On Thursday, the 16th of September, 7.00 pm an open discussion between Roger Ballen and art-critic Ekaterina Degot will take place at Gallery Photographer.ru, 4-th Syromyatnicheskiy pereulok, 1. str. 6, Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, Moscow.
Ticket cost: 350 rubls, students 250 rubls.
Advanced booking is obligatory:
Tel: +7 (495) 228-11-70
E-mail: nikitina@photographer.ru
An open discussion is timed to opening of Roger Ballen exhibition Documentary Fiction that will take place at Gallery Photographer.ru this fall (September 15 – November 28). The exhibition will show the last Ballen series Boarding House, a result of 5 years exploration of lower depths of life. Ballen was working in the poorest and repulsive flophouse situated in suburbs of Johannesburg, a place inhabited by crime fugitives, ruined gold prospectors and other asocial specimen. Ballen assumes that during this work he found inside his mind things he never thought to be existing. This photographs with their quite stage effects tell about defeated lives and mental unbalance much more than objective photojournalism can.
Partner of the event: FUJIFILM. The exhibition is supported by The Embassy of The United States in Moscow.
Participants:
Roger Ballen was born in New York City in 1950. He has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa for almost 30 years. During this period from 1982 to 2008 he has produced many series of works which has evolved from photo-journalism to a unique artistic vision. Ballen’s work has been shown in important institutions throughout the world and is represented in many Museum Collections such as Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
Awards:
2006 Art Directors Club Award Photography
2004 Top 10 Exhibition, Matthew Higgs, Artforum-2004
2002 Photographer of the Year, Rencontres d’ Arles / Top 10 Exhibition, Vince Aletti, Artforum
2001 PhotoEspana, Best Photographic Book of the Year / Photo-eye, Best Documentary Title, Best Photography Books / Special mention: UNICEF Photo of the Year
Ekaterina Degot, PhD, is an art historian, art critic and curator based in Moscow. She has worked as a senior curator at the State Tretiakov Gallery, art columnist at “Kommersant Daily”, Moscow, and curator of special exhibition projects in Central House of Artists, Moscow. She has been teaching at European University, Petersburg, Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow, and was a guest professor at universities in USA and Europe. Curator and co-curator of shows (a.o.): “Body Memory: Underwear of the Soviet Era” (City History museum, Petersburg, a.o.), “Moscow-Berlin 1950-2000” (Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin; History Museum, Moscow, 2003-2004), “Soviet Idealism” (Museum of Wallon art, Liege, 2005), “The Comedy. The Funny Side of the Moving Image.” (Moscow, Central House of Artists, 2005), a.o. Her books include “Terroristic Naturalism” (1998), “Russian 20th c Art” (2000), and “Moscow Conceptualism” (with Vadim Zakharov, 2005).