George Eastman House Blog

If this is Thursday, it must be Warsaw

Posted by Alison Nordström, Curator of Photographs on Jun 11 2008 | Photography

Alison Nordstrom May is a difficult time to leave Rochester, but I seem to be getting my lilacs elsewhere this spring. When the academic year ends for the Photo Department at the end of April, I have the chance to get out a bit and see what?s going on in the rest of the world. This year, three of the next generation?s leaders in photography combined efforts (and budgets) to get me all over Europe in a whirlwind ten day trip. My thanks to Bernd Fechner of Fotobild Berlin, Frits Gierstberg of the Netherlands Foto Museum (Rotterdam) and Krzytof Cantrowicz of Fotofestiwal Lodz for making the trip possible and for giving me so much to see and do.

I flew from Rochester to Berlin on May 7 to begin three days of portfolio review at Tempelhof Airport. The building, built in 1923 is a somewhat daunting example of fascist architecture and it?s still a working airport, though plans are to close it shortly, and Fotobild?s presence this year marked its next life as a cultural center. The reviews went well:

Lodz portfolio review

Berlin has become an international magnet for young artists and the city is full of talented and sophisticated photographers. At the Fotobild welcome dinner, held in Bernd?s typically spacious East Berlin flat, Renate Gruber, widow of seminal photographic figure Fritz Gruber, spoke fondly of Eastman House and of her long friendship with Eastman House Director Tony Bannon. While in Berlin, I was able to see most of the Contemporary Biennale and a huge Wolfgang Tillmans show at Museum Hamburger Bahnhof, a converted railway station. Like many contemporary photographic artists, Tillmans is much more about installation than about singular images and it helped me a lot to see this work as the artist had intended. I also managed a studio visit to Australian Nathalie Latham, currently in residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, a former hospital now home to international artists and their studios. Nathalie?s video piece ?Eating up Beijing? was an important part of the photograph exhibition Vital Signs: Place at Eastman House in 2007. Her new work continues to explore our role as stewards of the environment and world cultural heritage.

I left Berlin quite late on the 12th, not looking forward to wrestling my already book-laden luggage on the late night train from Schipol to Rotterdam, but Frits picked me up?we are old friends from Oracle— and whisked me to a hotel on the Rotterdam docks. The Netherlands Foto Museum (NFM) has just moved there too, to a vast former warehouse space right on the water. I was there early the next morning and was inspired to see what they have accomplished; state-of-the-art storage for four million negatives and a million prints and albums, study areas, ambitious exhibition spaces, and a radical take on offices. There are none! Rather, the curators, archivists, and administrators arrive daily with their laptops and mobile phones and choose to sit in whatever room suits their plans; there are designated spaces for reading, computer use, telephone conversations, meetings of all sizes, and work with collections material.

Las Palmas

The building Las Palmas at the Kop van Zuid by night. 2007. Photo by: Benno Thoma

I commented on the wonderful natural light that filled most work spaces and was told it would be illegal in Holland to keep workers in offices without windows. (sigh?.) The exhibition I had come to see was Babies: Picturing the Ideal Human, a brilliant and wide ranging survey containing quite a lot of Eastman House material, including a Southworth and Hawes daguerreotype and Candace Bergen?s unforgettable ?Klan Baby.? The curators, Hedy van Arp and Iris Sikking, and Frits and I discussed how we might make a similar show using mostly Eastman House photos for tour in the United States. We also talked about getting a Ryerson intern to NFM next year and how we might work together on their latest acquisition, over one million 19th- and early-20th century photographs and related records from the Rotterdam Ethnographic Museum. (It comes with a curator).

Next was train back to Schipol and a quick flight to Warsaw where I met up with Celina Lunsford from Fotografie Forum International in Frankfurt (founded by Eastman House trustee Manfred Heiting). Celina and I know each other from Houston and Rhubarb and it was pleasant to catch up on the three hour bus ride to Lodz. This biennial festival is part of Polish Month of Photography and features more than 50 exhibitions, nighttime projections a la Arles, publications, performances, and portfolio review. Krzystof and I were both part of Meeting Place Beijing in 2006 so I was delighted to see his theme this year was ?made in China? and his major show featured many of the artists we had met then, including Feng Bin, whose ?Hutong at Night? series was the surprise hit of our ?Vital Signs.? Eastern Europe is booming artistically; Polish photographers are sophisticated and internationally aware. Our last night included a bus trip to Leczyca, a small town where a former prison had been taken over by artists for 40+ rooms of installation. Krzytof plans to spend several weeks with us next winter to increase his knowledge of American photography by studying our holdings and to complete a survey of Polish photographs in US collections. I look forward to welcoming him and reciprocating his hospitality. (Special thanks to Kristina Niedswieka who works in the Eastman House Caf� for her desperate attempts to teach me survival Polish).

