Specific Places – Urban Landscapes and Portraits

20.08.2011

The Icelandic photographer and filmmaker Spessi hosted a workshop on issues related to documenting specific places. How does one approach certain environments and deal with site-specific details? During the workshop not only parameters of environmental and landscape photography have been discussed, locations also have been considered on a theoretical level, as portraits of a modern lifestyle. Spessi talked about how to approach the subject in a personal way without losing objectivity. “Specific Places” focused on how man is changing, using, and redefining nature and the environment. In addition, the artist has also addressed the potential of details, opening up ways for defining a location in depth.

During the workshop Spessi has provided a glimpse into his own working process by showing how he has portrayed different locations in his home country. In “Bensín”, for example, a work about gas stations in rural Iceland, he combines the typical characteristics of landscape photography with social commentary. Here he treats the theme of the gas station with a pointed, confrontational style, as if shooting portraits. In describing the works photographer Anton Corbjin likens them to “postcards from the edge. Man-made landscapes made stronger by the absence of man”. Whereas the artist develops in his project “Chicken Fajitas” a complex image of a power station in Reykjavík by photographing what workers have left on their cafeteria plates, thereby generating an intricate locational study of excess, visualized through man’s waste.

The workshop will be held in English

Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Weißfrauenstr. 1, 60311 Frankfurt

for members of Frankfurter Kunstverein or Fotografie Forum Frankfurt: 200 €; for non-members: 300 €