THE SONIC BLOG Fotografie ist Kunst | Photography is Art

Michael Kominek, born in 1971 in Poland, is a photographer and gallery owner. He was co-founder and editor of the Spanish magazine SCOPE and runs since 2007 the Kominek Gallery in Berlin.

Peter F. (PF): Michael how did it happen that you founded the photo book gallery Kominek 2007 in Berlin. How did you get the idea to combine the various elements of publishing, bookstore and gallery?

Michael Kominek (MK): The basic idea was to create a specialized type of site to present the best photo books. My absolute dream was to publish books by myself, even if it would be very small editions.

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In his work Kirill Golovchenko examines the change in the Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His project “7km/Feld der Wunder” has been published recently by Snoek. Here he talks about his current pojekt “The Ukranian Breakthrough”.

Kirill Golovchenko, born 1978 in Odessa/Ukraine, studied communication design in Darmstadt. He lives and works in Mainz/Germany.

Peter F. (PF): Kirill, as like in the series “7KM | Feld der Wunder” your new project “The Ukrainian Breakthrough” investigates the social change in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. What fascinates you about the situation in Ukraine?

Kirill Golovchenko (KG): The Ukraine passes currently, like many other Eastern European countries, major changes. For a long time we have been striving for communism and couldn’t develop ourselves socially and economically.
I studied photography in Germany and live here since twelve years. So my personal view is shaped strongly by Western Europe. A part of mine has experienced the Soviet system and its collapse. And another part has grown here in the West. It is this inner fraction that drives me to visit my native land in these difficult times to learn and explore. Everything there is changing very fast. I simply want to participate.
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Ofer Wolberger’s latest series “Life with Maggie” explores questions of identity. The project is on display at C/O Berlin until 06th of December 2009.

Ofer Wolberger, born 1976, received his MFA in Photography from The School of Visual Arts in 2001. He lives and works in New York.

Peter F. (PF): Ofer, beside your photography education you received a BA in Studio Art, Art History and a minor in cinema studies. So you are interested in film as well as in photography. What made your decision to select photography as field of activity?

Ofer Wolberger (OW): It was cinema that led me to photography in the first place. I had always been a fan of the movies growing up but in school I studied both the narrative and avant-guarde histories of film and I basically became obsessed, a total film junkie. At around the same time I took my first photography class, mostly out of curiosity as I realized that photography was very much a big element of cinema and I wanted to understand the essence of the still image. I’m still pretty crazy about cinema and am hoping to get back there some day. more…

Zoum Zoum published recently a worth reading interview with Andreas Till – talking about his recent project “Sundays”.

What we see in the outer corner of the eyes stays always hidden in the blurred. If someone directs the view toward it, the eye focuses automatically and the perception changes. Stefan Heyne, scenic designer and photographer, places this volatile thing into the centre. But he neglects to readjust the sharpness and makes visible what we would see hardly ever otherwise.

Stefan Heyne, born 1965 in Brandenburg, studied scenic design at the Art Academy Berlin. He lives and works in Berlin.

Stefan Heyne’s solo show “Blind Spot” at Kaune, Sudendorf in Cologne runs from May 30th to July 11th 2009. The opening night is on Friday, 29th May 2009, at 7 pm. His current solo show “The Noise” in Brandenburg / Havel runs until July 13th.

Translate the German interview by Google:

Peter F. (PF): Stefan, du hast ja eigentlich Bühnenbild studiert. Wann hast du die Fotografie für dich entdeckt und wie kam es, dass die Fotografie für dich ein zentrales Ausdrucksmittel wurde?

Stefan Heyne (SH): Der Übergang vom Bühnenbild zur Fotografie war fließend; anfänglich habe ich meine Bühnenbilder fotografiert aber dabei gemerkt, wie schlecht sich so was mit den Mitteln der Fotografie abbilden lässt, wie subjektiv und ungeeignet die Fotografie für dokumentarische Zwecke ist. Dadurch ausgelöst, hat mich immer mehr interessiert, was die Fotografie im Eigentlichen ausmacht. So entstanden ab 2002 erste intensivere fotografische Arbeitsphasen, bei denen ich gemerkt habe, dass die Fotografie gegenüber dem Bühnenbild das besser geeignete Mittel ist, um wesentliche Bilder zu machen und die Fragen um die es mir geht, stellen zu können.

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In his cycle of work “Macht und Ritual” (Power and Ritual) the Cologne based photographer Bernd Arnold examines the rites of power from Catholic Church to politics.

