No Camera : The Photogram at Museum der Moderne Salzburg Rupertinum

Written by Derrick Cray Wednesday, 15 December 2010 22:38

Salzburg, Austria - As an experimental image falling between photography and graphic arts, the photogram has fascinated painters, filmmakers and photographers since the early 20th Century.  Directly working with the image-production process and an appearance that is reduced to pure light/dark have evolved into broad field of innovative solutions in the photographic process for artists of all generations over the last 90 years.  The immediately noticeable synchronicity of the present and projected object or procedure constitutes the specific character of generating photographic works without a camera.  Emerging from Dadaism and Surrealism, the photogram opened up a broad experimental field for the Avant Garde and provided a virulent stimulus for discussion of the medial image in the context of art.

Photogram processes are often combined and expanded with other image creation processes in new artistic concepts.  The exhibition without a camera the photogram includes about 100 photograms, supplemented by other works that owe their creation to similar procedures done without using cameras or lenses.  You can see icons of photographic history such as unique works by László Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray and Christian Schad from the 1920s.  Also shown are other positions of photographers/painters like Edmund Kesting, the informal painter Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) and also the most important representative of photographic pop art, Robert Heinecken.

Contemporary photogram artists such as Hans Kupelwieser, Floris Neusüss, Edgar Lissel and others present large-sized works.  Rarities like the seldom-displayed photograms and photogram films of Stefan Themerson from the period between the wars are also shown, as are examples from famous artists such as Adam Fuss and Raoul Hausmann.

A catalogue is being published for the exhibition containing texts on the 25 presented artistic positions, supplemented by contributions on photograms in contemporary artistic discourse.  The curators of this exhibition are Floris M. Neusüss and Margit Zuckriegl. On exhibition 14/10/06 – 11/02/07.

Visit the Museum der Moderne Salzburg at : www.museumdermoderne.at/