Katie Peterson Contemplates The Ecosystem In “Streetlight Storm”
03 Nov 2009
21 December 2009 – 30 January 2010
Scottish artist Katie Paterson, one of the most exciting and closely watched artists of the moment, has been commissioned by Vauxhall Motors to create an art work on the theme of re-inventing British classics. Paterson has taken a British seaside town as her inspiration, and will create a work for Deal Pier. Along the length of the pier, out to sea, the lights will flicker in time withlightning storms as they occur live across the globe.
Starting on the winter equinox, the shortest day of the year on the 21st December, “Streetlight Storm” will take place throughout the darkest months of the British winter, silently conveying the weather patterns of a whole planet. In this contemplative and evocative place, the gentle flickering of the lights will unfold between dusk, darkness and dawn, reflecting on the water through the night, contrasting with the drama of the lightning strikes that spark through.
Pairing the commonplace with the sublime is a recurring theme in Paterson’s work. Viewers can gaze out to the horizon from the pier as these everyday streetlights connect the imagination with faraway places and the Earth’s ecosystem at large. A simple concept, yet expansive in scope, the work will connect people with diverse geographies, collapsing distances and timescales, the artificial and the natural.
Central to Paterson’s practice is collaboration and this commission is no exception as the artist works with technologists, engineers, meteorologists and lightning scientists within the UK and internationally. Ambitious in scale, “Streetlight Storm” will fuel new cutting-edge partnerships and innovation and reflect Vauxhall’s use of advanced technologies and ethos of excellence in design and engineering. The theme of re-inventing British classics chimes with Vauxhall’s own work reinventing the car as we know it in the form of the Ampera, its first electric car.
Katie Paterson said, “I am interested in the way the ordinary and the otherworldly intersect, and much of my work uses everyday technologies from doorbells to record players and connecting with vast and intangible phenomena such as dying stars and the moon). I hope the work’s universal content will ignite the imagination of many.”
Katie Paterson is a member of the Vauxhall Collective 2009. “Streetlight Storm” is supported by Vauxhall Motors and Albion Gallery, in partnership with Turner Contemporary and Whitstable Biennale.
Scottish artist Katie Paterson, one of the most exciting and closely watched artists of the moment, has been commissioned by Vauxhall Motors to create an art work on the theme of re-inventing British classics. Paterson has taken a British seaside town as her inspiration, and will create a work for Deal Pier. Along the length of the pier, out to sea, the lights will flicker in time withlightning storms as they occur live across the globe.
Starting on the winter equinox, the shortest day of the year on the 21st December, “Streetlight Storm” will take place throughout the darkest months of the British winter, silently conveying the weather patterns of a whole planet. In this contemplative and evocative place, the gentle flickering of the lights will unfold between dusk, darkness and dawn, reflecting on the water through the night, contrasting with the drama of the lightning strikes that spark through.
Pairing the commonplace with the sublime is a recurring theme in Paterson’s work. Viewers can gaze out to the horizon from the pier as these everyday streetlights connect the imagination with faraway places and the Earth’s ecosystem at large. A simple concept, yet expansive in scope, the work will connect people with diverse geographies, collapsing distances and timescales, the artificial and the natural.
Central to Paterson’s practice is collaboration and this commission is no exception as the artist works with technologists, engineers, meteorologists and lightning scientists within the UK and internationally. Ambitious in scale, “Streetlight Storm” will fuel new cutting-edge partnerships and innovation and reflect Vauxhall’s use of advanced technologies and ethos of excellence in design and engineering. The theme of re-inventing British classics chimes with Vauxhall’s own work reinventing the car as we know it in the form of the Ampera, its first electric car.
Katie Paterson said, “I am interested in the way the ordinary and the otherworldly intersect, and much of my work uses everyday technologies from doorbells to record players and connecting with vast and intangible phenomena such as dying stars and the moon). I hope the work’s universal content will ignite the imagination of many.”
Katie Paterson is a member of the Vauxhall Collective 2009. “Streetlight Storm” is supported by Vauxhall Motors and Albion Gallery, in partnership with Turner Contemporary and Whitstable Biennale.
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J. Paul Getty Museum Presents “In Focus: The Worker”
03 Nov 2009
03 November 2009 - 21 March 2010
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center presents "In Focus: The Worker", a photographic history of working people across a variety of cultures.
Drawn exclusively from the Getty’s permanent collection, "In Focus: The Worker" includes photographs from the mid-nineteenth century through the late-twentieth century. The exhibition showcases more than forty works by seminal artists such as Thomas Eakins, Walker Evans, Hiroshi Hamaya, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Milton Rogovin, August Sander, and W. Eugene Smith. In addition to these prominent photographers, the exhibition also includes pictures by lesser known artists.
“The work we do plays such an important role in how we identify ourselves, so these insightful photographs are incredibly appealing,” said Paul Martineau, assistant curator, Department of Photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and curator of the exhibition.
“We wanted to give visitors a look at the various ways photographers have pictured working people. The exhibition includes vocational portraits, photographs that show the action of work as well as images created for the purpose of social reform.”
Among the selection of works in the exhibition is Milton Rogovin’s captivating photograph "Cuba" (1989), which frames a group of workers standing at the entrance of a coal mine. Rogovin focuses on a young miner who gazes openly toward the camera, in contrast to his coworkers, who seem more tentative about being photographed.
