april 2025
april 19th
april 18th
april 17th
april 16th
april 15th
april 14th
„
White noise facing the wordless silence of photography. Wolf Böwig’s work is constantly in a state of storm. Always respectful for people, their passing moments, their names.
Photographers who travel to war zones deal with circumstances which we tend to avoid confronting, which we don’t even consider and which have unforeseeable effects on our souls. Similar to the experiences of perpetrators, refugees and victims, such memories smoulder – in themselves, in our society, while their inner selves often remain overlooked.
Where to take all the knowledge, the contexts, their stories – when fast-moving journalism thrives upon highlighting a topic, just to set it up on an agenda through a targeted focus – where to go with oneself?
Alongside admiration for the courage to engage with the world in their own way, there exist critical aspects that are raising discussions: crisis tourism, the desire for recognition, sensational profit. But if photographers were not to take a closer look, we would be blind, speechless and unable to ask questions about their testimony.
A decisive one has to be about their inner attitude. Values that are taken along, anticipated options of action for unexpected moments, mental strength in the face of all demands. To try something or nothing, how to be on site and how to report the whole picture?
Part of Wolf Böwig’s works are artistic interventions whose background stories are obviously concealed inside them. Others show a clear address through themes of production logic. In these variants, the poles of stylistic execution are strikingly opposed. As a collaged variance, they become an at first subtle, then intense contemplation, forming his stylistic language.
Characteristics are apparent in the images that provide clear messages, as they refer to a thematic canon: Symbolized peace, hope and suffering – a necessity in the flood of images of crises, conflicts and wars – relentlessly important to address this kind of understanding. The superficial promise of a neutral claim, an objectivity desired for the discourse, in which personal observation has to be preferably silent.
Contrary to this function, which is considered documentary, the artistic intervention shows that the works also seek to convey what is missing. An aesthetic expression that is present, never begging for attention. Some versions are minimalistic, some collages excessive, in order to point to the wordless contradictions of the photographic. This is accompanied by almost endless diary entries in precise quotations concerning everyday life and thousands of years of historiography.
The style incorporates an urge to occupy the empty spaces, to keep the statements in focus, to allow a melange of pros and cons to speak about and to prevent them at the same time: A boat crowded with souls, sparkling consumption. Little sheep drawn to the heavens, on the edge of the abyss near the vastness of a world to be traveled. The taste of countries, the smells of skin, their contact, their empty shells, apparent familiarity. Silence, shared suffering and support – exemplary gestures whose character in photographs can only be guessed at in their interpersonal nature. Countless fragments hidden in a blurring veil of focus, a violent friction in the depiction of brutal gray areas and peaceful memories. If possible, in such a way that compassion is retained despite the distance bridged.
„
Arne K. Fischer for Galerie Bohai e.V.
april 13th
Plakat – april 10th
WAR, again and always
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Die Optimisten sterben in den Gaskammern in Auschwitz, und die Pessimisten planschen in ihren Pools in Beverly Hills
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Billy Wilder
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BOHAI veranstaltet rund um den „Tag der Befreiung“, zurückgehend auf die vollständige Kapitulation des faschistischen Deutschlands am 8. Mai 1945, fortwährend Ausstellungen der Kulturellen Bildung, die sich am aktuellen Diskurs über eine konstruktive Auseinandersetzung mit den demokratischen Werten unserer Gesellschaft beteiligen.
Als Dritter Ort wollen wir für Menschenrechte, demokratische Werte und Pluralismus einstehen. Wir wollen eine Begegnungsstätte sein, wo gemeinsam diese Werte besprochen und verhandelt werden können.
#KulturelleBildung #Erinnerungskultur #Menschenwürde #GegenRechts
#GegenFaschismus #FürVielfalt #FürFreiheit #FürGesellschaftlichenZusammenhalt
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Galerie Bohai e.V.
april 7th
april 5th
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april 3rd
april 1st
