175th Anniversary of Photography
Masterpieces of Photographic Art – The Vollmer Collection
Photographs from 1839 - 2014
Masterpieces of Photographic Art – The Vollmer Collection
Photographs from 1839 - 2014
Opening on Thursday, 16th October 2014 at 7pm
With an introduction by Christine Frisinghelli / Publicist and curator
With an introduction by Christine Frisinghelli / Publicist and curator
Exhibition from 17th October to 29th November 2014
The oca gallery berlin is delighted to mark the 175th anniversary of photography with the Masterpieces of Photographic Art – the Vollmer Collection and in doing so bring the history of the medium from 1839 to 2014 to life.
More than 30 exceptional works by well-known artists and photographers who have left their mark on photographic history will be displayed. The exhibition’s historical time span starts with the invention of photography, passes through the avant-garde era and ends with the new attitudes coming out of Düsseldorf. Wolfgang Vollmer’s collection of world-famous, seminal works is a highlight of the photographic year and offers special insight into the history of photography, the most important visual medium today.
The special concept underlying this particular selection of museum pieces is their discursive attitude towards the art market as well as artist and media hype, and their questioning of the notions of original und connoisseurship. The collection investigates the medium of photography, its popularity and iconic, visual strength. Vollmer’s interest is in the reception and perception of photography: the exhibition is far more a type of comprehensive, incisive essay than an encyclopedia.
The collection/exhibition pursues the idea of “using art to appropriate art” (Stefan Römer in: Fake, DuMont Buchverlag, 2001). “There’s a tried and tested method for discovering how something works: you take it apart. If you try and understand a portrait of three men against a wide landscape, you take three men and a wide landscape and you position them just as they are positioned in the original. You realise that some elements create an effect, others not. At the end, you know that every detail in this photograph has an effect, as you were able to control every detail. You experienced the scene (re-enactment), appropriated it (appropriation) and mimicked it (mimicry). There is a tried and tested method for discovering how something works: you put it back together again.” (Wolfgang Vollmer in the exhibition catalogue: (Mis)Understanding Photography, Museum Folkwang, Essen, 2014).
What started 30 years ago as the Tillmann and Vollmer Collection has now developed into the Vollmer Collection. Many new contemporary artworks complement the current collection. Photographs, working concepts and installations will be shown.
A book presenting all the works in detail accompanies the exhibition. The much sought after but long out of print collection catalogue has been revised and will enjoy a limited reprint. Each copy comes with an original photograph from the collection.
Works from the collection can currently be seen in the (Mis)Understanding Photography exhibition at the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
To the subject of the exhibition introduces on the occasion of the vernissage Christine Frisinghelli, 1980-2010 director of the association Camera Austria and editor-in-chief of the correspondent international photography magazine. 1995-1999 head of programming, later artistic director of the contemporary art festival steirischer herbst. 2001-2003 Christine Frisinghelli developed in collaboration with Franz Schultheis the exhibition project Pierre Bourdieu. In Algeria. Testimonies of Uprooting, which gained international recognition. Together with Manfred Willmann she is since 1977 curator of international exhibitions of contemporary photography and organizes since 1979 the annual symposium About Photography. Besides her teaching, amongst others at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Christine Frisinghelli works as publicist.
