Thursday, June 18, 2009

Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth



Fundación Proa presents the exhibition Urban Spaces: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth. The show analyzes the evolution on the concept of the city in contemporary culture through the ideas and images produced by the artists of the so called Düsseldorf School of Photography: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

Curated by Ludovico Pratesi, in collaboration with Benedetta Carpi, the exhibition is composed by 45 works produced from the early eighties until recent times. It is designed to take the visitor first through the artists' early works –those produced during their formative years– and continuing with their most recent body of work, in which an individual selection from each artist emphasizes their stylistic differences and personal characteristics.

Gursky, Höfer, Hütte, Ruff and Struth were invited to reflect of a common theme –the city–. The works exhibited are the result of the close dialogue between the artists and the curator, and depicts the different interpretations and relation each artist has with the urban space. "The exhibition includes some of the artists' master works. At the same time, in the selection made with Höfer there are some important shots taken in Buenos Aires –where the exhibition is displayed–, a city which fascinated and interested her in a very special way", explains the curator Pratesi. 

In the exhibition catalogue, a bilingual publication (Spanish – English) of 200 pages, each artist counts with a special section that includes an unpublished interview, a biography and the exhibited works. The catalogue also includes critical essays by curator Pratesi and art critics such as Armin Zweite and Pablo Perulli –published in Spanish for the first time–, and Valeria González. For further information about the catalogue: libreria@proa.org

"This exhibition is part of the cultural program of Fundación Proa, in which we present different disciplines of current contemporary art. In the same way that we once organized exhibitions of photographers Andrés Serrano or Sebastián Selgado, we now considered that bringing works of these five artists of the Düsseldorf School was practically inevitable within the international contemporary context", explains Adriana Rosenberg, director of Proa. 

The exhibition, sponsored by Tenaris and Organización Techint, and with the collaboration from Italian Embassy in Argentina, is accompanied by special events that will take place in Fundación Proa´s Auditorium, including a film and video programme with the city as the main theme, presented by the Goethe-Institut. 

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