Catharine Clark Gallery will be marking their 3rd year at Paris Photo with an exhibition of works by Edgar Martins (What Photography has in Common with an Empty Vase), as well as Deborah Oropallo and Stephanie Syjuco.
What Photography has in Common with an Empty Vase is a multifaceted body of work developed from a collaboration with Grain Projects and HM Prison Birmingham (the largest category B prison in the Midlands, UK), its inmates, their families as well as a myriad of other local organisations and individuals. Using the social context of incarceration as a starting point, Martins explores the philosophical concept of absence, and addresses a broader consideration of the status of the photograph when questions of visibility, ethics, aesthetics and documentation intersect. From a humanist perspective the work seeks to reflect on how one deals with the absence of a loved one, brought on by enforced separation. From an ontological perspective it seeks answers to the following questions: how does one represent a subject that eludes visualization, that is absent or hidden from view? How can documentary photography, in an era of fake news, best acknowledge the imaginative and fictional dimension of our relation to photographs? By giving a voice to inmates and their families and addressing prison as a set of social relations rather than a mere physical space, Martins' work proposes to rethink and counter the sort of imagery normally associated with incarceration. Composed of three distinct chapters, What Photography has in Common with an Empty Vase shifts between image and information, between fiction and evidence, strategically deploying visual and textual details in tandem so that the viewer becomes aware of what exists outside the confines of the frame.
THE POETIC IMPOSSIBILITY TO MANAGE THE INFINITE AT CAFA ART MUSEUM, BEIJING
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8 Huajiadi S St
WangJing
Chaoyang Qu
Beijing Shi
China, 100096
28 SEPT 2018
The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite is included in the 2nd Beijing Media Art Biennale (BMAB) @ CAFA Art Museum, Beijing.
DESTINERRANCE AT PURDY HICKS GALLERY: LAST WEEK
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25 Thurloe St
Kensington
London
SW7 2LQ
12 OCT - 10 NOV 2018
PENDULUM: MOVING GOODS, MOVING PEOPLE. IMAGES FROM THE MAST FOUNDATION'S COLLECTION, MAST, BOLOGNA
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Via Speranza 42
40133 Bologna
BO
Italy
18 OCT 2018 - JAN 2019
CIVILIZATION: THE WAY WE LIVE NOW, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART, SEOUL
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30 Samcheong-ro
Sogyeok-dong
Jongno-gu
Seoul
South Korea
18 OCT 2018 - FEB 17 2019
SYMPOSIUM: WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY AND INCARCERATION HAVE IN COMMON WITH AN EMPTY VASE, BIRMINGHAM
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The Shell
Parkside
Birmingham City University
UK
5 DEC 2018 - 2-6PM
Tickets must be purchased in advance; £8.00/£4.00 (plus booking fee)
Event developed in partnership with Grain Projects, Birmingham City University and supported by The Arts Council England. Speakers will include Edgar Martins, Dr. Mark Durden, Dr. Maryse Tennant & others.
PUBLICATIONS
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. Photography and the Contemporary Cultural Condition - Commemorating the Present, Peter D. Osborne, Routledge/Taylor and Franics, UK, 25.06.2018, ISBN: 9780415736251
. Civilization; The Way we Live now, William A. Ewing, Thames & Hudson, UK, 06.11.2018, ISBN: 9780500021705
. The Word is Art, Michael Petry, Thames & Hudson, UK, 09.11.2018, ISBN: 9780500239667
. What Photography has in Common with an Empty vase, The Moth House, UK, 01.03.2019, ISBN: 9780956908544
