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ROT DOC FOTO FEST
May 13 - 23, 2010
Maritime Hotel, lobby
Willemskade 13, Rotterdam Lokaal 01, Breda, NL
Guest curator: dr. Mirelle Thijsen (iphor.nl)
Shown: the publication: ziek / ill, 2001
Photobooks on care environments and matters of life and death in post-war Holland: THEN and NOW
with books by: Martien Coppens, Koos Breukel, Carel van Hees, Rince de Jong, Roy Villevoye, Albert van Westing, Eva Besnyö, Ad Windig, Linda-Maria Birbeck, Annelies Goedhart, Jaap Scheeren (amongst others)
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Albert van Westing, ziek / ill, 2001
the publication: 40 p. design: Erik Wong
For the first edition of the Rotterdam Foto Documentaire Festival, Rogier Maaskant invited 10 guest curators to make a contribution. Mirelle Thijssen focusses on Photobooks on care environments and matters of life and death in post-war Holland.
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from the Press release: voor Nederlands: scroll down
Photobooks on care environments and matters of life and death in post-war Holland: THEN and NOW
This exhibition focuses on the meaning and significance of photobooks concerning health care environments. Heart-rending, intimate stories on matters of life, sickness, death and personal loss, are observed and experienced by consecutive generations of photographers working in the documentary tradition. Martien Coppens (1908-1986), Koos Breukel (1962), Carel van Hees (1954), Rince de Jong (1970), Roy Villevoye (1960), and Albert van Westing (1960) unveil various aspects of the everyday lives of their friends and family, as well as people in their professional environment who suffer from a severe illness or find themselves facing grim adversity. The photographers record how these people, some of whom are very dear to them, try to deal with their illness or misfortune with a need to hold on to memories of a happier past, and to understand their slow deterioration and the bewilderment that comes with it. There is often a great sense of urgency: the clock is ticking.
The world of the loved one, the patient, is turned upside down. Suddenly, life is built around medical care and attempts to find a new sense of meaning and purpose. A new dimension is added to the concept of ‘home’: ‘home’ is no longer a safe and protected place, and consequently the patient no longer experiences it as such. ‘Home’ turns into a health care environment. Simultaneously, a different kind of reality suddenly becomes of vital importance close to home: the care facility. That turns into a new ‘home’ of sorts, in the shape of a transitory location of controlled care and attention. The hospital, the nursing home, the mental institution; they are like hotels – a temporary accommodation, often born out of necessity, sometimes unwanted; a place to meet fellow sufferers. The photographer infringes upon that environment; he/she considers the ‘home away from home’ his/her work environment.
The core of the exhibition is shaped by photobooks published by and on the Dutch public health care. In addition, photobooks on consumer driven health care and loss within one’s domestic circle and circle of friends are put on view, self-published by modern day photographers. Those publications are considered to be an extension of the genre. Within the genre, photobooks since post-war reconstruction constitute a category of their own.
After World War II photographers recorded their fascination of the harsh reality of human suffering in a number of photobooks. Each of the 25 photobooks selected for this exhibition represents a photographer’s strategy regarding the documentation of medical and personal care in public and private space, then and now. Not only do they show the progression of personal tragedy; they also display the development of care environments in The Netherlands, and the birth of a genre in documentary photography. In this exhibition you will find visual narratives on academic hospitals by the first generation of photographers to work in a tradition of humanist photography and who were members of the Dutch photographer’s guild (GKf). Among them are Eva Besnyö (1910-2003) and Ad Windig (1912-1996). Photobooks that were published after the Second World War are composed around the verb ‘to live’. Moralistic and patronizing in tone they speak of nursing and nurturing in a confined workplace; mental bewilderment and daily care; a ‘day in the life’ of a patient in a care environment that tries to mimic a home life. These publications subsequently make way for self-published and digitally produced book projects. The personal involvement reflected in those projects is domestic and local in nature, focused on the photographer’s own environment and family. Books on display by contemporary author-photographers like Linda-Maria Birbeck (1974), Annelies Goedhart (1979) and Jaap Scheeren (1979) reveal that approach.
Photobooks are selected that were groundbreaking in their day and in the way they depict the socially, often highly sensitive, themes of health care in text and images. Further, the books stand out for their technical execution, layout and way of photographic storytelling. In sum, this exhibition is about commissioners, photographers, graphic designers and graphic industry that have played an important role in the history of photography and graphic design.