I took the train from Lodz back to Berlin and I write this from Tegel Airport, (which is starting to feel like a second home) as I begin today?s journey back to Rochester via Paris and Boston. I carry back ten kilos (22 pounds) of books, artists? CDs, and exhibition brochures, but also lists of artists to get to know better, and a strong sense that Eastman House is a vibrant and significant collaborator in photography?s international scene. I?m also realizing that I have seen world-class institutions, exhibitions, and installations housed in former hospitals, airports, prisons, factories, warehouses, train stations, and the like. Moribund industrial spaces have been given new life, purpose, and economic viability as centers for art and culture. I can?t help but feel this is food for thought and discussion in Rochester where our rich industrial and architectural heritage cries out for such inspired recycling.

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Hanging out with Larry Towell and Mike Stevens

Posted by Julia Unruh-Kracke, Manager of Exhibitions and Program Design on May 14 2008 | Behind-the-Scenes, Exhibitions, Photography

Julia Unruh-Kracke This past weekend I was fortunate to organize Larry Towell’s lecture / multi media performance with Mike Stevens. Amazing music and images. Below are some pictures from the rehearsal.

Larry Towell rehearsing for performance at George Eastman House

LARRY TOWELL

“Larry Towell’s business card reads “Human Being”. Like Robert Doisneau, he is one those rare photojournalists who travels reluctantly and only when the subject really matters. Experience as a poet and a folk musician did much to shape his personal style, and wherever he travels, Towell concentrates on finding and photographing intimacy. He became a Magnum nominee in 1988, and a full member in 1993.”

“If there’s one theme that connects all my work, I think it’s that of land-lessness; how land makes people into who they are and what happens to them when they lose it and thus lose their identities.”

Larry Towell: The World From My Front Porch is on view now through June 15, 2008.

Harmonica virtuoso Mike Stevens at George Eastman House

MIKE STEVENS

Hailed as an innovative musician and author, Mike transcends the perceived limitations of the instrument in virtually every musical genre. His aggressive soulful approach to the harmonica takes audiences on an incredible journey. Best known for his groundbreaking work in the bluegrass field with legendary Grand Ole Opry members “Jim & Jesse” (with whom he has performed on The Grand Ole Opry over 300 times); Mike was able to create an original, much sought after and often copied, style of playing the harmonica.”

Images from the performance:

Larry Towell and Mike Stevens perform at George Eastman House

Enjoy,

Julia

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Hanging out with Eli Reed

Posted by Julia Unruh-Kracke, Manager of Exhibitions and Program Design on Mar 14 2008 | Behind-the-Scenes, Exhibitions, Photography

Julia Unruh-Kracke Eli Reed is a prize-winning documentary photographer, and a member of Magnum. He also works in the motion picture industry as a special photographer.

His exhibition Black in America is on display at George Eastman House through June 29, 2008.

“Eli Reed has been documenting the black experience in America from the time he began taking pictures. This volume, “Black in America”, is his provocative and often poignant portrait of black life in America.

As a photographer, Reed is known for his unflinching coverage of events both large and small. Here we see tender moments between parents and children contrasted with the Los Angeles riots. The joy of a wedding follows the sorrow and anger at the funeral of Yusef Hawkins (whose death sparked the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn in 1991). The deceptive innocence of rural life balances the tension of the urban drug scene. A 104-year-old woman contemplates her life a few pages away from the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

There is the truth in Reed’s work, as well as anger, and compassion. These images communicate to us - sometimes as gentle as a kiss, sometimes as hard as a bullet. They are all part of Eli Reed’s America, and ours.”

George Eastman House has commissioned Reed to create a contemporary and localized supplement to his series, photographing Rochester’s African-American community. I was fortunate enough to lead the organization and producing for his Rochester work. It always amazes me how much you can accomplish with a few phone calls. I took Eli to see the Campbell Brothers, at the House of God in Rush NY. He was blown away by the music and the hospitality that The Campbell Brothers and their church community extended to us.

Here is Eli with The Campbell Brothers

Eli Reed with The Campbell Brothers

He also made a contact with Mr. Charles Price, Rochester’s first African American Police Officer. Eli and I went to his house where he took a portrait of Mr. Price and his wife.

Eli Reed at Charles Price's house

I also had the pleasure of taking Eli Reed over to The Community Darkroom here in Rochester. The Darkroom runs a Urban Youth Program and has so for many many years.

We really only had 30-45 min for Eli to talk and be with the kids, as I needed to get him back to the museum to get ready for his lecture. We ended up staying for an hour and a half. The kids were glued to Eli’s every word. The students put one of their 8×10 photographs on the wall and Eli took the time to talk to each kid about their photo. Eli said he had a wonderful time and would like to visit them again when he comes back to photograph Rochester.

Thanks to Sharon at the Darkroom for contacting GEH to see if Eli would want to visit and thanks to Eli for taking the time to spend with each student.

Eli Reed at The Community Darkroom in Rochester, NY