THE SONIC BLOG Fotografie ist Kunst | Photography is Art

Recently I featured here the series “re:green” by Matthias Walendy. I found his topic Urban Gardening very interesting, so I asked Matthias for an interview and I’m very glad that he agreed.

Peter Feldhaus (PF): In your final work for the Ostkreuz School “re:green” you examine the return of the gardens into the city and you take a look at current phenomenas like Guerilla Gardening or Intercultural Gardens. How do you discovered this topic for your final work?

Matthias Walendy (MW): I’ve always been interested in topics like environment, environmental protection, nature and society. At the same time I was always fascinated by the urban. And the human is always important to me. more…

The street photography collective Seconds2Real shows from 15th October until 30th October 2011 their first group exhibition in Berlin. Under the title “fascination street” over 100 works by Seconds2Real members are on display in the MEINBLAU Kunsthaus.

The opening is on 14th October 2011 at 7 pm.

On the occasion of the exhibition, I conducted an interview with the Seconds2Real photographer Kay von Aspern:

Peter Feldhaus: The street photographers collective seconds2real was founded in 2007 by Ronny Künniger. How the photographers turned up and why the restriction on photographers from Germany and Austria?

Kay von Aspern: Originally Ronny, as the founder of the group, decided which photographer was invited to the group. Based on his personal photographic preference a first group of about 10-15 international street photographers were build up. more…

I featured recently Thomas Kern’s new book “A Drug Free Land“. Now seconds2real featured an extensive interview with Thomas Kern.

For his series “Neureif” the Austrian photographer Florian Rainer traveled to Turkey and portrayed young Austrians who had just passed their high-school diploma. These young people are often unconfident and look still for their identity. Away from the hustle and bustle of parties Florian Rainer tried to capture the emotions of the recent graduates in a holiday resort.

Peter Feldhaus (PF): Florian, your portrait series “Neureif” deals with the uncertainty and search for identity among young people in Austria who have just passed the Matura. How do you came up with this subject and what appeals you to this period of life?

Florian Rainer (FR): The media representation of this period of life is missing something very fundamental. The media shows young peoples life defined by alcohol and parties. I wanted to show a different view on this phase of life. This period is a time of decisions, a time when many choices are made. Decisions bring uncertainty; it seemed to be natural to select this kind of approach.

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On the occasion of his book “Istanbul” recently published by Hatje Canz took Nicole Buesing and Heiko Klaas an interview with the Hamburg based photographer Andreas Herzau.

At Brklyngirl is an interview with Joscha Bruckert, photographer and editor of the ROMKA magazine, available.

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…