Where does privacy start - and where does it end? The latest exhibition, "Private," at Frankfurt's Kunsthalle Schirn, attempts to provide answers. What kind of attention is paid to the subject in the art in the age of social networking and the Internet? In her work "Vox Populi," the Indonesian artist Fiona Tan gathered together amateur portraits from different countries.
Today, Fiona Tan lives in Amsterdam. The pictures in "Vox Populi" originate from Norway, Australia and Japan. They're all private snapshots of unknown people. Putting them into identical frames, the pictures appear like a "collective photo album," telling intimate stories - despite coming from three different continents.
Today, it's easy for people to lay bare their private lives in public. Yet the phenomenon isn't new: For a long time, artists have been delving into how private and public aspects of life are connected. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol confronted the public with his private life. This was picked up by filmmaker Michel Auder, who then portrayed Warhol's protagonists in seemingly private situations.
British artist Mike Wallinger's "The Unconscious" depicts people who have fallen asleep on public transport. Instead of taking the photographs himself, he used snapshots from mobile phones which he found on the Internet. The images confront the viewer with the question of how defenseless an individual is in a public space and the level of control people still have over images of themselves.
At the beginning of the 1970s, Japanese artist Yoshiyuki Kohei fanmously took pictures of amorous couples in the parks of Tokyo. But in doing so, he also captured the voyeurs who observed the lovers' close encounters. Kohei used an infrared camera for his work. His series "The Park" has been displayed in museums around the world.
Several artists in the exhibition present shockingly direct portrayals of their own families. US artist Marilyn Minter photographed her mother over the course of 50 years. The images mostly depict her mother's bedroom life. The black and white images are an intimate survey of familial relations, far removed from common perceptions of idyllic family life.
Tracey Emin has been a prominent feature on the young British art scene for years. Emin shot to fame with her work "My Bed" in 1998, which is representative of her autobiographical, sometimes shocking style of art. Her unmade bed, covered with condoms and blood-stained underwear is featured in the show. Pictured here, "My Bed" during transportation for the exhibition.
On the Internet, virtually everything is available at any time. As part of the exhibition, Frankfurt-based US artist Mike Bouchet put no less than 10,000 porn movies on display, with each film shrunk to the size of a mere mosaic piece. The work illustrates how in the digital age, sex has become omnipresent, turning the most private moments into a public show for all to see.
The Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt has put the "private" on display. It features the works of 30 artists on the subject of the private sphere, among them Ai Weiwei, Andy Warhol and Fiona Tan.
The Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt has put the "private" on display. It features the works of 30 artists on the subject of the private sphere, among them Ai Weiwei, Andy Warhol and Fiona Tan.
