Three parallel exhibitions will be on view at the Photographischen Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur.

‍

The photographs by Simone Nieweg and August Kotzsch show landscaped areas and the designs and gems of nature discovered therein—an exciting encounter between contemporary and historical photography. Sora Park, winner of the August Sander Prize 2022, will present contemporary portraits and still lifes.‍

‍

‍

Simone Nieweg - Plants, sheds, arable land. working in nature

September 8, 2023 - January 21, 2024

For Simone Nieweg (*1962), a master student of Bernd Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the view of nature and the areas made usable by man was already the starting point of her artistic work in the 1980s. Even then, pressing questions about how to deal with our natural resources were in the background. With her colour photographs, which she takes in the Rhineland, in several regions of Germany and in France with the large-format camera, she draws attention to the often overlooked peripheral areas of our towns and industrial areas and shows what aesthetics emerge when these still unplanned places are used in a limited way, usually on one's own initiative, for gardening or agriculture.

‍

The artist captures what gives structure and continuity to the land: alternative allotments, grazing land, pieces of meadow, fields turning into wild growth, vegetable beds, ploughed fields in winter or blossoming fruit trees as harbingers of spring. Buildings erected with simple means, be they sheds or compost racks, can also be discovered as typical elements of her landscapes.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication of the same name published by Schirmer/Mosel Verlag.

‍

August Kotzsch - Natur, Landschaft, Genre

September 8, 2023 - January 21, 2024

August Kotzsch (1836-1910) is one of the early masters of German photography and offers a historical counterpart to Simone Nieweg. He takes us on a stroll through the nature of his home region of Loschwitz near Dresden. Landscape details, garden corners, still lifes, the fruits of his own harvest, but also houses and farms became his motifs. With great attention to detail, they paint a realistic and romantic picture of his surroundings.

‍

Kotzsch, a self-taught photographer and son of a winegrower, used a complicated process to produce his photographs. He produced his negatives using the collodion wet-plate process and his prints on albumen paper. In this respect, his views are characterised by delightfully iridescent sepia tones.

The loans come from the estate of August Kotzsch in collaboration with KICKEN BERLIN, as well as exhibits from the museum's own collection.

‍

Sora Park - Bei mir, bei Dir

8 September - 5 November 2023

Sora Park (*1991 Gimpo, South Korea) received the third August Sander Prize in 2022 for the series Bei mir, bei Dir. In addition to a representative selection from the award-winning series, the exhibition also features photographic still lifes: Profane objects and materials that the artist knows how to bring forth as imaginative objects.

‍

Bei mir, bei Dir shows young women and men from the student and private environment of Sora Park, who have been studying at the Folkwang University in Essen since 2017. The works are predominantly individual portraits, taken either in her own flat or in that of the sitter. With her analogue large-format camera, she always takes only one exposure, which further intensifies the intensity of the balanced compositions. In the series, Sora Park portrays a young generation of the artistic-creative milieu as if it were a decisive phase of life in finding its identity.

In November, there will be a change of exhibition. The presentation of Sora Park will be followed by the show "Das Becherhaus in Mudersbach", photographs by Laurenz Berges.

‍

DIE PHOTOGRAPHISCHE SAMMLUNG/SK STIFTUNG KULTUR

Im Mediapark 7
50670 Köln, Germany

https://photographie-sk-kultur.de/english