Bernd Arnold, born 1961 in Cologne, studied Photography and Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund. Since 1998 he is a member of the photo-agency VISUM. Bernd Arnold lives and works in Cologne.

Peter F. (PF): Bernd, the first Part of the Cycle “Power and Ritual” shows photos from the Night Life and the Half World Environment in Cologne. Compared with later work from the cycle, these photos are more open and friendly. Why is it like that?

Bernd Arnold (BA): Well, honestly I have never seen that. Perhaps the friendlier and opener effect comes from the people in the environment. That is their role as powerful people to exercise their power more directly. In other words, cause and effect are immediately comprehensible. A misdoing in the environment, similar to, for example, in crosswalks it is justified to cross immediately in “a nice and proper manner”. The hierarchy is clearly set and transparent for the members of the group.

This seen throughout religion, politics, economy and the media in completely different ways. In these areas the networking of the rituals and power is unclear. Incidentally, there shouldn’t be a final plea for the direct exercise of power. I am there rather in the search of structure. The protagonists in Half World Environment are not easily recognizable, since they were also part of the “General” nightlife. Maybe the pictures are more open because I was closer to the subjects. In the politics or religion photos this closeness was manufactured but it was more difficult. Nevertheless I found myself in the observers role.

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When he travelled to Romania in 2000, Davin Ellicson was magnetized by the rural live in the Maramures region. In 2003 he moved to Romania where he lived with a peasant family for a whole year, what lead to the long term project “Maramures” about rural life in Romania.

Davin Ellicson, born 1978 in Massachusetts, studied Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. He lives and works currently in Bucharest / Romania. Davin Ellicson is represented by Wonderful Machine in the US and by Anzenberger everywhere else. Some images from the “Maramures” project appear in the book “EAST” from Anzenberger which showcases projects in Eastern Europe.

Peter F. (PF): Davin, in 2003 you moved to Romania and lived there with a peasant family for a year in the rural Maramures region. Can you tell us something about your motivations to go there?

Davin Ellicson (DE): It was Anthony Suau’s work. I saw his images coming out of Romania in 1990-1992 right after the revolution when I was 13 or 14 years-old and they made a huge impression on me.
It seemed there was still an area of Europe that was largely agrarian and had traditional rural life cut off from the modern world and I wanted to experience it for myself. Other former Eastern Bloc countries had it too to a degree of course, but Romania’s countryside seemed more romantic from the pictures I was seeing. Later I came into contact with the great Czech master Josef Koudelka’s photography, which only made me want to go to Eastern Europe and Romania all the more.
I did get to Prague in 1998, but it was in 2000 while studying French in Paris on an abroad program from Carleton College in Minnesota, that I used our one week mid- term break to take the train from the Gare de L’Est to Bucharest. The trip was a life changing event for me. Romania had changed little in the first decade after Communism and I was able to see a side of Europe that had long vanished elsewhere.

I returned to the US and worked at luxury boutique hotel for two months in western Massachusetts where I am from to make some money. In December, I arrived back in Valeni with the understanding that I would stay for about a month in order to witness the traditional Christmas festivities including the ritual pig slaughter. Well, one month turned into one year! I just kept extending my stay with the Nemes family. Each season brought new things to witness and to participate in. The year was really as much about the personal experience for me as it was about the photography. I used my Leica to further heighten the village life I was living.

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On occasion of the twentieth anniversary of PHOTONEWS, Marko Radloff from bildwerk3 conducted an interview with Denis Brudna (German only).
Denis Brudna publishes in association with Anna Gripp the PHOTONEWS, surely one of the most important photography magazines in Germany.

Simon Hoegsberg latest project “We’re All Gonna Die – 100 meters of existence” captured 178 people in a 100 meters wide photograph. Photographed on a railroad bridge in Berlin he took photographs on more than 20 days in a period of 17 month and finally stitched the images together into a single frame.

Peter F. (PF): As like some of your other projects “100 meters” has a strong relation to street photography. What do you think about modern street photography?

Simon Hoegsberg (SH): My impression of modern street photography is that much of it looks the same. That’s not to say that the subject matter of street photography is uninteresting. The subject matter of street photography is human conditions, and that will never cease to interest people. But if as a photographer you’ve got a message that you’d like to get across you’ll have to make sure to speak in a way so that people pay attention. I have no fixed recipe for how this can be achieved. But I certainly know that you’ll have to avoid making work that people have good reason to dismiss as a cliché.

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