Commisioned by Foam
Artist
Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs
Date
21 March – 11 May 2014
In 2013, the annual Foam Paul Huf Award was awarded to Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs. The international jury was deeply impressed: “In their work we see a playfulness and depth that touches upon the very DNA of photography. As illusionists intent on pushing against the boundaries of the medium, Onorato & Krebs skillfully engage their audiences and convey some of the magic that lies at the core of photographic image-making.” Foam is proud to present ‘Adding, Adding, Adding’ as part of the award. In this exhibition brand new work and films are presented that are built on the play between illusion and reality in urban spaces. Exclusively for Foam, a site-specific installation is set up in the garden.
Photography, sculpture and installation
The duo has worked together since 2003 on a variety of projects on the cutting edge of photography, sculpture and installation art. From 2009 onwards the urban environment takes up a prominent role in their oeuvre. For the series Building Berlin/Constructions (2009-2012) they installed wooden structures on waste land which followed the contours of the buildings in the background. In the pictures, taken with an analogue large format camera, they play with architecture, proportions, emptiness and references to socialist iconography. The viewer is invited to decipher the various layers within the flat surface of the images. The three films on show, Chimney, Lamp and Fire (2014), further investigates this theme by adding movement and time.
A similar game with fore- and background in the flat surface of the image is used by the duo in their 16 mm black-and-white film installation Blockbuster (2012). In the film, a man standing on a stepladder swinging a hammer, appears to be hitting buildings. The man’s gestures are transformed by the camera from an action in the three-dimensional urban space to the two-dimensional space of the flat surface. Additionally, the soundtrack of the film is played by a separate hammer machine, referencing the early days of cinema, when sound was performed live during the film screening. The illusionary game with space in a flat surface is also explored in the installation Mirror Construction (2014) in Foam’s garden. The seemingly endless repetition of the outside space is nothing but a reflection between two flat surfaces. Reflection, light, shadow and the position of the viewer are important in establishing this effect.
In Adding, Adding, Adding Onorato & Krebs reflect on the influence photography has on our perception. The photograph as a physical object is less important than photographic concepts and the idea of the camera. The duo refutes the notion of the veracity of photography by focusing on instruments and procedures used for the construction of their images. By using photographic procedures and instruments from the history of the medium, such as the camera obscura and the large format camera, Onorato & Krebs create their particular body of work. Their thoughtful play with the complex relation between the flatness of the image and the three-dimensional space within this flat surface forms the core of this exhibition. Adding, Adding, Adding is made possible by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and JTI.
