Darkened Cities - Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

Press release
Exhibition :
11.08. – 12.22.2012
Opening reception :
thursday november 8th, 2012, from 6 to 9 pm. The artist will be present.
Thierry Cohen - Darkened Cities
“In Thierry Cohen’s Darkened Cities, we see bright night skies over cities. Actually, what
we’re seeing is the opposite. These are the skies that we don’t see.
Before these pictures can exist, the sky from one place has to be superimposed upon
cityscape from another. It is impossible to see this detail in the night sky above a city.
Atmospheric and light pollution combine to make looking into the urban sky like looking
past bright headlights while driving.
By travelling to places free from light pollution but situated on precisely the same
latitude as his cities, Cohen obtains skies which, as the world rotates about its axis, are
the very ones visible above the cities a few hours earlier or later.
To find the right level of atmospheric clarity, Cohen has to go into the wild places of the
earth, the Atacama, the Mojave, the western Sahara.
As more and more of the world’s population becomes urban, and as we lose our
connection with the natural world, so it becomes plain that damage is caused by light
pollution. There may be connections to certain cancers, and there are psychological
burdens of permanent day. The ‘city that never sleeps’ is made up of millions of
individuals breaking natural cycles of work and repose. Lose sight of the sky, and you
become a rat in a lab.
Cohen hasn’t simply shown us the skies that we’re missing. His cities look dead under
the fireworks display above No lights in the windows, no tracers of traffic. They are (in
fact) photographed in daylight, when lights shine out less brightly. In urban mythology
the city teems with energy and illumines everything around it. Cohen’s pictures are
crafted to say the opposite. These are cold cities, cut off from the seemingly infinite
energies above.”
Text by Francis Hodgson
Darkened Cities is part of the official selection for the “Mois de la Photo 2012”,
organized by the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Ville de Paris (MEP).
Thierry Cohen’s work will also be exhibited on the gallery’s booth at Paris Photo at the
Grand Palais, from november 15th - 18th, 2012.
Publication :
Villes éteintes. Photographies de Thierry Cohen, textes de Maylis de Kerangal et JeanPierre Luminet. Editions Marval. 35 euros.
A signature will be organized at the gallery (date to be announced on our website).
Contact for the press :
Sabine Guédamour
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
1
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
Press images
Thierry Cohen, São Paulo 23° 32’ 09’’ S 2011-06-07 lst 11:52
Thierry Cohen, Tokyo 35° 41’ 36’’ N 2011-11-16 lst 23:16
Digital prints with pigment inks, framed with Diasec
66 x 100 cm, edition of 5 or 100,5 x 151 cm, edition of 3
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
The use of images is exclusively reserved for promotion of the exhibition.
The use is limited to two images by publication and valid up to three months after
the end date of the exhibition.
Obligatory mention: © Thierry Cohen, courtesy Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
2
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
Biography
Artist
Thierry Cohen
Born in 1963
Lives and works in Paris.
Thierry Cohen has been a photograph since 1985. Self taught, he was first the
assistant to David Seidner then to Bettina Rheims. In 1987, he was one of the first
photographs to be interested in digital technologies in photography. As a portraitist, he
worked for the main labels in the music industry and for the press and photographed
numerous celebrities.
Since 2006, he works on his personal projects.
Solo shows
2012
Darkened Cities, official selection for the Mois de la Photo, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff,
Paris
Darkened Cities, Paris Photo, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
2009
Bugs, Promenades Photographiques de Vendôme, Parc du Château, France
2008
Binary Kids, sélection officielle du Mois de la Photo, Espace Univer, Paris
Group shows
(selection)
1993
Photos Folies, Galerie Contre Jour, Paris
1992
Tous parents, tous différents, Musée de l’Homme, Paris
Festival Création et Infographie, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris
Photos Folies, Paris
International Salon für Objekt Design & Fotografie, Francfurt, Germany
Images numériques, laboratoire Picto, Paris
The Color of Fashion, The Courtyard Gallery, New York, USA
L’Epreuve numérique, Centre National de la Photographie, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
1989
Parigraph’89, Paris
1988
Mac 2000, Grand Palais, Paris
Bibliography
(selection)
Financial Times Magazine : «New life for the light fantastic» par Francis Hodgson,
2012
Du Magazine : «Starlights in The Cities», 2011
Wazz’Art, reportage TV 2’30 Caroll Betty, Antartica Production, 2010
Sciences et Avenir, portfolio «Bugs», 2009
Le Figaro Magazine, 2009
Photo, 2009
Lacritique.org, par Christian Gattinoni, 2008
Images Magazine, Portfolio «Binary Kids» par Hervé Le Goff, n° 31, 2008
Catalogue du Mois de la Photo à Paris, préface de Laura Serani, éditions Actes Sud et
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 2008
Commercial projects
Thermes de Vals, Universal Music, Le Monde 2, AOL Time Warner, Warner Classics,
Teldec, Errato Disques, EMI, Textuel, Lagardère Active etc.
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff
36 rue Falguière
75015 Paris - France
Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50
mar. - sam. 14h - 18h
www.ewgalerie.com
[email protected]
3
GalerieEstherWoerdehoff