BY THE RIVER 3 – INTERNATIONAL ART PHOTOGRAPHY TODAY

PRESS RELEASE

In its By the River exhibition series, the Pori Art Museum presents contemporary international art photography by inviting nine world-class photographers to showcase their work as per their own selections. The participating artists in the exhibition are:

Harry Callahan, USA
Franco Fontana, Italy
Kishin Shinoyama, Japan
Robert Mapplethorpe, USA
Marina Abramovic / Ulay, Netherlands
Georges Rousse, France
Graeme Outerbridge, Bermuda
Marcel Odenbach, West Germany
Cindy Sherman, USA

The exhibition aims to highlight current artistic trends in photography through the use of photographs, video, and multimedia presentations. Harry Callahan lends the exhibition historical depth with his classic black-and-white photographs from the 1940s and 1950s. Contemporary American photography is represented by Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe. Sherman’s societal critique targets the glamour style of mass media, while Mapplethorpe explores the aesthetics of flowers and the human body in his erotically charged, deeply reductive studies.

Franco Fontana and Graeme Outerbridge represent the nearly abstract dimensions of color photography. Fontana reduces landscapes to their essence, while Outerbridge discovers compositions in the vivid color surfaces of Bermudian houses. French artist Georges Rousse works like a modern archaeologist, finding beauty in abandoned, often dilapidated spaces. The works on display were created in February 1985 in the empty factory halls of Pori’s Finlayson complex.

Japanese artist Kishin Shinoyama has developed his own multimedia technique, which he calls Shinorama. Shinoyama uses multiple cameras firing simultaneously from different angles, creating a panoramic sensation. The exhibition includes a program featuring Tokyo as its subject. Marina Abramovic and Ulay, working in the Netherlands, contribute to the exhibition with video installations originally presented at the 1984 Venice Biennale.

Fresh international video art is also represented by German artist Marcel Odenbach’s installation.

Puplication:
ISBN 951-9355-10-3 Varrella Virran 3: Kansainvälinen taidevalokuva tänään
Pori Art Museum 23.5.-14.7.1985
Article writers:
Giuliana Scimé – professor, Milano
Alain Sayag – Chief of Photography Department
Arno Rafael Minkkinen –  photographer/teacher, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Lahti Institute of Design
Kuutti Lavonen – artist
Catherine Strasser – art historian
Translations: Kimmo Pasanen, Eeva Puttonen, Ritva Päivömaa
Translations: Harald Arnkil, Martin Easterbrook, Ritva Päivömaa, Kimmo Pasanen
Lay-out: Pori Art Museum/Hilkka Kuusijärvi
Satakunnan Kirjateollisuus Oy, Pori 1985
Pori Art Museum Publications 6

Translated with ChatGPT