GÖTZ DIERGARTEN: Whitstable – Tankerton 

GÖTZ DIERGARTEN: WHITSTABLE – TANKERTON

We are pleased to present Götz Diergarten’s works Whitstable – Tankerton at the Goethe-Institut. The photographs are part of the series England taken between 2003 and 2005 during his research trip to document the English coast.

Diergarten’s photographic method looks for typologies of everyday culture in English seaside holiday resorts. He focuses on the architecture and the artificiality of these constructed public spaces, specifically the beach huts that line the coast. This series of works develops the subject matter and formal elements that have become characteristic of Diergarten’s approach: the scenes are devoid of people, the beach cabins are deserted, the windows and doors locked.

Diergarten’s interest in banal, commonplace architectural motifs and their typology finds expression in this series of photographs, which he compiles with almost scientific precision. His research is focused on aesthetics as well as socio-cultural aspects. The range of images is characterised by tension, both in terms of form and content, between likeness and difference, as well as between single pictures and a series. There is a tangible struggle for precedence between abstraction and figuration.

Diergarten’s approach continues the tradition of the Becher School of photography into a second generation. His photographs have the same conceptual rigour and exactness, but instead of exploiting the sculptural effect of the subject, he uses the painterly effect of colour. This process gives expression to what is individual within the standard category of these structurally uniform buildings. Here we can see an affinity to American colour photography and direct references to colour field painting as well as Minimal Art. (…)
It is perhaps this combination of the Becher School’s sequential rendering of form with a painterly eye for colour that is the key to Diergarten’s originality. Through this conceptual coupling the viewer is drawn to consider the tension between social utility and individual subjective expression.

Götz Diergarten was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1972. He studied Fine Art Photography at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts and at the College of Design in Zurich. Recent exhibitions include Gallery Kicken Berlin, Germany; Kunstverein Heidelberg, Germany, Japan Foundation, Cologne, Germany; Artothèque Caen, France; Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image, Nice, France; L’Imagerie Lannion, France and DoArt Seoul, Korea. In 2006 Diergarten won the TrAIN (Balmoral-scholarship), London.

Screening and Discussion: Fri 5 Dec, 7.30pm

On the occasion of this exhibition opening we are delighted to show the film The Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher (Germany 2008, 52 min) directed by Marianne Kapfer. This screening will be presented as part of the London Festival Of European Art Documentaries “What’s Art Doc?” (18 Nov – 9 Dec 2008). In this documentary Bernd and Hilla Becher give us an insight into their life and work: their approach, their motivation and their fascination with industrial buildings. The film also features interviews with their curators, companions and students including Götz Diergarten.

Artist Götz Diertgarten and filmmaker Marianne Kapfer will be present for a post-screening discussion.


Related links:
www.diergarten.com
www.kicken-gallery.com

In co-operation with Gallery Kicken Berlin.



http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/kue/en2979944v.htm