Other selections include "Nurse and Child", taken in the mid-1800s, depicting a stunning portrait of an African-American slave that communicates a woman’s strength and beauty in the face of injustice, and American photographer Thomas Eakins’ "Cowboy and Dog at the B-T Ranch" (1887), morewhich depicts a Dakota Territory cowboy smoking a cigarette during his work break. This photograph captures the essence of a worker who made his living by ranching in the rural expanse of the American West. Larry Burrows’s striking "Vietnam" (1966) represents a group of medics rushing an injured soldier from an airlift to the hospital’s operating table. In classic photojournalistic style, Burrows has captured the urgency and action of a specific moment. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh (1968) shows an arresting close-up of a welder with flames reflected in his goggles. Smith created a dramatic composition by placing his camera low and shooting upwards, effectively raising the common worker to an almost heroic status.
The exhibition is arranged chronologically and includes a broad range of photographic processes from daguerreotypes to gelatin silver prints. This variety of materials underscores the role of changing technology in the depiction of workers.
“In Focus: The Worker” will be the sixth installation of the ongoing “In Focus” series of exhibitions, which present photographs from the Getty’s permanent collection thematically.
Previous exhibitions have included "The Nude", "The Landscape", "The Portrait", and most recently, "Making a Scene".
Upcoming “In Focus” shows include In Focus: Tasteful Pictures, opening in March 2010. Photographers have been enticed by the subject of food since the earliest years of the medium. Drawn exclusively from the Museum's collection, the selection of works for this show will include bountiful still life compositions, innovative close-ups and photograms, and documentary studies.
"In Focus: The Worker" overlaps and complements the exhibition Irving Penn: Small Trades, which runs from Sept. 9, 2009, through Jan. 10, 2010, at the Getty Center. Working in Paris, London, and New York in the early 1950s, American photographer Irving Penn created masterful representations of skilled tradespeople dressed in work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade. A neutral backdrop and natural light provided a stage on which his subjects could present themselves with dignity and pride. Penn revisited his Small Trades series over many decades, each time producing more exacting prints. In 2008, the Getty acquired the most comprehensive group of these images, carefully selected by the photographer—155 gelatin silver prints and 97 platinum prints—which are being exhibited in their entirety for the first time.
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center presents "In Focus: The Worker", a photographic history of working people across a variety of cultures.
Drawn exclusively from the Getty’s permanent collection, "In Focus: The Worker" includes photographs from the mid-nineteenth century through the late-twentieth century. The exhibition showcases more than forty works by seminal artists such as Thomas Eakins, Walker Evans, Hiroshi Hamaya, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Milton Rogovin, August Sander, and W. Eugene Smith. In addition to these prominent photographers, the exhibition also includes pictures by lesser known artists.
“The work we do plays such an important role in how we identify ourselves, so these insightful photographs are incredibly appealing,” said Paul Martineau, assistant curator, Department of Photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and curator of the exhibition.
“We wanted to give visitors a look at the various ways photographers have pictured working people. The exhibition includes vocational portraits, photographs that show the action of work as well as images created for the purpose of social reform.”
Among the selection of works in the exhibition is Milton Rogovin’s captivating photograph "Cuba" (1989), which frames a group of workers standing at the entrance of a coal mine. Rogovin focuses on a young miner who gazes openly toward the camera, in contrast to his coworkers, who seem more tentative about being photographed.
Other selections include "Nurse and Child", taken in the mid-1800s, depicting a stunning portrait of an African-American slave that communicates a woman’s strength and beauty in the face of injustice, and American photographer Thomas Eakins’ "Cowboy and Dog at the B-T Ranch" (1887), morewhich depicts a Dakota Territory cowboy smoking a cigarette during his work break. This photograph captures the essence of a worker who made his living by ranching in the rural expanse of the American West. Larry Burrows’s striking "Vietnam" (1966) represents a group of medics rushing an injured soldier from an airlift to the hospital’s operating table. In classic photojournalistic style, Burrows has captured the urgency and action of a specific moment. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh (1968) shows an arresting close-up of a welder with flames reflected in his goggles. Smith created a dramatic composition by placing his camera low and shooting upwards, effectively raising the common worker to an almost heroic status.
The exhibition is arranged chronologically and includes a broad range of photographic processes from daguerreotypes to gelatin silver prints. This variety of materials underscores the role of changing technology in the depiction of workers.
“In Focus: The Worker” will be the sixth installation of the ongoing “In Focus” series of exhibitions, which present photographs from the Getty’s permanent collection thematically.
Previous exhibitions have included "The Nude", "The Landscape", "The Portrait", and most recently, "Making a Scene".
Upcoming “In Focus” shows include In Focus: Tasteful Pictures, opening in March 2010. Photographers have been enticed by the subject of food since the earliest years of the medium. Drawn exclusively from the Museum's collection, the selection of works for this show will include bountiful still life compositions, innovative close-ups and photograms, and documentary studies.
"In Focus: The Worker" overlaps and complements the exhibition Irving Penn: Small Trades, which runs from Sept. 9, 2009, through Jan. 10, 2010, at the Getty Center. Working in Paris, London, and New York in the early 1950s, American photographer Irving Penn created masterful representations of skilled tradespeople dressed in work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade. A neutral backdrop and natural light provided a stage on which his subjects could present themselves with dignity and pride. Penn revisited his Small Trades series over many decades, each time producing more exacting prints. In 2008, the Getty acquired the most comprehensive group of these images, carefully selected by the photographer—155 gelatin silver prints and 97 platinum prints—which are being exhibited in their entirety for the first time.
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