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Envisioning a Netherlands that is more than windmills and tulips
A photography exhibition now on display at the Shanghai Center of Photography attempts to debunk the notion of the Netherlands as merely a nation of tulips and windmills.
鈥淣L Imagined,鈥 an exhibition of works by 11 Dutch photographers and artists, provides a kaleidoscope view of Dutch society, culture and, most importantly, people.
The exhibition鈥檚 aim is 鈥渢o shake things up,鈥 according to curator He Yining, 鈥渢o challenge what we assume about Dutch photography art or Dutch society.鈥
He collaborated with Dutch photographer and curator Ruben Lundgren to present modern Dutch photography art from the last 50 years.
Photographic archives
An archive is a format that is frequently used throughout the exhibition.
Erik Kessels鈥 chronological series 鈥淚n almost every picture #7鈥 tells a Dutch woman鈥檚 lifelong affair with a gun. The series starts in 1936, when Rita von Dijk, then 16, first picked up a gun and fired a shot at a shooting range. It almost became an annual ritual, with Kessels labeling her 鈥淎irgun Rita.鈥
The series offers a unique viewpoint on the evolution of Dutch society over time.
Dana Lixenberg spent a year going to every Dutch city to photograph mayors, their workspaces and their daily routines for a commissioned work by the Rijksmuseum in 2011.
Hans Eijkelboom spent five weeks wandering around the streets of Amsterdam, photographing people with numbers on their clothes. He later put them all together in numerical order 鈥 from 1 to 100 鈥 into an 鈥渁rtistic anthropological鈥 series and titled it, 鈥淎msterdam by Numbers.鈥 Only the number 49, displayed at the heart of the whole series, is vacant.
鈥淚t is a teasing concept of how photography works, and how the fashion industry works,鈥 Lundgren explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very simple idea that can really capture the time very well.鈥
His co-curator described this approach to the archive as 鈥渁 sense of humor.鈥 It has surfaced frequently in contemporary Dutch photography, publications, and exhibitions over the last decade.
鈥淭o me, it is a way of reviewing history and loosening up history,鈥 He explained. 鈥淧hotography art, in the view of many of us, is a way of documenting. When we review the photos, they are the proof of history. However, archiving gives it a shake, to play, to reproduce this sense of humor.鈥
The archive is 鈥渁 means to collect, narrate, and tell a whole new tale, a story that even appears out of thin air,鈥 she added.
It is prevalent not only in the Netherlands but throughout the current photographic world. 鈥淚t reflects how we look at history, how to get back into a certain period of time, and recount it to others.鈥
Apart from the exhibited series, there are a dozen award-winning picture books on display, published by some of the best Dutch publishing firms and agencies. They provide an enhanced view into various areas of Dutch life and society, as well as demonstrate how Dutch contemporary photographers play with unique, often inconspicuous, perspectives.
In 鈥淭ypical Dutch,鈥 Jan Dirk van der Burg captures all those little oddities of the southwestern European country, such as the camouflaged wheel bins. Another photo book by van der Burg features 鈥渆lephant paths,鈥 which appear gradually when people try to take shortcuts.
The retrospective book 鈥淣owhere鈥 looks back on photographer Frank van der Salm鈥檚 25-year career, spent largely concentrating on the urban environment.
Today, the distinction between different kinds of photography art is becoming increasingly blurred in the Netherlands and other Western societies.
鈥淟ife 鈥 For Mom鈥 is a stop-motion animation work by Erwin Olaf. Featuring black-and-white images of tulips, it is dedicated to his late mother.
鈥淚s this photography? Of course it is. Every frame in this piece features a photo. However, it鈥檚 different from those framed photos we usually see,鈥 He said.
Instead of Olaf鈥檚 signature and more well-known fashion shoots, the curator chose the stop-motion piece deliberately to recognize Olaf and other Dutch photographers鈥 efforts to challenge the stereotypes of photography art and the stereotypes imposed on themselves by fame and vanity, to keep pushing the boundaries, and to constantly review the use of media in their creation.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to simply impose our ideas on the audience but to create a space and a chance for them to feel for themselves,鈥 He said. 鈥淓veryone has his/her own experience, and through these works, they can either defy their old-time imagination of the Netherlands, or build their whole new image of the Netherlands.鈥
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