contemporary art | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts tagged ‘contemporary art’

Das Fremdlinge und Flüchtlinge Monument, Olu Oguibe, documenta, Königsplatz, obelisk, Florentiner Platz, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Kassel: monument to foreigners & refugees

Nigerian-American artist Olu Oguibe created the 16-metre high obelisk “Monument to Foreigners and Refugees” (Das Fremdlinge und Flüchtlinge Monument) for Kassel’s documenta 14 in 2017. On four sides is the inscription of a single sentence in Arabic, English, German, and Turkish, respectively:

.كنتُ غريبًا فآويتموني
I was a stranger and you took me in.
Ich war ein Fremdling und Ihr habt mich beherbergt.
Yabanciydim beni konuk ettiniz.

The line is directly from the Bible’s New Testament: the gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verse 35.

Initially placed at Königsplatz, the obelisk was dismantled after conservatives and the far-right complained about their comfort level with what little human capacity they had remaining. Fortunately, common sense prevailed: the city purchased the sculpture, and reinstallation took place in April 2019 at Treppenstrasse/Florentiner Platz (ArtNews | Frieze | HNA, Deutsch).

I made the photo above on 3 Oct 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and the following settings: 1/160-sec, f/16, ISO2000, 28mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-kGA.

Man Walking to the Sky, Jonathan Borofsky, documenta 9, Kassel Hauptbahnhof, documenta, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Kassel: up into the sky

At the plaza in front of Kassel’s Hauptbahnhof train station is “Man Walking to the Sky” by Jonathan Borofsky. Originally constructed for “documenta 9” in 1992 and installed in front of Museum Fridericianum at Friedrichsplatz, the sculpture was moved to the front of the Hauptbahnhof in 1995. The sculpture consists of a steel rod or pipe 25 metres in height and inclined at an angle of over 60 degrees; the lonely figure is a painted piece of fibreglass. While the figure walks precariously up the steep slope, the sculpture is undeniably one of hope, of an attempt to reach a goal much higher than is deemed humanly possible.

I made the photo above on 4 Oct 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and the following settings: 1/800-sec, f/8, ISO2000, and 24mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-kGm.

Joseph Beuys, 7000. Eichen, 7000 Oak Trees, documenta, Friedrichsplatz, Staatstheater, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Kassel: 7000 oak trees

Above/featured: next to the Staatstheater at Friedrichsplatz.

As an example of what he called “social sculpture”, German artist Joseph Beuys presented his “7000. Eichen” (7000 oak trees) project at the contemporary art exhibition “documenta 7” in Kassel in 1982. He declared “Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung,” which is a play on German words and translates to “urban forestation, instead of urban administration.” He wanted to plant throughout the city 7000 new oak trees, each accompanied by a small pillar of basalt rock. With the trees representing the world and stones symbolizing civilization, Beuys expressed the idea that society could only exist or thrive by living in harmony with the natural world. The project initially encountered skepticism and hostility among the city’s citizens. But all 7000 were eventually planted and installed, effectively turning the entire city into a work of sculptural art and charging the city’s populace with the collective responsibility as the art’s caretakers.

Various exhibitions throughout Germany are marking Beuys’ 100th birthday (12 May) throughout the 2021 year.

Beuys’ artistic and historical legacy: 26-minutes in English, DW Arts.21, 8 May 2021.

Joseph Beuys, 7000. Eichen, 7000 Oak Trees, documenta, Friedrichsplatz, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

(“Onkel Beuys befiehlt Ihnen!”) Information display at Friedrichsplatz with, perhaps, an homage to the American WW2 poster “Uncle Sam wants you!”

I made the two photos above on 1 and 3 Oct 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-kGi.

herakut, Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art, MUCA, Munich, Muenchen, Bayern, Bavaria, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Herakut: big wall art around Germany

Above/featured: “At times the only thing alive about me were those demons.” MUCA Munich – 31 May 2018 (X70).

One of my favourite artists is Herakut, a German duo whose street murals have appeared in Europe and around the world since 2004. Hera (Jasmin Siddiqui) and Akut (Falk Lehmann) use walls and big spaces for their big art with a signature look that includes expressive faces and big eyes, lots of photo-like details, and sharp typography. Their work explores issues such as physical and emotional isolation, maternal relationships, gender and racial equality, and all the things we think and feel lurking inside. But I think their compositions also include long notes and pauses which allow and incorporate vivid fantasy and playful whimsy.

I present below four examples: Wittenberg 2016, Heidelberg 2017, Berlin 2017, Munich 2018, and Berlin 2021.

( Click here for more )

My Salzburg: Walk of Modern Art (2018)

Thankfully, there’s more to Salzburg than “The Sound of Music”.^#

Salzburg is a well-known historical city in north-central Austria next to the border with Germany. For a different way of examining the city that goes beyond the history of the Habsburgs and the music of Mozart, the Walk of Modern Art allows visitors and residents to walk through parts of the city for a mix of historical and contemporary perspectives at street-level and from the cliffs above. The art pieces are placed throughout the city’s Old Town to coincide with key landmarks and sights. The city of Salzburg also provides information about the walk. UNESCO inscribed Salzburg’s Old Town as World Heritage Site in 1996.

( Click here for images and more )

My Prague: David Černý, skillful s**t disturber

Considered “enfant terrible” in the European and Czech art scene, David Černý frequently has courted both controversy and amusement from the beginning in 1991 with the Pink (Soviet) Tank. Is he infuriating and crude or enlightened and hilarious? Is he misunderstood social commentator or attention-seeking hooligan? He continues to make art at home in Prague, and provoke strong reactions.

Černý’s creations can be found throughout the Czech capital city. You can decide for yourself if his artwork is inspiring or dull.

( Click here for images and more )

Sonic Bloom, Dan Corson, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Center, Space Needle, Seattle, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

Seattle: “Sonic Bloom”, by Dan Corson

A set of very tall “flowers” greets visitors to the Seattle Center. The sculpture by Dan Corson is called “Sonic Bloom” for the Pacific Science Center. Five flowers constructed with steel, acrylic, and fibreglass stand up to 13 metres (40 feet) above the ground. The stripes along the stalks are large mysterious barcodes left as puzzles for people to decode. Night-time illumination by the sculpture is powered completely from solar energy stored on panels “capping” the flowers and panels at the neighboring Science Center. The sculpture is a playful mix of both sight and sound as detection sensors emit choral tones in the presence of movement.

“Sonic Bloom” (Dan Corson) with the Pacific Science Center behind.

Together with the Space Needle, all lit up!

I acknowledge my time on the traditional and ancestral land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish (Dxʷdəwʔabš) People past and present, and honour with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe. I made the media above by day on 10 October 2016 and at night on 14 April 2017, all entirely with a Canon EOS6D mark1. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9zW.