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Jeff Wall: Exposure
November 3, 2007 until January 20, 2008
From November 3, 2007, through January 20, 2008, the Deutsche Guggenheim presents the exhibition Jeff Wall: Exposure. The show was specially conceived by Jeff Wall for the Deutsche Guggenheim and will display, for the first time, four new, large-scale, black-and-white photographs by the Canadian artist. This new body of work is shown in conjunction with five earlier pieces – gelatin-silver prints and large transparencies mounted in lightboxes – creating an ensemble that resonates both formally and thematically.
Wall has summarized the formative influences on his work as the history of painting and cinema, and the theoretical arguments that developed around these discourses in the wake of 1968. He first became known for pioneering the artistic presentation of large, color, photographic transparencies in lightboxes, which combined the scale of painting with the luminosity of the cinema screen. Wall’s engagement with the history of the photographic medium informed his subsequent characterization of his oeuvre according to two modes of production: documentary photographs that record found locations and subjects, and cinematographic photographs that are staged for the camera. In the mid-1990s, he began to create monumentally-scaled, black-and-white prints.
Of the four new photographs in Jeff Wall: Exposure, three take a cinematographic approach. Each composition realistically depicts people in familiar circumstances: a group of unemployed workers hoping to be selected for temporary jobs; a woman returning to her dreary apartment building, presumably after a hard day trying to make a living; and a group of boys playing a game with toy guns in an empty lot. The fourth work in this group of new photographs is a documentary image that does not include figures. This magnificent picture depicts a frigid cold storage facility, a desolate environment that quite literally threatens exposure for those who work there.
In this exhibition, Wall engages the twinned histories of documentary photography and neorealist film. Like the auteurs of these traditions, he takes an unvarnished look at the lives of the underprivileged, made all the more stark through the monochromatic gelatin-silver medium. He shoots his photographs on location, and he uses non-actors to achieve a sort of honesty devoid of dramatic affectation.
Photography is a uniquely realistic medium. In the fluidity with which he moves from color to black and white, from the documentary to the cinematographic mode, and from fantastic and imaginary subjects to realistic ones, Wall raises questions about the nature of photographic realism.
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Jeff Wall: Exposure was organized by Jennifer Blessing, Curator of Photography at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. A catalogue in German and English will appear on the occasion of the show with text contributions by Jennifer Blessing and Katrin Blum at a price of 22 euros. As Edition No. 41 of the Deutsche Guggenheim, Searcher (2007), was created in an edition of 50 copies + 15 A. P. (26,6 x 35,5 cm). This signed inkjet print on paper is available exclusively at the Deutsche Guggenheim SHOP of the Deutsche Guggenheim for 2,200 euros.
The exhibition is accompanied by lectures and a film series, as well as numerous events for children and young people. The special programming starts on November 3, at 11:30 AM, with an Artist’s Talk. Jeff Wall will discuss about his work and the new pieces made for Berlin. Jennifer Blessing will introduce the lecture. Within the frame of the Deutsche Guggenheim’s 10th anniversary all other commissioned works of the past years will be commemorated in a theme-oriented film series on November 6 at 4 PM. Prof. Dr. Gregor Stemmrich will give a lecture on January 17, 2008, at 7 PM titled Cinematographic and Photographic Moments in Jeff Wall’s Work dealing with the artist’s relationship to film. During the course of the exhibition, the film portrait, Kontaktabzüge: Jeff Wall, by Jean-Pierre Krief (2002) will be shown in the MusuemsShop of the Deutsche Guggenheim. In addition, a film program personally selected by Jeff Wall will be presented by the Deutsche Guggenheim in cooperation with Kino Arsenal. From December 9, 2007, through January 19, 2008, films by John Huston, Jean-Marie Straub, Jean Eustache, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder will be screened at Potsdamer Platz.
From November 3 on, the Deutsche Guggenheim will have new opening hours and be open to the public daily from 10 AM to 8 PM and on Thursdays until 10 PM. Another alteration on the occasion of the 10th anniversary applies to our educational program. Starting on November 5, Mondays (days on which admission to the Deutsche Guggenheim has always been free) will be have as their motto I like Mondays. Special guided tours will be offered, and students of art history will give visitors an understanding of the exhibitions in spontaneous conversations. These innovative short tours according to the motto “I like ...” will take place from 11 AM to 2 PM and from 4 PM to 7 PM.
On all other days, the free Daily Lectures will be offered at 6 PM. The program is rounded of by the well-known Lunch Lectures on Wednesdays at 1 PM and the Brunch Lectures on Sundays at 11:30 AM.
>> Download this Pressrelease (PDF)
Images of the exhibition
are available online at www.photo-files.de/guggenheim in a 300 dpi quality.
Further information at
Deutsche Guggenheim
Contact: Sara Bernshausen
Phone: +49-30-202093-14
Fax: +49-30-202093-20
email: berlin.guggenheim@db.com
Internet: www.deutsche-guggenheim.de
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