MANFRED WILLMANN

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2003

Gallery, Grafisches Kabinett
February 27 – April 27, 2003



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


Manfred Willmann, the Austrian photographer and editor of the magazine "Camera Austria", shows the two photo cycles Das Land (1981 - 1993) and Oman (1997) at the Secession. Although the series are based on the documentary, they go beyond the mere registration of phenomena. Manfred Willmann's intention is to go beyond the regulatory of the documentary: "I want to be ahead of the feeling of the times. I want to show things more beautiful than they are, or uglier." (Manfred Willmann)



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


Every photograph documents "something". The discourse, however, has long since left behind the definition of photography as the unmediated transfer of physical manifestations. We meanwhile accept as given that the camera produces ideologically charged representations through the translation of the real into the pictorial. Documentary photography, in particular, is often determined by this perception and instrumentalization.

Manfred Willmann, on the other hand, is a proponent of a direction of documentary photography that eludes ideological appropriation. His photography is conceptual, making use of the documentary style simply as a gesture.



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


Approximately 135 photographs from the cycle Das Land (1981 - 1993) are on display in the Galerie of the Secession. The selection is based on the book of the same name, which was published in 2000, as well as several previously unpublished photographs from the same series. The pictures, which were taken in a loose sequence, show shots from southern Styria. The spectrum of portrayals is broad, but certain motifs recur again and again: people carrying out unspectacular, everyday tasks; working, grooming themselves, eating, celebrating, playing cards; animals, living, dead, slaughtered; the locations of rural life and their details: kitchens, meals, leftovers, inns, town fair situations, and in between, again and again, landscape shots of southern Styria.



Manfred Willmann, Das Land (1981 - 1993)


In his photographs, Willmann alternates between landscapes and details, persons and still-lifes. The photographs reveal that Willmann did not approach his objects as an outsider. Styria, the photographer's home, is not constructed as something "exotic" from an urban viewpoint, but rather documented as a habitat. Das Land is less the theme, than the motif.


Manfred Willmann, Das Land (1981 - 1993)


The artistic interventions in Willmann's photographs do not take place during development, but rather during the shooting. The pictures are not manipulated and the uniform format of the prints of 70 x 70 cm corresponds to the 6 x 6 cm of the slide.



Manfred Willmann, Das Land (1981 - 1993)


Where Willmann intervenes, perhaps also to make sure that the pictures are not unambiguously legible, is in the light and the perspective. Willmann frequently uses a special flash that tears the figure out of the background, whether it is a person, a cow or an apple on a tree, so that the entire scene undergoes a different charge.



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


In the Grafisches Kabinett of the Secession, photographs from the series Oman are presented. The central difference between these photographs from 1997 and those of Das Land, is that these were taken during a journey and panoramically. The pictures, in the format 80 x 160 cm, convey an approach that is different from that of travel photos or photographs for a geographical magazine; Willmann's view goes beyond a specific country. Willmann accords the horizon a central role - it is always positioned exactly in the middle of the picture. The series Oman has previously only been shown in Zagreb and Trier and is now shown at the Secession for the first time in Austria.



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


Whether it is through the use of flash in Das Land or the choice of a panoramic representation in Oman, Willmann avoids the trap of either a one-sided representation of the given or the danger of an auratic pathos that this would yield.



Manfred Willmann, Exhibition View


PUBLICATION

MANFRED WILLMANN 32 pages, 32 colored illustrations Texte: Marina Grzinic, Matthias Herrmann, Wolfgang Kos Secession 2003, ISBN 3-901926-53-6 ___________________ available in the shop

Manfred Willmann, Oman, 1997


MANFRED WILLMANN , born 1952 in Graz, lives and works in Graz
Solo exhibitions (selected): 2002 Das Land, Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic, Zagreb; Oman, Galerija Krizic, Zagreb; 2001 Lebensmittel, KunstRaum Hinrichs, Trier; 1997 Werkschau II, Arbeiten von 1971-1996, Fotogalerie Wien; 1996 Das Land, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; 1995 Pour Christine, Le Garage, Reims; 1993 Die Japan-Arbeit, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz; 1991 Die Sieger and more, Galerie Torch, Amsterdam; 1990 Die Sieger, Museum Flokwang, Essen; 1983 Die Welt ist schön, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
Group exhibitions (selected): 2002 Augenblick, Sammlung Essl, Kunst der Gegenwart, Wien; 2001 Oh, Europe!, nederlands foto instituut, Rotterdam; La Natura della Natura Morta, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna (Catalogue); 2000 Milano Senza Confini - 10 fotografi europei leggono la città, Spazio Oberdan, Mailand; Der anagrammatische Körper, ZKM Karlsruhe; 1997 Tokyo Today, Kagoshima City Museum of Art
1980 founder and publisher of the magazine CAMERA AUSTRIA



Manfred Willmann, Oman, 1997


The production of the exhibition was supported by: www.megalab.de


All In-Situs: Matthias Herrmann

HANS SCHABUS

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2003

 
For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Urte Schmitt-Ulms
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
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Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at