I’ve not been to this yet (working for money really getting in the way of my work) but I thought this was interesting for two reasons.
1. Relevant reference re. Limits of photography – might have to include this in list of pejorative words I keep coming across describing photography
2. Conservative response to Clare Strand’s work referred time as ‘slightly bonkers’ – surprising and, for me undermines everything he’s ever written. I shall forevermore read his reviews through this coating.
3. Saying that – the inadvertent criticism of the gallery space feels timely. More and more work is contextual – the institution is critiqued and queried frequently nowadays.
‘From second world war concentration camps to the effects of global capitalism on Parisian youth, this year’s contenders produce moving work that struggles in a group context
— Read on www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/20/deutsche-borse-photography-prize-review-big-ideas-but-the-wrong-place-for-them
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I first saw a Deutsche Börse Exhibition in 2011 at Ambika P3, Westminster University (TPG being rebuilt then) and, to me, that seems a much better space for a group Exhibition like that than the Photographers Gallery.There’s something containing about TPG and Sean O’Hagan gave a good example of the effect of the Exhibiting space in his comment re Anton Kusters’s work. .
I think innovative and sometimes playful better describes Clare Strand’s work for me. The word ‘madcap’ implies she doesn’t exactly know what she’s doing when she so obviously does.
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Yes, space makes a huge difference and galleries often sanitise work – one of our tutors was very critical of a large, well-known institution for doing that to pretty much every show it produces in their view! I found the patronising tone towards Strand’s work in his article extremely revealing, and disappointing. (Something familiar about the way established figures who are used to pontificating and having their voices heard seeming less glossy – nowadays). Your response nuanced as fair as ever, Catherine.
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