[ART]_CONnected

WHEN YOU HIT A WALL, JUST KICK IT IN…

Two weeks ago we where attending the Opening week of Les Rencontres d'Arles again. Quite an expierence. Sometimes a strange one. Ok, everybody has his own taste, I know very well that my work is not at all part of the mainstream, part of what is called "contemporary" (whatever this may mean...). But if there are about 50 exhibitions (we visited not all of them) and you can hardly find two or three you like, well then there must be something wrong. For me this year Arles has moved so much in the direction of "Zeitgeist" that there not much left over of what i would call „decent“ photography...

Many "Experts" are complaining that the market for art photography has completly broken down, that galleries are struggeling to survive. Well, for me that is no wonder if you look at the shortlist of the awards presented in Arles, if you look who has won e.g. the Photobook Award, the "Best of Portfolio Review" etc. If i would be a collector I wouldn't buy one single piece. Yes, it may be that in the art market "the name" is counting a lot. But at the end even collectors which are following this trend, should not get crunch only but at least some basic quality. Imho.

It is time to kick this wall in, it is time to give art photography the value back that it deserves. With quality. Not with rubbish...