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Kim Engelen, The Invisibles, 6 x 30 x 40 cm (6x 11.81 x 15.74 in), Altered framed photographs, Berlin, Germany, 2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges] THE INVISIBLES: Grey, Kibbelstegbrücke (Kibbel Walk Bridge), Speicherstadt Hamburg (Germany) 2012+2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges] THE INVISIBLES: Yellow, Älvsborgsbron (Älvsborg Bridge), Gothenburg, (Sweden), 2011+2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges] THE INVISIBLES: Pink, Hoge-Brug, Maastricht, Netherlands, 2013+2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges] THE INVISIBLES: Purple, Puente Yayabo (Yayabo Bridge), Sancti Spiritus (Cuba) 2013+2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges], THE INVISIBLES: Blue, Szechenyi Lánchíd (Chain_Bridge), Budapest, Hungary, 2016 +2017
Kim Engelen [Bridges] THE INVISIBLES: Green, Øresundsbron (Hybrid name for The Öresund or Øresund Bridge) connecting Sweden and Denmark, 2013+2017
Kim Engelen, Opening-shot 1 March 2017, The Invisibles, Berlin (Germany)
Kim Engelen, The Invisibles, Side-view, Berlin (Germany) 2017

The Invisibles (6 Framed Photographs)

1.350,00€ inc. Vat

Medium: 6 worked-on photographs
Size: 10×15 cm (3,94×5,90 inches)
Frame: Passe-Partout and frames included, 30 x 40 (11,81 x 15,75 in)
Size: 6 x 30×40 cm (6x 11.81×15.74 inches) with 5 cm (1.97 in) in between the frames
Paper: 170 g/sqm glossy white (FSC)
Edition: 1
Year: 2017
Part of the bundle 6 Private Mini-Exhibitions

SKU: thnvsbls/brdgs/ph-1 Categories: , , , Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Description

—THE INVISIBLES—
From the ongoing series [Bridges] 
Part of the bundle 6 Private Mini-Exhibitions

For six months in 2017, I held a mini-exhibition at my house.
Every month I created new works based on my Bridge-Performances.
These new works were then exhibited at Gallery 1 Flat Wall in Berlin for 21 days, from the 1st – 21st).

In March I exhibited The Invisibles. These are 6 worked-on- photographs. Presented in black frames hanging in a classic horizontal viewing style.

Around the world, I am doing Bridge-Performances. These performances are the makings of photographs of me by tourists on bridges. In post-production, I experiment with these photographs to emphasize certain ideas. Such as the bridge as a metaphor, tourism vs. immigration, power structures, communication, authorship, and personal development.

The person who takes the pictures during the Bridge-Performance is at that moment in control. I choose as an artist to give my camera to someone else. The way they then take the picture, from which angle, the timing, and such, is at that moment out of my control. I, the artist can more or less control the framing because I choose where to stand when I ask the ‘photographer’ or ‘person of interest’ to take a picture of me. I can control how I present myself by what I am wearing and more or less how I look.

This cooperation with the ‘photographer’ is a key element. The temporary ‘photographer’, becomes co-author and participant. And has, therefore, a crucial role, since, without this action or play, the Bridge-Performances could not exist.

This interaction, during the Bridge-Performance, makes the ‘photographer’, part of the artwork. Yet these co-authors remain anonymous since they are behind the camera. They are invisible, yet they are immensely important since they are the participants, co-authors, and only life-witnesses of the unique, mostly one-on-one, Bridge-Performance.
When I think of this presence versus absence I also think of integration and assimilation. And also my evidence of the tourist-artist as producer versus the passer-by as the unknowing co-author, participant, and viewer.
Bridges are often overlooked because they seem so obvious in our landscape. So are the tourists taking pictures in our (urban) landscapes, we see them, but we don’t really see them. In the artwork The Invisibles you still don’t see them. Yet they are made very visible. And have become an artificial element in the otherwise typical-looking holiday snapshot. 

This work is a way of showing respect to the invisible co-authors and participants of my thousands of Bridge-Performances over the years. Yet by this kind of honoring they will remain invisible. Since, despite being accentuated, their true identity remains unanimous. By doing this, in a way, this person standing next to me could be anyone. Also the participants in future Bridge-Performances to come.

So who then is this person standing next to me? It could be my travel companion. Or a fellow tourist. Or the child of the person who made the photo. Or it could be someone who I wished was there but is not. Or maybe there is no real person behind the color blob?

I have printed the photographs as you might do when you would print out a hard copy of your holiday photographs at your local drugstore. So they look like typical and more or less boring holiday photographs.

The 6 photographs have not been altered except for the diverse added blobs of color, to point out something important by making the invisible visible by actually making it invisible.

____
This artwork is ready to hang. And is created in one edition only (as pìece unique). It comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

Regular price (no discount) € 1350*

* Get 10% discount by also becoming an VIP Art Friend>>

Additional Information
Dimensions 30 × 40 × 6.5 cm

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