A Show of Affection – Collection Constellation 1
The exhibition homes in on the collection’s idiosyncrasies, distinctive qualities and thematic focuses, while also scrutinising museum collecting practices per se. This probing of the collection also looks at gaps and lacunae that are made apparent by the museum’s critical self-assessment and at works that are institutionally challenging.
The non-linear way in which the exhibition is presented highlights the fact that the (progressive) development of a collection is influenced by a variety of different factors. These include the exhibition programme, thematic focuses, curatorial interests, social issues and photography’s own process of evolution as a medium and body of practices.
Both in the exhibition space and through a varied programme of events, the museum provides insights into, among other things, its own origins and the way it cares for its collection. A Show of Affection offers an alternative to the classical collection exhibition and is, not least, an expression of an institutional approach: Fotomuseum Winterthur is eminently (self-)critical – and yet still has a sense of affection for its own collection.
With works by: Vito Acconci, Stefan Burger, Forensic Architecture, Lee Friedlander, Matthias Gabi, Nan Goldin, Roc Herms, Jacob Holdt, Margret Hoppe, Graciela Iturbide, Zoe Leonard, Marc Lee, Sherrie Levine, Clunie Reid, Anika Schwarzlose, Shirana Shahbazi, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson and Garry Winogrand.
Collection Constellation 1 marks the beginning of a series of collection presentations that build on one another and are conceived for different international venues.
About the collection of Fotomuseum Winterthur
The collection of Fotomuseum Winterthur comprises international artistic positions that have close historical and institutional links with the museum’s exhibition programme. It includes around 9,000 photographic objects – photographs, documents, installative works and moving images. The collection’s earliest works date from the 1960s and its most recent belong to the immediate present. It contains works not only by internationally renowned photographers – such as Sophie Calle, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Boris Mikhailov and Dayanita Singh – but also by a young generation of interdisciplinary artists like Laia Abril, Anna Ehrenstein and John Yuyi, while including vernacular photography too. It has five principal areas of emphasis: documentary-narrative photography; conceptual photography and artistic photography with a focus on media analysis; post-photographic works that challenge, reflect on and extend the various forms of the photographic in the context of digital image practices and technologies; works by young photographers; and ephemeral works and print objects such as brochures, pamphlets, posters and postcards.
Please note: Due to the renovation of Fotomuseum Winterthur, the exhibition will be shown in the spaces of Fotostiftung Schweiz at Grüzenstrasse 45.
Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte supports a case study that is being developed for the exhibition as part of the Collection Revisited project.
