8 Projects: From Landscape to Interior

The exhibition "8 Projects – From Landscape to Interior" is the result of a collaboration between the DFI e. V. and Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, as well as a long-standing exchange with Brussels-based curator and editor Jean-Paul Deridder, who founded Imagebeeld Edition in 2022.

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Since then, he has continuously published portfolios of renowned international artists under this label, who pursue an objective photographic approach as well as a preference for documentary photography. This is expressed, on the one hand, through an intensive examination of often unnoticed yet significant themes, as well as through the analogue processing of the images, which are predominantly created with large-format cameras (8x10 inch). Furthermore, the photographers find common ground in a conceptual, analytical approach to the medium and their motifs. Finally, a network has developed from the activities of the individuals, through which encounters and projects continually grow.

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Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur joins in, feeling very connected to the Imagebeeld Edition program and previously included some of the currently participating artists in its exhibition program. These include Laurenz Berges, Alessandra Dragoni, Marcello Galvani, Guido Guidi, Francesco Neri and Jem Southam.

The current exhibition thus brings to the fore an international commitment to a specific direction in photography, which has grown through the self-conception of the artists and curators and is being presented in this form for the first time.

Several artists will arrive to the exhibition opening and present their works in person. Curator Jean-Paul Deridder and Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, Director of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, will also be present and will lead the accompanying program.

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The exhibition presents eight portfolios, created by Jean-Paul Deridder in close collaboration with the participating artists. The overall goal is to present the series to a photography and art-loving audience to promote discourse about the medium and its recognition. Each portfolio is hand-bound and individually designed, often accompanied by a book publication. Furthermore, they can be viewed as artistic units and exhibition sets. Thematically, all the projects presented revolve around photographic explorations of a particular area.

The monographic portfolios presented are by:

1. Laurenz Berges (Düsseldorf), presenting seven motifs from his series “Am Mühlenkamp”
2. Peter Downsbrough (Brussels) is included with the second edition of his first book of photographs Two Pipes, Fourteen Locations and three images from “Longvilliers”
3. Gerry Johansson (Strandbaden, Sweden) and his series “Coast to Coast”
4. Francesco Neri (Faenza, Italy) and his series “Wooden Tool Shed”
5. Mark Ruwedel (Long Beach, USA) with the series “Burnt”
6. Jem Southam (Exeter, UK) with the series “The Pond at Upton Pyne”
7. John Spinks (London) with two series from his book “Harrowdown Hill”
8. In addition, a mixed cassette titled “Otto volte” due" is presented, featuring works by Italian photographers Nicola Baldazzi, Alessandra Dragoni, Cesare Fabbri, Marcello Galvani, Francesca Gardini, Guido Guidi, Franceso Neri, and Luca Nostri.

The numerous and diverse nature of the photographers means that their perspectives on the landscapes and motifs they have selected and examined closely are equally diverse. Characteristic is their restrained and precise notation of the observed and their preference for seemingly mundane and time-bound discoveries, which they ennoble in the image.

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