This exhibition focuses on the meaning and significance of photobooks concerning health care environments. Heart-rending, intimate stories on matters of life, sickness, death and personal loss, are observed and experienced by consecutive generations of photographers working in the documentary tradition. Martien Coppens (1908-1986), Koos Breukel (1962), Carel van Hees (1954), Rince de Jong (1970), Roy Villevoye (1960), and Albert van Westing (1960) unveil various aspects of the everyday lives of their friends and family, as well as people in their professional environment who suffer from a severe illness or find themselves facing grim adversity. The photographers record how these people, some of whom are very dear to them, try to deal with their illness or misfortune with a need to hold on to memories of a happier past, and to understand their slow deterioration and the bewilderment that comes with it. There is often a great sense of urgency: the clock is ticking.
The world of the loved one, the patient, is turned upside down. Suddenly, life is built around medical care and attempts to find a new sense of meaning and purpose. A new dimension is added to the concept of ‘home’: ‘home’ is no longer a safe and protected place, and consequently the patient no longer experiences it as such. ‘Home’ turns into a health care environment. Simultaneously, a different kind of reality suddenly becomes of vital importance close to home: the care facility. That turns into a new ‘home’ of sorts, in the shape of a transitory location of controlled care and attention. The hospital, the nursing home, the mental institution; they are like hotels – a temporary accommodation, often born out of necessity, sometimes unwanted; a place to meet fellow sufferers. The photographer infringes upon that environment; he/she considers the ‘home away from home’ his/her work environment.
The core of the exhibition is shaped by photobooks published by and on the Dutch public health care. In addition, photobooks on consumer driven health care and loss within one’s domestic circle and circle of friends are put on view, self-published by modern day photographers. Those publications are considered to be an extension of the genre. Within the genre, photobooks since post-war reconstruction constitute a category of their own.
After World War II photographers recorded their fascination of the harsh reality of human suffering in a number of photobooks. Each of the 25 photobooks selected for this exhibition represents a photographer’s strategy regarding the documentation of medical and personal care in public and private space, then and now. Not only do they show the progression of personal tragedy; they also display the development of care environments in The Netherlands, and the birth of a genre in documentary photography. In this exhibition you will find visual narratives on academic hospitals by the first generation of photographers to work in a tradition of humanist photography and who were members of the Dutch photographer’s guild (GKf). Among them are Eva Besnyö (1910-2003) and Ad Windig (1912-1996). Photobooks that were published after the Second World War are composed around the verb ‘to live’. Moralistic and patronizing in tone they speak of nursing and nurturing in a confined workplace; mental bewilderment and daily care; a ‘day in the life’ of a patient in a care environment that tries to mimic a home life. These publications subsequently make way for self-published and digitally produced book projects. The personal involvement reflected in those projects is domestic and local in nature, focused on the photographer’s own environment and family. Books on display by contemporary author-photographers like Linda-Maria Birbeck (1974), Annelies Goedhart (1979) and Jaap Scheeren (1979) reveal that approach.
Photobooks are selected that were groundbreaking in their day and in the way they depict the socially, often highly sensitive, themes of health care in text and images. Further, the books stand out for their technical execution, layout and way of photographic storytelling. In sum, this exhibition is about commissioners, photographers, graphic designers and graphic industry that have played an important role in the history of photography and graphic design.
Eva Besnyö (1910-2003) and Ad Windig (1912-1996). Photobooks that were published after the Second World War are composed around the verb ‘to live’. Moralistic and patronizing in tone they speak of nursing and nurturing in a confined workplace; mental bewilderment and daily care; a ‘day in the life’ of a patient in a care environment that tries to mimic a home life. These publications subsequently make way for self-published and digitally produced book projects. The personal involvement reflected in those projects is domestic and local in nature, focused on the photographer’s own environment and family. Books on display by contemporary author-photographers like Linda-Maria Birbeck (1974), Annelies Goedhart (1979) and Jaap Scheeren (1979
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Guest curator Mirelle Thijsen
Dr. Mirelle G. Thijsen (1960) lives and works in Amsterdam as a critic, curator and an independent researcher in cultural history of photography. She completed her dissertation, on Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (The Dutch Company Photo Book 1945-1965), in 2000 at the University of Utrecht. In 1988 she founded International Photography Research (IPhoR) in Amsterdam: www.iphor.nl.
