So much to include, so many shows, events, exhibitions and opportunities. However, this morning I thought I would just ponder on the beautiful work of Adam Fuss (apologies for such blatant bias) and couldn't not make mention of the first Helsinki Research Conference which is inviting submissions for the 2012 event.
Helsinki Photomedia 2012 will run next March at Aalto University. Current call for papers and details of registration and submission are on the link.
Adam Fuss opens today in Amsterdam. Stunning photograms make up a review of his work from 1986. His work was also part of the recent V&A exhibition of lensless photography.
"What immediately stands out with the work of Adam Fuss is that, both in terms of the chosen subject matter and in his approach to the photographic technique, he has greatly dissociated himself from conventional photography. That which Fuss produces is, in fact, still a photograph; but in order to achieve that, he did rid himself of all the finer luxuries available to users of the medium nowadays. Like a present-day alchemist, Fuss has mastered the medium's most elementary and primitive forms; he sees just as much potential for creativity in technical knowledge as in the imagination, or the visionary power of the photographer.
His subjects (silhouettes, gossamer christening gowns, rabbits, butterflies, snakes, lace, smoke, drops of water) have also been removed from their natural habitats. In the studio they become so epitomized that they assume the strength and quality of a symbol, or icon, fraught with emotion. Fuss seems, figuratively speaking, to have given wings to his images: they have a weightless and elusive appearance, as though being supernatural in origin and import....Though ostensibly sublime, the work's impact on the viewer is nevertheless one of predominantly earthly beauty. This may be a consequence of the bipolarity that lies at the heart of it. All of Fuss's endeavors have a twofold focus: on matter and mind, on earth or water and the dynamics of fire or air—in short, on vital forces in relation to space and history. Sometimes, as a true photographic magician, he allows the vital fluids of animals (snakes, rabbits) literally to corrode the silver salts of the light-sensitive photographic emulsions. As though trying to allow the image and its model to share the same source of life. In his technique as well, Fuss wants to reconcile, to connect, past and present...Throughout his work Adam Fuss seeks the very essence of the image; to him that lies particularly at the point where an observation of reality is so intensified that it takes on magical powers, so to speak. His outlook on this comes from the notion of 'Poetic Genius' expressed by the British poet, writer, engraver and painter William Blake (1757-1827). "
...and for anyone who's still reading, a late addition - call for submissions for "the only award for ephemeral art in the world". The Szpilman Award - which just seems to fit the mood for the morning/post - for works that only exist for a moment or short period of time.
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