Shows
‘Da Lang Fever 2.0’, Shenzhen Urbanism\Architecture Biennale 2015
Date: 12/05/2015 – 02/28/2016
Curator: Linda Vlassenrood, International New Town Institute
Following the successful event of the exhibition Da Lang Fever, organized at the 2013 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, INTI now presents Da Lang Fever 2.0. It proposes urban strategies to empower migrant workers in Da Lang Neighborhood (Shenzhen).
Curator Linda Vlassenrood has invited Ekim Tan (gaming method Play the City), the architecture office space&matter and photographer Lard Buurman to develop an action plan for real urban interventions in one of Da Lang’s fast changing industrial areas, the so called Fashion Valley. It is one of the nine industrial parks in Shenzhen and an attempt to attract the creative industries. It hasn’t been entirely successful yet. As top-down urban planning is losing favor worldwide, also in Shenzhen, these three participants offer more collaborative alternatives, meant to emancipate migrant society.
First and foremost, Da Lang Fever 2.0 will function as a gaming room where Play Da Lang will bring together migrants from Da Lang to collaboratively rethink a partly vacant site inside the Fashion Valley. An iconic feature of the site is a three-year-old, but still vacant hotel. The Amsterdam-based office for architecture and urbanism space&matter presents possible scenarios for programming the building to empower the self-organizing migrant society. Finally, the exhibition will be complemented by photographs of photographer Lard Buurman, depicting Da Lang workers in their neighborhood.
Da Lang Fever 2.0 is part of the exhibition Pearl River Delta 2.0, curated by Doreen Liu and Hubert Klumpner and has been developed in close collaboration with the Da Lang Government. The exhibition is generously supported by Creative Industries Fund NL, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Guangzhou, Mondriaan Fund, Design Trust, and 2015 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture.
Africa Architecture, Culture And Identity, in Museum Louisiana in Humlebæk, Denmark
This major exhibition at Louisiana focuses on architecture, art and culture on the African continent. By pinpointing a number of judiciously selected examples from a cultural here and now, the exhibition sheds light on the diversity and complexity of the part of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
Through a number of projects spread over the African continent the exhibition tells a story of the new architecture of different regions – with its various proposals for accommodating local traditions, strengthen the existing ones and create solutions for the future. The exhibition presents a sensuous architectural scenography and a number of installations, where the form, scale and space of architecture can be perceived on a 1:1 scale. Life around the buildings is also part of the architecture. In the exhibition art, photography, film and other arts create perspective to the architects’ efforts – and helps to refine our image of this part of the world.
The AFRICA exhibition is the third chapter in Louisiana’s major series Architecture, Culture and Identity. In 2012, the museum unveiled the first chapter – NEW NORDIC – and in 2014, it turned attention toward the Arab world with the ARAB CONTEMPORARY exhibition.
The exhibition series Architecture, Culture and Identity is supported by Realdania
‘Larger Perspective’ in Cityscapes Gallery, Amsterdam
Date: April 17 – May 22, 2015 // Location: Cityscapes Piet Hein, Piet Heinkade 83, Amsterdam
The exposition ‘Larger Perspective’ presents work of two artists who, with ‘cityscapes’ as a recurrent topic, structurally, sometimes almost literally, aim to widen our perception of reality. From both artist we present a combination of recent and earlier work.
Photographer Lard Buurman (1969) depicts what one might call ‘human cityscapes’; images of the city with explicit attention for their human dynamics. He does so by using a highly personal technique, to allow for fusing many time samples and creating a remarkable broad view of the global urban environment.
Nicky Zwaan (1971) conceptualizes artworks with whatever technique and material best represents the wonder she aims to instill about the workings of the universe on our daily life. With installations and photo’s she investigates how we ‘materialize’ the world around us through the working of light.
EXHIBITION: Larger Perspective
DATE: April 17 – May 22, 2015, visit by appointment
ARTISTS: Lard Buurman and Nicky Zwaan
LOCATION: Cityscapes Piet Hein, Piet Heinkade 83, Amsterdam.
OPENING: Friday April 17, 5.30-8 pm
ZOOM! Picturing Architecture & the City in Pinakothek der Modernen
Architekturmuseum der TU München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, groupshow
Curator: Hilde Strobl
Date: 2.4.2015 – 21.6.2015
Contemporary architecture is faced with a host of exceptional dilemmas: within the context of continuing global urbanisation, the increasing challenges posed by immigration and social inequality, and amidst crumbling cities and the relentless expansion of slums, architecture now has to prove its social relevance for the future. Architectural photography plays a central role in this regard, serving both as a means of communication between architects and clients, as well as a way of imparting information to a general public. Thus far it has generally produced images in which architecture is portrayed as a series of constructed objects, without reference to their respective uses. Increasing numbers of photographers, however, are shifting their focus to those living and working spaces that have not been planned by architects.
The exhibition ‘Zoom! Picturing Architecture and the City’ presents photographs and video works by eighteen contemporary international photographers. Their images focus on the complex interrelations among society, architecture, and urban spaces. They provide insight into how buildings actually operate once the building contractors have left the premises, and how city and town structures are impacted by economic factors, as well as their inhabitants’ social and cultural backgrounds. The evident failures often occurring in the planning or modification of buildings point to specific conclusions about people’s actual needs.
