Photo books are receiving plenty of attention. Alongside the appearance of hefty standard works and exhibition catalogues, there is a lively trade in new and antiquarian photo books. With the advent of the internet, they seemed to be an outmoded medium.
But appearances were deceiving, and the new exhibition Pages, A new generation of photo books from The Netherlandsin the Dorottya Gallery proves it. This exhibition shows how a young generation of photographers in The Netherlands is reshaping this ostensibly traditional medium.
The forms in which the books appear are as diverse and distinctive as the work of the photographers themselves, from personal visual narratives, documentary projects and conceptual investigations to publications that invite interaction. Some books are initiatives – and often published – by the photographers themselves; others are issued by a publisher. The forty-some publications that are shown in Pages are by Melanie Bonajo, Kim Bouvy, Semâ Bekirovic’, Nickel van Duijvenboden, Ringel Goslinga, Wytske van Keulen, Vesselina Nikolaeva, Paulien Oltheten, Reineke Otten, Mieke Woestenburg and others. Video works that accompany several of the publications are also being screened. Several photo magazines which provide an important podium for young Dutch photographers are being shown too, including Sec, Fw:, Capricous and Archivo.
Pages will run from February 14th through March 8th in the Dorottya Gallery (a unit of the Budapest Kunsthalle) as part of the LOW Dutch-Flemish Cultural Festival. In connection with this, during the same period the book Family Tree by Ringel Goslinga will be presented in exhibition form in the Lumen Gallery (Budapest). The latest issue of Fw: Magazine will appear to mark the exhibitions.
This exhibition was the outcome of an initiative by Gergely László (Lumen Photography Foundation, Budapest) and Claudia Küssel (Nederlands Fotomuseum) in cooperation with Fw:, podium for Dutch photography. Fw: is comprised of Karin Krijgsman, Dieuwertje Komen, Petra Stavast and Hans Gremmen.
Dates: February 14th– March 8th
Exhibition opening on February 13th at 6pm
Place: Dorottya Gallery
1051 Budapest, Dorottya u. 8.
