Photography Collection

Until the end of August, the Fundación Proa in Buenos Aires presents the exhibition Urban Spaces: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth. The show analyzes the evolution on the concept of the city in contemporary culture through the ideas and images produced by five members of the so called Düsseldorf School of Photography: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth. Curated by Ludovico Pratesi, researcher and specialist in photography, in collaboration with Benedetta Carpi De Resmini, the exhibition is composed by 45 works produced from the early eighties until recent times. It is designed to take the visitor first through the artists’ early works –those produced during their formative years– and continuing with their most recent body of work, in which an individual selection from each artist emphasizes their stylistic differences and personal characteristics.

Candida Höfer, Congreso Buenos Aires I, 2006, © Candida Höfer/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn/ SAVA, Buenos Aires 2009, C-Print. 200 x 251 cm, Artist's Collection

This is the first time Gursky, Höfer, Hütte, Ruff and Struth are invited to reflect of a common theme –the city–. The works exhibited at Fundación Proa are the result of the close dialogue between the artists and the curator, and depicts the different interpretations and relation each artist has with the urban space. “The exhibition includes some of the artists’ master works, such as May Day IV by Andreas Gursky, the m.d.p.n. series by Thomas Ruff and the photos of Louvre by Candida Höfer. At the same time, in the selection made with Höfer there are some important shots taken in Buenos Aires –where the exhibition is displayed–, a city which fascinated and interested her in a very special way”, explains the curator Pratesi. During the 1980s, their teachers Bernd and Hilla Becher conveyed the city theme as an important artistic reference. Subsequently, each one of them developed a unique and personal style, following the drastic changes caused by the rapid globalization of urban cultures. Their images depicting different sites around the world combine the local details with the usual feelings and experiences of contemporary societies. Each piece recreates a unique and defined universe that concentrates in the interrelation that exists between man and his surroundings, together with all its anthropological and sociocultural implications. “This exhibition is part of the cultural program of Fundación Proa, in which we present different disciplines of current contemporary art. In the same way that we once organized exhibitions of photographers Andrés Serrano or Sebastián Selgado, we now considered that bringing works of these five artists of the Düsseldorf School was practically inevitable within the international contemporary context”, explains Adriana Rosenberg, director of Proa.

Andreas Gursky, Hong Kong, Grand Hyatt Park, 1994, © Andreas Gursky/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn/ SAVA, Buenos Aires 2009, C-print. 210 x 170,5 cm, Colección privada. Turín, Italia, Lia Rumma Gallery

The exhibition catalogue, a bilingual publication with large prints of the exhibited works and referential images, becomes one of the first Spanish catalogues for the joint group. The critical essays by curator Pratesi and acclaimed art critics such as Armin Zweite, Pablo Perulli and Valeria González give clear evidence not only of the contradictions of the contemporary city, but also of the history behind the Düsseldorf School and the artists' influence on artistic expression, together with their revolutionary input on the photographic medium within the global context.

Fundación Proa is a contemporary art centre located in the traditional neighbourhood of La Boca, in the city of Buenos Aires. Since 1996, it has carried out temporary exhibitions of national and foreign artists, and organized educational and exchange programmes with other cultural institutions.

Urban Spaces
- 27.07.2009
From Tuesdays to Sundays
11 - 19 hrs.
Mondays closed.

Fundación PROA
Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929
La Boca, Caminito
Buenos Aires