Taiyo Onorato und Nico Krebs und Die DNA der Fotografie

Letztes Jahr gewann das Schweizer Künstlerduo Taiyo Onorato und Nico Krebs (Bild) den «Foam Paul Huf Preis». Dazu gehört eine Einzelausstellung im Amsterdamer Fotografie-Museum Foam, die am 21. März dieses Jahres ihre Türen geöffnet hat und noch bis am 11. Mai 2014 dauert. Die Jury begründete ihren Entscheid: «In ihrer Arbeit sehen wir eine Verspieltheit und Tiefe, die präzise die DNA der Fotografie berührt.» Ihre Absicht, Illusionen zu erzeugen, sprenge die Grenzen des Mediums Fotografie, erklärte sie.

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs – «Adding, Adding, Adding»

In 2013, the annual Foam Paul Huf Award was awarded to Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs. The international jury was deeply impressed: «In their work we see a playfulness and depth that touches upon the very DNA of photography. As illusionists intent on pushing against the boundaries of the medium, Onorato & Krebs skillfully engage their audiences and convey some of the magic that lies at the core of photographic image-making.»

Foam is proud to present ‹Adding, Adding, Adding› as part of the award. In this exhibition brand new work and films are presented that are built on the play between illusion and reality in urban spaces. Exclusively for Foam, a site-specific installation is set up in the garden.

The duo has worked together since 2003 on a variety of projects on the cutting edge of photography, sculpture and installation art.

From 2009 onwards the urban environment takes up a prominent role in their oeuvre.

For the series Building Berlin/Constructions (2009-2012) they installed wooden structures on waste land which followed the contours of the buildings in the background.

In the pictures, taken with an analogue large format camera, they play with architecture, proportions, emptiness and references to socialist iconography. The viewer is invited to decipher the various layers within the flat surface of the images.

The three films on show, Chimney, Lamp and Fire (2014), further investigates this theme by adding movement and time.

A similar game with fore- and background in the flat surface of the image is used by the duo in their 16 mm black-and-white film installation Blockbuster (2012). In the film, a man standing on a stepladder swinging a hammer, appears to be hitting buildings. The man’s gestures are transformed by the camera from an action in the three-dimensional urban space to the two-dimensional space of the flat surface. Additionally, the soundtrack of the film is played by a separate hammer machine, referencing the early days of cinema, when sound was performed live during the film screening.

Contact:

http://www.foam.org/visit-foam/calendar/2014-exhibitions/taiyo-onorato-nico-krebs-adding-adding-adding

http://www.foam.org/photographers/o/taiyo-onorato-nico-krebs

http://www.tonk.ch/