The exhibition sets photographs from different countries and continents into dialogue. Images from Germany’s Oberpfalz region of Bavaria are exhibited next to images from Italy, Nigeria, and China, for instance, and the juxtapositions make similarities and differences quite apparent. Photography’s ability to capture, record, and comment on processes and trends gives it influence in shaping how architecture is received, and, in turn, how the discipline regards itself. The goal of the exhibition is to show that, confronted by extremely unstable social conditions, contemporary architectural photography employs an active awareness of its special task as a critical medium.
On show are photographs and video works by Iwan Baan, Roman Bezjak, Peter Bialobrzeski, Lard Buurman, Stefan Canham and Rufina Wu, Nuno Cera, Livia Corona, Nicoló Degiorgos, Jörg Koopmann, Eva Leitolf, Myrzik und Jarisch, Stefan Olàh, Julian Röder, Simona Rota, Andreas Seibert, Wolfgang Tillmans, Fabian Vogl, and Tobias Zielony.
A catalogue in German and English is due for release, published by Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 200 pages, approx. 200 illustrations, ISBN 978-3-86335-735-1
The exhibition has received generous support from PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e. V.
Exhibition in Goethe Institut, Johannesburg
From May 25 till June 7 2014 the exhibition Africa Junctions was shown at the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg.
Goethe Institut, Johannesburg
Goethe Institut, Johannesburg
Goethe Institut, Johannesburg
Goethe Institut, Johannesburg
Africa Junctions with SMBA and Looiersgracht 60
an impression of the exhibition Africa Junctions at Looiersgracht 60 with Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and Looiersgracht 60. (all photo’s by Johannes Schwartz)
Nutshuis ‘Afrika Herzien’ 17 februari t/m 10 april with Hillie de Rooij
Myopia by Hillie de Rooij and a selection from Africa Junctions by Lard Buurman
Since 2007, Het Nutshuis in The Hague has shown a growing interest in photography, a development that has resulted in five photography exhibitions per year. The first exhibition of the year is traditionally organised together with the Royal Academy of Art, and this year from 16 February onwards, it will be followed by Afrika Herzien [Africa Re-viewed]. This exhibition in Het Nutshuis will feature the series Myopia by photographer Hillie de Rooij and a selection from Africa Junctions by photographer Lard Buurman.
African cities are largely invisible cities, of which we only have a limited perception. The series Myopia by Hillie de Rooij is about the European way of looking at things. The photographer shows pictures that appear to have been taken in Africa, showing how easy it is for people to interpret what they think they are seeing. The title of her series, Myopia, means being able to focus on what is close by, but seeing distant objects as a blur. Lard Buurman on the other hand, brings distant objects into focus, putting African urbanity into an everyday perspective. He examines the way these cities tick, and unveils the imperceptible networks that evolve from informal interaction.
A selection from Africa Junctions by Lard Buurman
Millions of people live in an urban culture totally unlike anything we have ever experienced. What does life in a city marked by chaos and a lack of infrastructure entail? How does that society work? Which networks evolve from the informal interaction? How does African urban development compare with that of other global cities? With these questions at the back of his mind, Lard Buurman spent from 2008 to 2013 working on his current project about African towns and cities. He visited a total of 14 cities in 12 countries across the continent: Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Luanda, Lagos, Kampala, Nairobi, Dakar, Douala, Kinshasa, Cape Town, Casablanca, Cairo en Alexandria.
Lard: ‘So-called ‘normal life’ is always at the forefront of my constructed pictures. This would appear to be an abnormal view of the African context. Most documentaries about Johannesburg show violent robberies. Area boys are in charge in Lagos. This is all true, but it’s only part of a much bigger, more obscure picture. I want to show the rest of this bigger picture of urban life. From housing developments and central business districts right through to the slums. I go into all these contrasting districts looking for life on the streets, and space. I show the image without the drama.’ Lard is exhibiting a selection of two monumental works and a site-specific installation from this project.
Lard Buurman’s first book is due to be published in late April by Hatje Cantz. It is entitled Africa Junctions, capturing the city. (Editor: Nina Folkersma, design: Roosje Klap)
Myopia by Hillie de Rooij
Hillie de Rooij spent the past year travelling through Europe in search of ideal locations for her series Myopia. She took photos in Greece and England, for example, and even travelled to Norway for one picture, where she sought the suggestion of an African landscape. She is now ready for her final journey to capture the only image still missing from her series. Once she has found it, she will concentrate on shaping the book that will ultimately tell the story of Myopia. She is compiling the book together with writer and journalist Jan Postma and author Liselotte ten Voorde. It is due to be published in late 2014.
The pictures in the Myopia series are not a portrayal of Africa, but a representation of the European way of looking at things. This is what captures Hillie’s interest. She likes to explore the way that people interpret pictures and more specifically, how this affects their view of the world. The visual imagery endlessly repeated by photographers and image makers plays a major role in influencing the ‘interpreting habits’ of the public.
The opening
The opening will take place at 17.00 hrs. on Sunday 16 February, following the programme of Fotoboek! Jellie Brouwer (of Kunststof Radio) will interview Hillie and Lard about their forthcoming books, and include a few questions for the designers and writers.
