Opening «Sophie Calle – Un certain regard» and «SITUATIONS/Porn»
19:00 Welcome address by Dorothea Strauss, president of the board, greeting by city mayor Michael Künzle, introduction by the director Nadine Wietlisbach
SOPHIE CALLE – UN CERTAIN REGARD
One of the foremost artists of our time, Sophie Calle (*1953) tells stories through photographs and combines them with the written word. In her works, the French artist explores the relationship between memory and visual representation. What happens when images disappear or when seeing is no longer possible? Calle meticulously traces the last, missing or private photographs while reflecting on the relationship between text and image. There is a strong sense of intimacy that unfolds throughout her bodies of work and exerts an irresistible appeal.
For the first time in Switzerland, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Kunstmuseum Thun jointly present Sophie Calle’s wide-ranging oeuvre of the last years in a two-part exhibition. Second part: Sophie Calle – Regard incertain, Kunstmuseum Thun, 07.09.–01.12.2019.
Kindly supported by Ringier AG, Landis & Gyr Foundation, S. Eustachius-Foundation and Else v. Sick Foundation.
SITUATIONS/Porn
In the space between object and desire, the photographic gaze occupies a unique position: it satisfies many of our yearnings and fantasies as much as it fuels them. Might the increased circulation and consumption of images of today’s visual culture be driven by an impulse that is of a pornographic nature? From obsessive binge-watching to food porn or unboxing videos in which products are carefully unpacked in front of the camera, screen-based phenomena from the realms of digital desire and fetish test the boundaries of intimacy, perversion, compulsion and drive. SITUATIONS/Porn takes a look at such artistic and cultural manifestations to investigate the dynamics between gaze and desire against the backdrop of the networked image.
With works by Anna Ehrenstein, Andy Kassier, Andy King, Adrian Sauer, Jean-Vincent Simonet and others.
SITUATIONS/Porn is devised together with the exhibition Schaulust (22.09.–24.11.2019) in collaboration with Photoforum Pasquart.