The Show Must Go On
Situations, Fotomuseum Winterthur, SwitzerlandCurator: Doris Gassert
Solo show
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
A Show of Affection – Collection Constellation 2
After Fotomuseum Winterthur showed A Show of Affection – Collection Constellation 1 in Winterthur, the exhibition will be presented in a slightly adapted form under the title Collection Constellation 2 at Kunststiftung DZ BANK in Frankfurt, Germany. Like the first edition, this exhibition also provides an insight into the museum’s collecting activities by presenting exemplary works from the collection. On display are works by a total of 16 different photographers and artists, a mix of well-known names and new discoveries.
The non-linear way in which the exhibition is presented highlights the fact that the (progressive) development of a collection is influenced by a variety of different factors. These include the exhibition programme, thematic focuses, curatorial interests, social issues and photography’s own process of evolution as a medium and body of practices. The exhibition homes in on the collection’s idiosyncrasies, distinctive qualities and thematic focuses, while also scrutinising museum collecting practices per se. Additionally, this probing of the collection looks at gaps and lacunae that are made apparent by the museum’s critical self-assessment and at works that are institutionally challenging. A Show of Affection – Collection Constellation 2 offers an alternative to the classical collection exhibition and is, not least, an expression of an institutional approach: Fotomuseum Winterthur is eminently (self-)critical – and yet still has a sense of affection for its own collection.
With works by: Diane Arbus, Lewis Baltz, Tina Barney, Hannah Collins, Anna Ehrenstein, Matthias Gabi, Nan Goldin, Roc Herms, Roni Horn, Zoe Leonard, Marc Lee, Mark Morrisroe, Frida Orupabo, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson and John Yuyi.
About the collection of Fotomuseum Winterthur
The collection of Fotomuseum Winterthur comprises international artistic positions that have close historical and institutional links with the museum’s exhibition programme. It includes around 9,000 photographic objects – photographs, documents, installative works and moving images. The collection’s earliest works date from the 1960s and its most recent belong to the immediate present. It contains works not only by internationally renowned photographers – such as Sophie Calle, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Boris Mikhailov and Dayanita Singh – but also by a young generation of interdisciplinary artists like Laia Abril, Anna Ehrenstein and John Yuyi, while including vernacular photography too. It has five principal areas of emphasis: documentary-narrative photography; conceptual photography and artistic photography with a focus on media analysis; post-photographic works that challenge, reflect on and extend the various forms of the photographic in the context of digital image practices and technologies; works by young photographers; and ephemeral works and print objects such as brochures, pamphlets, posters and postcards.
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
SITUATION #52: Marc Lee, The Show Must Go On. Social Media Fights for the Presidency!, 2016
The US presidential election is a product manufactured for the big stage of TV: here, orchestrated reality TV shows are sold as political debates, and ‘stars’ like Donald Trump conquer the stage by establishing ‘perceived facts’ and telling blatant lies. Political opinion is served as easily digestible nibbles that circulate across the digital channels of social media. Twitter, Facebook and Co. have long become main actors driving the presidential campaign.
The Show Must Go On by Marc Lee captures the circulation flow and momentum of the social media-fueled campaign, exaggerating it to the point where it tips into a theatre of the absurd. The online work filters the most recent Twitter, Instagram and Youtube messages that mention terms like “Clinton”, “Trump” or “US Election”, weaving them into a wild TV show. A new version of Lee’s TV-Bot (2004), The Show Must Go On was specially created for the US elections. The original version was designed as an Internet news service that grabbed its content from more traditional TV and radio channels. Its sole principle was that of novelty. Additionally, what counts today is the ‘Likes’ and ‘Retweets’ that migrate across the screen as stars (Clinton) and hearts (Trump), fighting for the presidency. Whatever the ending of the show, it will be historical – and it will be just the beginning.
Exhibited Artwork
The Show Must Go On. Social Media Fights for the Presidency!
Online TV ShowThe US presidential election is a product manufactured for the big stage of TV: here, orchestrated reality TV shows are sold as political debates, and ‘stars’ like Donald Trump conquer the stage by establishing ‘perceived facts’ and telling blatant lies. Political opinion is served as easily digestible nibbles that circulate across the digital channels of social media. Twitter, Facebook more …
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
Fotomuseum, Winterthur
Political Campaigns - Battle of Opinion on Social Media
Interactive Net-Based TV ShowIn recent months in Political Campaigns all over the world, the supporters of opposing parties have engaged in fiercely waged wars of images on social media. Elections have also long since ceased to be won on the street or in the traditional media— social networks have become the digital marketplace for political disputation. A new version of Marc Lee’s TV Bot (2004), filters the latest Twitter more …
ZKM, Karlsruhe
dokKa, Karlsruhe
Port25, Mannheim