Marika Kuźmicz, Weronika Kobylińska (eds.). – Fotografika

#1 min Tomáš Pospěch, Marika Kuźmicz

29. 1. 2024

#46 TourismBook ReviewPhotobooks

Fotografika as one of the distinctive forms of artistic photography found resonance both in the avant-garde movement and especially in the broad layers of amateur photography in the 1960s and 1970s. While in Poland it has not yet received a detailed assessment and has been marginalised, a Polish-English monograph by the most important author of this approach, Edward Hartwig, is now available. In their texts, Lukasz Gorczyca, Adam Mazur, Marika Kuźmicz and Weronika Kobylińska give a broad introduction to the practice of art photography and its contemporary perception in the context of art, presenting Hartwig as an artist who paralleled current tendencies in painting and presenting him, along with Jan Bulhak, as a founding figure of Polish art photography. The pictorial part of the exhibition presents Edward Hartwig from his early photographs following the social photography movement to photography leading to pictorial abstraction. Everything is richly juxtaposed with the work of his peers and the younger generation on whom he undoubtedly had a significant influence.

 

Marika Kuźmicz – Weronika Kobylińska (eds.).: Fotografika. Fotografia artystyczna w Polsce 1927–1968 / Fine Art Photography in Poland 1927–1978. Warszawa – Kraków – Łódz: Fundacja im. Edwarda Hartwiga 2022

#46 TourismBook ReviewPhotobooksAnalog AmateurismArchiveExperimentTourismAvantgarde

Tomáš Pospěch

is an art historian and visual artist. He works as a teacher at the Institute of Creative Photography at SU in Opava and as a curator of photography at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. As an art historian, he focuses mainly on photography and contemporary art of Central Europe. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 books, including Eugen Wiškovský, Viktor Kolář, Jindřich Štreit, Jiří Hanke, Jan Jindra, Gustav Aulehla, Jaroslav Pulicar, Pavel Vavroušek and a selection of Josef Koudelka's diaries.

#46 Tourism

It is interesting how much the world of photography is connected with tourism, in other words, how much the two domains may have in common. If we look at them through the lens of a mass phenomenon, they may even be similarly old. And it is in this perspective that a number of controversial questions arise in all their clarity. To what extent has tourism affected many of the coastlines and unique destinations that attract tourists? And to what extent does photography influence our perception of the places we visit?

Josef Koudelka – Ruins

#2 min Tomáš Pospěch, Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka – Ruins

#46 TourismProfileHistory

What will Prague or New York look like in a thousand or two thousand years? My aim here is not to contribute to the dystopian genre, so popular today. But we do have a sufficient historical experience of the emergence and demise of civilizations. It is therefore not so hard to imagine that where New York City used to stand, waves will beat against the remaining concrete foundations of a few skyscrapers and Prague too will be reduced to the ruins of a few of the most significant buildings – if the city isn’t entirely abandoned, that is. Without depicting these scenes directly, such notions might follow from Josef Koudelka’s newest photographic series, titled Ruins.

Food Served to the Camera

#8 min Tomáš Pospěch

Food Served to the Camera

#42 FoodHistoryEnvironment

The ubiquity and primary biological need for food predetermine that food has undoubtedly been photographed by every photographer at some point. Furthermore, "gourmet pictures" enjoy great popularity nowadays. According to surveys, they are among the most liked pictures on Instagram and food bloggers are becoming "celebrities", bringing here joy, there wrinkles to waiters. There is a growing interest in the origin of ingredients, food blogs multiply, reality cooking shows are on TV, and restaurants with an open view of the kitchen pop up increasingly often. We are experiencing a turn in thinking about the appearance of our food and forms of eating.