Where? Deichtorhallen
When? 16. Sept 2011 – 08. Jan 2012
How much? on Tuesdays (16:00-18:00) 4,50€, other days for Students 6,00€, others 9,00€
Everyone knows it. You see it everywhere, in movies, paintings and pictures. You are even able to own it. You just have some tough choices to make. First the color: plain and classic in black & white or sepia, in color, black & white with a colored element, colored or even with artistic effects. If that’s not a toughie, you also have the possibility to choose between a vast numbers of different angles: bird’s eye perspective, low- angle shot, straight-on angle, high-angle shot, top-shot and the Dutch angle. Putting this together you can call yourself a proud owner of a totally unique poster of the Eiffel Tower.
I couldn’t understand all the fuss people made about this big iron thing. With this attitude I sat in the metro in the direction of Champ de Mars, not really thrilled to see the Eiffel Tower. But I had to see with my own eyes why everyone is so fascinated by it. OK, the actual reason was my friend wanted to see it- I was dragged along. I have to admit, I found myself shooting several pictures of it, digital and even analogue. It was as if a ghost took possession of me or maybe my Asian genes dominated that moment. The Eiffel Tower certainly has something but as we explored Paris day by day we found more beautiful places and views. So you don’t have to be suicidal to queue up and even walk all 654 stairs just to have a view over Paris. Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre by night is just as breathtaking and the view over the city is dazzlingly beautiful. More importantly, it doesn’t sparkle which the Eiffel Tower does hourly every night!
I thought it was a joke – I’m a girl and I love kitsch. But seriously, it sparkles! After my great vacation I was keen to visit the exhibition “Eyes on Paris” and experience how photographers from 1890 to 2011 have seen Paris, how they have captured it and how their art may have affected my view on Paris. I decided to work myself through the centuries beginning with the 1890’s. You could see and read how the motifs, the technique and the attitude has changed over time. In the early years, monuments, streets and famous places dominated the black & white pictures, all in all a quite objective and documentary perspective was chosen. I recognized a lot from my own Paris trip and as a tourist it’s likely that you’ve seen most of it. Like Notre Dame, Île de la Cité, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe etc.
Moving into the 20’s & 30’s one can see a clear break. A more subjective view developed and a motif shift to portraits, sceneries from the street and everyday life is recognizable. And since photography wasn’t seen as an art form by other artists back then, photographers tried to add different techniques in order to make their pictures unique. An example of such a technique would be pictorialism. The pictures were still in black & white but certain techniques created a soft mode, as if one was dreaming and everything was a little blurry. Arriving in the 21th century now, one can see some color and a far more realistic and even more subjective view on Paris being displayed. Paris, the city of love showed her other face, her dark and mysterious one. A critical and political view was now the main motif and violence left a mark on the pictures. Where the beautiful and touristy Paris had once been the theme, now prostitution, race, transsexuality, raids, rapes and death showed a more realistic, more flawed and dirty perspective.
One thing is for sure – I saw a much more varied view into life in the city during this exhibition than I had on my vacation. I saw Paris from her different angles and moods. It was really inspiring and yet disturbing. People who aren’t in love with her yet will fall in love or at least feel the urge to pay her a visit and experience her charm and her gloom. Or alternatively just visit her down the centuries in the Deichtorhallen!
Stephanie Richter
