EN)
Algérie, photographies d’une guerre sans images, éditions Hazan, Paris (FR)
Algerien, der unheimliche Krieg, Benteli Verlag (DE)
Weltpanorama, Weltwoche-ABC Verlag, Zurich (DE)
1997
Nu au Paradis, éditions Falguière - Inter art Paris (FR)
Nackt im Paradies, Benteli Verlag, Bern (DE)
Naked in Paradise, Dewi Lewis Publishing, Stockport, England (EN)
1995
Soudan, Benteli Verlag, Bern and éditions Falguière - Inter art Paris
1993
Algérie. Le rêve brisé de la démocratie / Algerien, der Traum von der Demokratie,
Benteli Publishers, Bern
1991
Swiss People, Photo Poche, Jean Genoud, Lausanne
1989
Mich trifft keine Schuld, Ringier Verlag Bern and Tribune éditions, Geneva
1987
Liebe zu Kaufen, Stemmle, Schaffhouse
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
1986
Der Blaue Berg, Literatur in der Schweiz, Der Blaue Berg Verlag, Bern
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
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