about Emop projects in 2012 & 2013.
International co-operation in photography? Of course, nothing could be more self-evident! Even 165 years ago when the photographic procedure was first present in Paris, it was already part of a European network, and it could only triumph because its investors, promoters and users were free of national narrow-mindedness. Since then the progress achieved in photography has been linked to the principle of exchanging information and experience, to the interplay of learning and teaching, and to the encouragement of creativity. The "Month of Photography" takes up this good tradition: may it be one brick of the House of European Culture in the 21st century.
Thomas Friedrich † ( founding member of EMOP )
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Curators' statement
The European Month of photography welcomes Ljubljana as a new member of the board.
During a recent meeting in Berlin the board restated its intention to continue its common projects including a major exhibition to be shown in Berlin, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, and Vienna in 2012/2013 entitled distURBANces. The exhibition showcases photographic works dedicated to mostly urban landscapes and future worlds.
A short history
In the context of the European Month of Photography first held in 2004 and which included festivals in Paris, Berlin, Bratislava, Luxembourg, Moscow, Rome, and Vienna, it was both legitimate and necessary to look collectively at the profound changes afoot in the world, and in particular those taking place in the field of contemporary images. This was the motivation behind the 2006 exhibition entitled 'Mutations I', an exhibition focusing on technological and artistic change in the area of photography.
The second edition of the exhibition project, 'Mutations II', aimed to pursue this line of thought on the subject of video, this time exploring the productive relationships that have developed between fixed and moving images and providing a sense of where contemporary art stands in Europe today.
In a context where all means of communication and artistic media are affected by globalization and digital convergence, the era of "post-medium" we are entering is a period characterized by the exploration of hybrid technology, in which artists combine and recombine photography and video with a wide variety of other materials. Whereas in the 80s, we saw photography pushed to new heights of popularity by impressive large and high quality prints, one can not always even speak of photography today but rather of images. Pictures have become massware and everybody is putting his personal shot on Facebook, Twitter or any other platform and personal blog. Everyday shots have become commonplace in art and the issue is no longer one of aesthetic excellence but of weaving networks of significance. By putting enough images - of yourself or your neighbourhood on the net - by giving a true or staged insight into your own life or of others you can build a network of participants that will eventually contribute more images and address topics of social and political meaning. Naturally the use of images today goes well beyond our own private sphere. Found or contributed images become a medium of social concerns by allowing artists to construct new geographical, political or social realities. Artists or non-artists redefine the use of the image in post-modern society where the borderline between private issues and public image are increasingly blurred when the individual becomes an element of group dynamics.
The people behind 'Mutations III' have chosen to showcase European artists who share a taste for experimenting with new forms of expression concerning the net and its plethora of pictures and are aware of these new approaches to photography.