Haus der Photographie

Using Berlin as the template, I figured I’d spend a few hours, before heading back, doing one or more “cultural” things in Hamburg (in Berlin, I went to Pottsdamer Platz and took photographs of the holocaust memorial site (I think)…

and the last remnants of the Berlin Wall)…


As the train headed into Hamburg Hauptbanhof the day before, I saw this big warehouse-looking building…


Like I said in CtrlX&CtrlV, I have a dead-serious interest in photography. So this was going to be my cultural thing for the day (the fact it was walking distance from the station, and thereby walking distance from the hotel, didn’t hurt either).

But first things first…breakfast.

There was bread…


Meats & olives…


Cheeses, mixed fruit and yogurt…


And stuff to put in the yogurt (including that old school cereal with the Frog on the front, I think its called “Smacks” or something)…


This is the spread in one shot.


No bacon, or cooked meat for that matter, and all you could get in the way of eggs was a boiled one.

It was still damn good.

By this time it was around 11:30am and the Haus der Photographie opened at 12pm, so I headed over. It wasn't long after I paid the 7 Euro entrance fee that I saw like half of the gallery was devoted to distinctly American images (I would insert more photos here but...surpise, surprise...picture taking was not allowed. So my vivid descriptive detail will have to suffice). Then I read the exhibit's title, "American Beauties." In a nutshell, they displayed the works of 6 American photographers and 1 New York City Art Club from 1993.

• Art Club 2000 - a multi-cultural, co-ed group of 7 students belonging to an art club in 1993. Basically, the students all posed in different scenes (in this cruddy movie theater wearing pajamas, dressed in mascot-grade animal costumes, buck-naked on a bed, etc.). I don't believe any one of the students was actually behind the camera, they were just the models.
• Larry Clark - a bunch of black and white stanged images of people from the early 80's. I think they were all taken in the same dingy room (looked like a motel from a horror movie). Each person is partaking in some sort of vice, be it drugs, aiming guns, sexually suggestive, etc.
• Wim Wenders - a bunch of color photos, this time from the mid- to -late-80's of different suburban/western/deserted landscapes. One photo in particular, of a Safeway sign on the side of a building was my one of my personal favorites...turns out this was one of the main photos used to promote the exhibit
  
  
  
• Lisette Model - I really don't remember this photographer or the exhibit. I think it was just black and white photos of people in the 70's making strange facial expressions.
• Nan Goldin - this was probably my favorite of the photographers. I'd say I'm better at landscape/scenic photography than taking photos of people because landscapes don't move (taking photos of people is like trying to hit a moving target). So when I see people take good or intriguing pictures of people or a person, it piques my interest. That's what this dude did with this supermodel named James King back in '95.
  
  
  Not all of the photos were good, but when looked at altogether, it told the story of her many sides as a supermodel. When she was made up, she really looked like an attractive supermodel, but when the make-up was gone and you really caught her off guard, it wasn't a good look (which ironically was a good look cause it helped to tell the story). As with the Safeway picture, the 2 or 3 photos I liked the best were used to promote the exhibit.
• David Hockney - this guy reminded me of me...or at least the type of photos I take--scenic photographs that either tell the story of the location or use the elements of the landscape to create a pattern. I found myslef going through this guy's stuff and saying, "I could take that picture...easy"
• Karl Strusse - basically black and white pictures of the brooklyn bridge from 1913. Reminded me of back in 2003 when I took a bunch of black and white photos of the Brooklyn Bridge. Nothing special here...I don't care if he took 'em close to 100 years ago.

Like I said, these exhibits took up about 1/2 of the gallery. And guess what, no one was really peeping the other half of the gallery. And that's not because the "American Beauties" exhibit just opened or is about to close (it opened 10.10.07 and is running through 06.01.08<--that's January 6, 2008).

Attempting to look at it objectively, I got the impression (especially those of Art Club 2000 and Larry Clark) that America is this place with a bunch of almost unreal character/personality-types...on steroids. I mean, we basically export our culture, via the entertainment industry, throughout the entire world. I don't know, but I wonder if people from around the world are intrigued by this place called America much in the same way when you were a kid you wanted to go to Disney World to meet Mickey Mouse...or how teeny-boppers (and adults) get star-struck. Its like this person or thing that you've only interacted with through some sort of medium...and when you actually go there and experience it first hand, its tangibility is captivating in and of itself.

I mean, I, as an American, look at these exhibits and get that yes there are personality-types like this in America. But by and far, the people in America are not this ostentatious. But to those outside of America (most of whom have never been), specifically those where English is not the first language, this is the America they are familiar with. As such, the unreal (to us), becomes real (to them). But then again, maybe not. Because I'm sure those mannerisms that these American "charactures" exhibit, subconsciously trickle down into our "American-swag." I mean let's face it, we're also influenced by the same entertainment-export. So when we're overseas acting normal, they see the vestiges of this "over-the-topness" in our actions, and feel that much more validated in their overall view of America--"land of the free, home of the brave" (think about that...and I don't mean it in the "patroitic" way Americans typically associate with the phrase).

Sadly, the rest of the photos in the gallery just didn't move me. While I concede that my American-cultured tastes have probably predisposed me to identifying more with the "American Beauties" photographers than with the other artists...I'm sorry, it was just too "the-big-red-stripe-handpainted-on-top-of-the-picture-of-the-sunset-landscape-symbolizes- man's-obsession-with-water" for me.

What's interesting is that the few that did move me were the exact same pictures that were used in the various prominently displayed German publications that reviewed the exhibit. Some might say that's a testament to the paper's picture selecting pedigree...I beg to differ. See, not all but some of these photos I know I could have taken...if not taken better (given the right equipment). I've been told too many times that I take good pictures and have a wonderful eye. The truth of the matter is I know a good picture when I see it, whether its hung up on a wall...or in the viewfinder of my camera.


Cheers.

*Editor's note: I'm sorry, I can't get the last paragraphs to format correctly to save my life.