"Winterreise" (Winter journey) is a photo sequence that was taken during various trips through the European winters of 2009 and 2010. All photos were taken from the moving trains, using a small experimental digital camera. No photoshop was applied to any of the photographs in the exhibit.
When "Winterreise" was premiered in Tokyo in May 2011, an audio soundtrack was produced in tandem with the photo series bearing the same title, which was released on a "Playbutton" and launched at the exhibition. During the opening exhibition the "Winterreise" composition was played as an accompanying soundtrack. The playbutton was sold out in spring 2012 and is no longer available. The slightly reworked "Winterreise" piece was released on CD through "raster-noton" in May 2012.
Although technically speaking "Winterreise" can be categorized as "photography", the result (when printed and framed) feels closer to that of a "painting". The artistic quality of "Winterreise", is ultimately most appreciated when one stands in front of a framed print (size approx. between 50cm x 70cm (min.) up to 1.5m x 2.0m (max.)). Each photograph is printed on matte paper, glued onto a wood panel, sealed with a semi-glossy UV protector and framed in a classic, golden frame. The resulting effect is that from a distance each picture appears to be a 19th century "romantic" landscape oil painting, matching all its characteristics of technique, motif and feeling. Getting closer to the picture, it starts to change its properties. At a certain "medium" distance, the photograph has transformed into an impressionist, perhaps "pointillism" painting. It's as if the distance between the viewer and the picture itself resembles the historical movement of art in time. As the viewer approaches the picture even closer, one sees it dissolving into pixels and grains. This point of view is the moment where the "concrete" subject, the snowy landscape, turns into the very snow itself. It is the moment where the historical travel reaches the present and where the picture has turned into an abstract piece of (ultimately digital) art that was only possible to be made here and now.
Limited edition "Winterreise" prints can be purchased here
|
2012-06-18