Since then, Thijsen has been a curator for various exhibitions: Hommages & Remakes (1988); Grotesque (1989); Minimal Relics (1992); Virtue & Vice (1997-1998); Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (2002), and Fotocollectie STORK: van staalkaart tot familiealbum (The STORK photo collection: from sample sheet to family album) (2006). From 1993 to 2006 she was a photo critic for the Dutch daily paper het Financieele Dagblad (the Financial Daily). Thijsen lectured History of Photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Maastricht from 2002 to 2005. Between 2005-2007 she was chair and assistant professor to the Master’s of Photographic Studies (MaPS) at Leiden University.
In 2010 Mirelle Thijsen will open a Researcher in Residence (RiR) in the Southern Vosges in France.
Dr. Mirelle G. Thijsen (1960) lives and works in Amsterdam as a critic, curator and an independent researcher in cultural history of photography. She completed her dissertation, on Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (The Dutch Company Photo Book 1945-1965), in 2000 at the University of Utrecht. In 1988 she founded International Photography Research (IPhoR) in Amsterdam: www.iphor.nl.
Since then, Thijsen has been a curator for various exhibitions: Hommages & Remakes (1988); Grotesque (1989); Minimal Relics (1992); Virtue & Vice (1997-1998); Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (2002), and Fotocollectie STORK: van staalkaart tot familiealbum (The STORK photo collection: from sample sheet to family album) (2006). From 1993 to 2006 she was a photo critic for the Dutch daily paper het Financieele Dagblad (the Financial Daily). Thijsen lectured History of Photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Maastricht from 2002 to 2005. Between 2005-2007 she was chair and assistant professor to the Master’s of Photographic Studies (MaPS) at Leiden University.
In 2010 Mirelle Thijsen will open a Researcher in Residence (RiR) in the Southern Vosges in France.
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Tentoonstelling
Fotoboeken over zorgomgevingen en levensvraagstukken in naoorlogs Nederland:
TOEN en NU
In deze tentoonstelling staan de betekenis en het belang van fotoboeken over zorgomgevingen centraal. Schrijnende, intieme verhalen over levensvraagstukken, ziekte, dood en persoonlijk verlies, opgemerkt en beleefd door opeenvolgende generaties professionele fotografen werkend in de documentaire traditie. Zo registreren Martien Coppens (1908-1986), Koos Breukel (1962), Carel van Hees (1954), Rince de Jong (1970), Roy Villevoye (1960) en Albert van Westing (1960) allerlei aspecten uit het dagelijks leven van mensen uit hun familie, vriendenkring of professionele omgeving die lijden aan een ernstige ziekte of met tegenslag kampen in hun leven. Zij leggen vast hoe die, soms dierbare, persoon tracht om te gaan met zware beproevingen, vanuit een behoefte om de herinnering aan betere tijden vast te houden en het sluipende proces van lichamelijk en geestelijk verval – en de daarmee gepaard gaande ontluistering – te begrijpen. Het gevoel van urgentie is vaak groot: tijd is kostbaar.
Vanuit het oogpunt van de dierbare, de patiënt, is niets meer wat het lijkt. Alles draait ineens om medische zorg en zingeving. ‘Thuis’ krijgt een andere dimensie: het is niet langer een plaats van geborgenheid en veiligheid en wordt dan ook niet langer zo ervaren. ‘Thuis’ wordt een zorgomgeving. Tegelijkertijd wordt, dichtbij huis, een andere werkelijkheid van substantieel belang: de zorginstelling buiten de deur. Die zorginstelling vormt een nieuw ‘thuis’ in de vorm van een tijdelijke locatie van gecontroleerde zorg en aandacht. Het ziekenhuis, het verpleeghuis, de psychiatrische inrichting is als een hotel: een tijdelijke verblijfplaats, vaak noodgedwongen, soms ongewenst; een ontmoetingsplek voor lotgenoten. De fotograaf dringt die omgeving binnen en beschouwt de ‘thuishaven weg van huis’ als zijn directe werkomgeving.
Het zwaartepunt in de tentoonstelling ligt op fotoboeken, uitgegeven door en over de Nederlandse gezondheidszorg. Binnen dit genre vormen fotoboeken vanaf de wederopbouw tot nu een aparte categorie. Ook fotoboeken die in eigen beheer zijn uitgegeven door hedendaagse fotografen, over thuiszorg en verlies in de familie- en vriendenkring, worden getoond. Deze publicaties zijn een verlengstuk van het genre.
Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog zijn allerlei fotoboeken verschenen waarin fotografen hun fascinatie voor de harde realiteit van menselijk lijden vastlegden. De 25 fotoboeken in deze tentoonstelling geven een beeld van zorgomgevingen, toen en nu. Ze tonen niet alleen het verloop van persoonlijke tragedies, maar ook de ontwikkeling van zorgomgevingen in Nederland en het ontstaan van een genre in de documentaire fotografie.
Deze tentoonstelling opent met beeldverhalen in zorginstellingen, gemaakt door de eerste generatie GKf-leden werkend in de traditie van de humanistische fotografie, onder wie Eva Besnyö (1910-2003) en Ad Windig (1912-1996). In de naoorlogse fotoboekjes staat het werkwoord ‘leven’ centraal; de toon is moralistisch en bevoogdend, over verpleging en opvoeding in beschermde werkinrichtingen, over geestelijke ontreddering en dagelijkse zorg, over ‘een dag uit het leven van’ een patiënt in een zorgomgeving waarin het ‘huiselijke’ wordt nagebootst. Deze boekjes maken vervolgens plaats voor in eigen beheer uitgegeven en digitaal geproduceerde boekprojecten. De persoonlijke betrokkenheid die daarin centraal staat, is familiair en lokaal van aard, gericht op de eigen omgeving en familieleden van de fotograaf. De auteursfotoboeken van hedendaagse documentaire fotografen als Linda-Maria Birbeck (1974), Annelies Goedhart (1979) en Jaap Scheeren (1979) zijn daar voorbeelden van.
Fotoboeken zijn te zien die in hun tijd grensverleggend waren in de wijze waarop de in maatschappelijk opzicht veelal zeer gevoelige thematiek in tekst en beeld is behandeld en die temeer opvallen door hun boektechnische uitvoering, paginaopmaak en fotografische verteltrant. Bovendien gaat het in deze selectie om fotografen, grafisch vormgevers en grafische productiebedrijven die voor de geschiedenis van de fotografie en grafische vormgeving van betekenis zijn.
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Gastcurator Mirelle Thijsen
Dr. Mirelle Thijsen (1960) leeft en werkt in Amsterdam als criticus, curator en onafhankelijk onderzoeker op het gebied van de cultuurgeschiedenis van de fotografie. Ze voltooide haar proefschrift over Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 in 2000 aan de Universiteit Utrecht. In 1988 richtte ze International Photography Research (IPhoR) op in Amsterdam: www.iphor.nl.
Thijsen heeft sindsdien verschillende tentoonstellingen samengesteld, waaronder: Hommages & Remakes (1988), Grotesque (1989); Minimal Relics (1992); Virtue & Vice (1997-1998); Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (2002) en Fotocollectie STORK: van staalkaart tot familiealbum (2006). Van 1993 tot 2006 was zij werkzaam als fotocriticus voor het Financieele Dagblad. Ze doceerde geschiedenis van de fotografie aan de Academie Beeldende Kunsten in Maastricht (ABKM) van 2002 tot 2005. In 2005-2007 was zij voorzitter van en universitair docent aan de masteropleiding Photographic Studies (MaPS) van de Universiteit Leiden. In 2010 opent Mirelle Thijsen een Researcher in Residence (RiR) in de Zuidelijke Vogezen, in Frankrijk.
Dr. Mirelle Thijsen (1960) leeft en werkt in Amsterdam als criticus, curator en onafhankelijk onderzoeker op het gebied van de cultuurgeschiedenis van de fotografie. Ze voltooide haar proefschrift over Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 in 2000 aan de Universiteit Utrecht. In 1988 richtte ze International Photography Research (IPhoR) op in Amsterdam: www.iphor.nl.
Thijsen heeft sindsdien verschillende tentoonstellingen samengesteld, waaronder: Hommages & Remakes (1988), Grotesque (1989); Minimal Relics (1992); Virtue & Vice (1997-1998); Het Nederlandse bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 (2002) en Fotocollectie STORK: van staalkaart tot familiealbum (2006). Van 1993 tot 2006 was zij werkzaam als fotocriticus voor het Financieele Dagblad. Ze doceerde geschiedenis van de fotografie aan de Academie Beeldende Kunsten in Maastricht (ABKM) van 2002 tot 2005. In 2005-2007 was zij voorzitter van en universitair docent aan de masteropleiding Photographic Studies (MaPS) van de Universiteit Leiden. In 2010 opent Mirelle Thijsen een Researcher in Residence (RiR) in de Zuidelijke Vogezen, in Frankrijk.
Albert van Westing