Grand Royal Art: The Others, 2003 Similarities and Differences New Norwegian photography Matias Faldbakken, Grand Royal Art, Jorunn Irene Hanstvedt, Heini Hölttä, Katja Høst, Ole Martin Lund Bø, Eline Mugaas, Dag Nordbrenden, Torbjørn Rødland, Birgitte Sigmundstad, Anette Sletnes, Camilla Sune, Vibeke Tandberg, Morten Torgersrud Norwegian photography has undergone rapid development in the new millennium and a new generation of photographers have transgressed the boundary between modernist art photography and post-modernist stagings. The new generation of photographers moves effortlessly between straight photography and conceptual strategies, and often combine the two, which were previously regarded as diametric opposites. "Similarities and differences - New Norwegian Photography" takes as its starting-point ways in which photographers use series, sequences and groups of photographs. The exhibition argues that this is a significant way of understanding recent developments in the field. Following the Becher school's mechanical and repetitive work starting in the 1960s and the playful and eclectic colour photographs of the 1990s, both of these formal strategies are now used to link local places and situations with the notion of a multicultural and globalised world. "Similarities and differences - New Norwegian photography" shows works that mix traditional genre such as landscapes, architecture and portraits with questions relating to social identity and visual culture. A number of photographers have rediscovered documentary photography, which is now being used with a clear awareness of the criticism to which the medium has been subjected. Others use collage techniques or take their visual raw materials from sources such as the family album or the internet. The most significant tendency in this exhibition is nevertheless that the photographers build on the media-critical awareness that emerged in the wake of post-modernism, while at the same time exploring the breadth of aesthetic opportunities available in the medium of photography. Curator: Jonas Ekeberg Exhibition: 31 March - 16 May 2005 Opening hours: Tue-Sun 12 - 5 pm Preus museum Kommandørkaptein Klincks vei 7 Karljohansvern N-3183 Horten, Norway Telephone +47 3303 1630 Fax +47 3303 1640 Email post@preusmuseum.no www.preusmuseum.no |