Photomonth in Krakow 2011 – Alias

Where is Its Creator?

The approaching Photomonth in Krakow coincides with the height of spring. The curators of the ninth edition of the festival – the artistic pairing of Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin – have decided this year, rather than a main theme, to offer an overarching logic and strategy based on aliases.

A Quest for Meaning
The London artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have been working together for ten years, and it is their novel approach to documentary photography, a genre to which they’ve devoted several jointly published monographs, which is most responsible for bringing them global recognition. Those who attended Photomonth in Krakow in 2007 were able to view their Ghetto exhibition, which presented their achievements from a period of collaboration as editors and principal photographers of the prestigious “Colors” magazine. At last year’s edition they presented the Afterlife project, a critique of the greedy sensationalism of contemporary press photography which posed questions fundamental to its creators about the documentary value of photography as an objective witness of events and “eye on the world”.


Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, photo: Kamil Zacharski

Respite from the Job of Being Oneself
Álvaro de Campos – engineer and nihilist, Ricardo Reis – doctor and monarchist, Alberto Caeiro – observer of nature, Bernard Soares – introverted accountant, Fernando Pessoa – employee of a sales firm – each of these was also, maybe first and foremost, a poet. But only Pessoa is a man of flesh and blood. The lives, characters and worldviews of the others are the creation of this Portuguese writer, almost unknown during his lifetime, but today regarded as one of the most distinguished authors of the 20th century. While creating novels, poems, essays and works of literary criticism, he employed over 240 different literary incarnations. The need to express his own personality through fictional people (heteronyms) and the fact that Pessoa was not alone in this among artists of the 20th century fascinated and inspired the curators of Photomonth in Kraków 2011. That is why there will this time be no popular names already functioning on the market as recognised brands. The participants in the festival will be exclusively debutants and all the projects will be premiered in Kraków. The curators have invited 22 visual artists and 22 writers from various regions of the world to work in pairs to concoct “artist” characters. “It’s an experiment” – explain Chanarin and Broomberg – “that is designed to be liberating politically and psychologically. We hope to confront the idea of the artist as a brand. And to simply offer a moment of respite from the job of being oneself.”

The Life and Death of Patrick Ireland
The history of 20th century art is also replete with the figures of many fictional artists, starting with Rrose Sélavy – the female incarnation of Marcel Duchamp – the subject of a series of Man Ray photographs and also the creator of several works, including the sculpture Why Not Sneeze, Rrose Sélavy? The personality and works of the creator of the most influential urinal in 20th century art fascinated the Irish-bred American artist Brian O’Doherty. He breathed life into several aliases, dwelling in one of them – Patrick Ireland, created in 1972 as a protest against “Bloody Sunday” (when British soldiers shot dead or mortally wounded fourteen participants of a peaceful protest march in Northern Ireland) – for 36 years. In 2008, in recognition of the progress for peace in Ireland, O’Doherty killed and ceremoniously buried his alter ego. The ceremonial burial took place at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Different ways of employing heteronyms in art will be the subject of the main festival exhibition at Contemporary Art Gallery. Aside from Duchamp and O’Doherty, we can view the documentation of works by such artists as: Walid Raad (as The Atlas Group), Renzo Martens (as Renzo Martens), Alec Soth (as Lester B. Morrison), Simon Fujiwara (as his father), William Kentridge (as Kentridge vs Kentridge), Joe Scanlon (as Donnell Woolford) and many others who employ fictional characters or institutions in their work or simply develop alternative versions of themselves. They examine issues of sexuality, gender, race and political persecution from a new perspective. And at the same time appear to fall into the same traps as the real artists…


Brian O’Doherty, The Burial of Patrick Ireland, Wake, 2008, Courtesy of Irish Museum of Modern Art
Photography by Fionn McCann

Selected by the Jury
As always, the finals of two competitions will be taking place during Photomonth. Sittcomm.award is one of the most important photography prizes in East-Central Europe. The finalists of 2011 are Marcin Bociński, Maros Krivy, Rafał Milach and Petr Willert. In May we can find out the name of the final victor. In contrast, it is young Polish artists who will be taking part in the ShowOFF section – this year the jury have awarded twelve projects with the opportunity to be presented as a part of the festival. We will be able to view classic reportage, a personal photo journal, a conceptual, minimalist vision of an office, and much more. (Dorota Dziunikowska, "Karnet" monthly)

Opening of the festival: 13 May 2011, 6pm, Starmach Gallery
Opening weekend: 13-15 May 2011

13 May – 12 June 2011
www.photomonth.com

Organisers: Visual Artists Foundation in cooperation with the Imago Mundi Foundation and the City of Kraków (organisational partner)

Details on Photomonth website and leaflets.