Exhibition
The Polaroid Project. A History of a Medium
7 Jul 2018 – 23 Sep 2018
Regular hours
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Sunday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Monday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 20:00
Address
- Hardenbergstraße 22–24
- Berlin
Berlin - 10623
- Germany
Travel Information
- S1/S2 Oranienburger Strasse
A whir, a click, and just a few seconds later—without ever going into a darkroom or developing negatives—an instant photo magically appears in the familiar white frame. The Polaroid photo is both an original and a unique image: it epitomizes the singular, unrepeatable moment.
About
“Shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture…” goes the 2003 song by American hip-hop duo Outcast. They brought the typical gesture of waving Polaroid photos to dry onto the dance floor, and revived interest in Polaroids at a time when they had long since faded from widespread use.A whir, a click, and just a few seconds later—without ever going into a darkroom or developing negatives—an instant photo magically appears in the familiar white frame. The Polaroid photo is both an original and a unique image: it epitomizes the singular, unrepeatable moment. The charm of the uncontrived, irreproducible moment and the speed of processing have made it popular among amateurs and professionals alike. World-famous artists from Anselm Adams to Andy Warhol defined the aesthetic of an entire era through their use of the medium of instant photography. When physicist Edwin Herbert Land founded the Polaroid company in Boston more than 70 years ago, there was no picture in the world that you could have in your hand, on your table, or in your photo album faster. The brand soon rose to mythic proportions, achieving cult status and making photographic and cultural history. Despite the trend toward digitalization the Polaroid company’s decline in 2009 and return under “The Impossible Project”, polaroid pictures have been making a comeback recent years. The longing for the unique moment, the haptic quality of the image as object, as well as a certain nostalgia in times of digitalization and a growing deluge of images—all these factors have lent instant photography a new and irresistible appeal.
C/O Berlin is pleased to present the exhibition The Polaroid Project . A History of a Medium, exploring the Polaroid phenomenon in all its diversity with a unique overview of all of the Polaroid collections in the USA and Europe, including works by Nobuyoshi Araki, Sibylle Bergemann, Chuck Close, Guy Bourdin, Ellen Carey, Barbara Crane, David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Rauschenberg, Erwin Wurm, and many more, together with camera models, concepts, and prototypes for the innovative photo technology. The catalog Das Polaroid Projekt . Die Eroberung durch die Kunst has been published by Hirmer Verlag in Munich to accompany the exhibition.
