© Courtesy of Aleix Plademunt
Steve Bisson, who runs one of our favorite photography sites, Urbanautica has curated a new show that will be displayed this fall.
“Naturae stems from an inquiry interested in photography as a contemporary language capable of expressing the complexity of human actions and cultural meanings. It is an exhibit that reflects the need to better understand, the surrounding world to which we belong although at times it can seem contrary. A need that is expressed primarily through observation of nature and its elements, and the focus of tacit or intangible relations that separate or join us with it. There is a desire to go beyond the documentation of human-induced changes upon nature and the critical aspects of this difficult coexistence. There is a desire to move the gaze toward new forms of naturalness distinctive of contemporary life, on the many “natures” formed by a mixture of randomness and artifice, on the independent bodies in constant mutation, which brings with it a vision of possible scenarios. A story purged of melancholy interpretations of the lost landscape and without holistic references or contemplative endings. The nature that still matters is the one that serves as a background for tracing a map that gives guidance to human behaviors increasingly disoriented and frantic. Also, some conversations find a place in these reflections and are presented in this exhibition catalog. Domenico Luciani historicizes the question of the meaning of man’s relationship with nature. He sees an anxious need today for reconciliation as a result of an ancient split and the progressive maladjustment of our species to the changes it generates. Shun Kanda emphasizes the fact of living within our perception of nature, understood almost as a genius loci which is necessary to strengthen the sense of belonging to a place and to reduce the condition of estrangement and the effects of alienation typical of the more recent “urbanism.” For Maarten Kloos the human being is looking for an authentic relationship with nature, or with its origins, as a confirmation of his existence, of the fact of being on Earth. Then he continues with a vision of living characterized by the ever increasing integration, almost symbiotic, between organic and inorganic. It is a paradigmatic dialogue also picked up by Andreas Kipar who argues for a future de-mineralization of the planet and, more generally, the refusal of an order per se, of that relentless effort to tame, dominate and control the environment that led to the human being feeling distant from its very nature. Finally, the short but significant words of Stefania Rössl and Massimo Sordi, that introduce the reading of the images, reflect the awareness of the use of photography as means to understand our relationship with the world.”
© Courtesy of Hin Chua
© Courtesy of Dustin Shum
© Courtesy of Anne Lass
© Courtesy of Michael De Kooter
© Courtesy of Guido Castagnoli
© Courtesy of Alejandro Cartagena
© Courtesy of Karin Borghouts
For more information, visit urbanautica.com/exhibition
