"Looking back in time – Age and ageing in photographic portraits" and "Jem Southam –
The Pond at Upton Pyne” – The current exhibitions of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur till July, 7
With works by Christian Borchert, John Coplans, Imogen Cunningham, Deanna Dikeman, Jess T. Dugan / Vanessa Fabbre, Albrecht Fuchs, Katja Kerstin Hock, Manfred Jade, Evi Lemberger / Maria Göckeritz, Andreas Mader, Helga Paris, Natalya Reznik, Martin Rosswog, August Sander, Cindy Sherman, Daniel Schumann, Wilhelm Schürmann and Larry Sultan
The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive supporting program with guided tours on special topics and various target groups, e.g. for children or for adults in Ukrainian. There is also a theme day, a workshop and a film program. To the online-ticketshop
Over 170 photographic works from more than 100 years will be brought together in this exhibition to create a multi-layered portrayal of age and ageing. The exhibited works by 18 international photographers come not only from the Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur's own holdings, but are also supplemented by loans from national and international museums, galleries and estates.
Classical positions such as those of August Sander or Imogen Cunningham will be on display, while the series by Natalya Reznik or Jess T. Dugan, for example, lead into the contemporary. The works of Albrecht Fuchs, Martin Rosswog and Wilhelm Schürmann show how life circumstances and life experience are inscribed in faces and attitudes. And while John Coplans takes a look at himself and his own ageing body, Cindy Sherman reflects in the exhibited work on what the physical traces of age can mean for female role models. Long-term projects such as those by Andreas Mader, Christian Borchert, Deanna Dikeman and Larry Sultan address changes in family relationships over the course of time. Existential human experiences such as death and saying goodbye often go hand in hand with old age - aspects that are also impressively addressed in the exhibition by Daniel Schumann, for example.
These and the other series on show make it clear how diverse the phenomena of "age" and "ageing" are dealt with in photography. For photography, as the exhibition makes clear, is able to cast a glance into time like no other medium.
The second exhibition presents the series "The Pond at Upton Pyne" by Jem Southam. This shows the cyclical change of a pond and its surroundings in Upton Pyne, Devon, England.The pond is not of natural origin, but dates back to a disused manganese mine from the 18th century, an area that has long been neglected.
For the narrative series, which was created between 1996 and 2002, Southam designed three parts: The first shows the pond at a time when a man was working to transform the small area into a romantic paradise for his family. After the man left the village, the area became overgrown. The second part is dedicated to the work of the next inhabitant, who later took care of the pond. He was guided by a different vision and transformed the site into a place of recreation and leisure, for example by erecting new huts, tables and swings. The short third part of Southam's study deals with the surrounding landscape.
Focusing on a "microcosm", Jem Southam's series of images is both an allegorical story about how our dreams influence our actions and a reflection on aspects of the historical and socio-cultural development of the post-industrial Western world.
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Im Mediapark 7, 50670 Cologne, phone: +49 221 888 95 300, email: photographie( at )sk-kultur.de
Admission: €6.50 (reduced €4), free admission on the first Monday of the month!
Open on the first Thursday of the month until 9 p.m., free admission from 5 p.m.: special events take place.
Opening hours: daily except Wednesdays from 2 pm to 7 pm
Closed: March 29 (Good Friday), open on all other public holidays.
Public guided tours in German take place weekly on Sundays at 3 pm. Thematic focus on the first Sunday of each month, see homepage.