Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012 - meet the four finalists

The four selected artists for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012 have been announced: Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker and Christopher Williams are the lucky chosen ones.

The winner will be announced on the 3rd of September at The Photographers’ Gallery, London. You can see work by the artists there from the 13th of July until the 9th of September. The exhibition will then travel to Frankfurt (14th September until 25th October) before then moving to c/o Berlin until January 2013.

Pieter was nominated for his publication ‘Permanent Error’ (as reported by GoSee), Rinko for his poetic book ‘Illuminated’ (as reported by GoSee), John Stezaker for his exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (29 January – 18 March 2011) and Christopher Williams for his exhibition ‘Captilaistic Realsim’ at Dum umení Ceské Budejovice, Budweis, Czech Republic (5 May - 12 June 2011).

The 2012 jury comprised François Hébel, director, Les Rencontres d'Arles; Martin Parr, photographer; Beatrix Ruf, director/curator, Kunsthalle Zürich and Anne-Marie Beckmann, curator, Art Collection Deutsche Börse.

Brett Rogers, director of The Photographers’ Gallery and nonvoting Chair of the Jury commented: ‘each finalist addresses, in a timely, way issues of critical importance within contemporary photography. Operating between portraiture and social documentary, Pieter Hugo confronts us with the unsettling reality of the impact of e-waste in Ghana; Rinko Kawauchi brings her highly personal sensibility to bear on fragments of everyday life; John Stezaker demonstrates a rigorous exploration of the subversive force of the found image; and finally, alluding to the language of commercial photography, Christopher Williams continuously questions the aesthetic conventions and communication tools that influence our perception of reality.’



INFO : The Photographers’ Gallery opened in 1971 in Great Newport Street, London, as the UK’s first independent gallery devoted to photography. It was the first public gallery in the country to exhibit many key names in international photography, including Juergen Teller (fashion), Robert Capa (photojournalism), Sebastião Salgado (documentary) and Andreas Gursky (contemporary art). The Gallery has also been instrumental in establishing contemporary British photographers including Martin Parr and Corinne Day. In 2009 the Gallery moved to 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, the first stage in its plan to create a 21st century home for photography. Following an eighteen
month long redevelopment project the Gallery reopened to the public on Saturday, 19 May 2012.

INFO : Deutsche Börse Group is one of the leading international exchange organisations and a long-time sponsor of photographic art. The Group owns an extensive collection of contemporary photography, the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, which is presented in its main locations in Frankfurt and Luxembourg. To date the Art Collection includes series of works by over eighty international artists.

INFO : The Photography Prize History - Founded in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery, and now in its sixteenth year, the Prize has become one of the most prestigious international arts awards and has launched and established the careers of many photographers over the years. Previously known as the Citigroup Photography Prize the Gallery has been collaborating with Deutsche Börse Group as title sponsors since 2005. Winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2011 was Jim Goldberg. Other past winners include Paul Graham, Juergen Teller, Rineke Dijkstra and Richard Billingham.


ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Pieter Hugo was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1976. Recent solo shows have taken place at
the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2010); Le Chateau d'Eau in Toulouse, France (2010); the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney (2009), and Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (2008). His works are included in museum collections worldwide such as the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and MOMA, New York; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Ethnologische Museum, Berlin; and Johanesburg Art Gallery, South Africa. Hugo won first prize in the Portraits section of the 2006 World Press Photo competition, and was the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art in 2007. In 2008 He won the KLM Paul Huf Award and the Arles Discovery Award at the Rencontres d'Arles Photography Festival in France. He lives and works in Cape Town.

Born in Shiga, Japan, 1972, Rinko Kawauchi studied graphic design and photography at Seian Junior College of Art and Design. In 2001 Kawauchi simultaneously released three photographic books, Utatane, Hanabi, Hanako, which created an overnight sensation in the photography world in Japan. Among her awards and accolades are the Grand Prix Prize at the Guardian Garden’s 9th Hitotsubo Exhibition, 1999; the 27th Ihei Kimura Photography Award, 2002; and the International Centre of Photography Infinity Award in Art, 2009. She has had solo exhibitions at Fondation Cartier, Paris, 2005; Photographers’ Gallery, London, 2005; Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden, 2007; and Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo, 2008 among other international venues. She lives and works in Tokyo.

Born in Los Angeles, USA, 1956, Christopher Williams studied at the California Institute of the Arts under the first wave of West Coast conceptual artists, including John Baldessari and Douglas Huebler. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions worldwide, most recently at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, 2011; Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany, 2010; and the Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, 2010. Williams’ work is held in museum collections throughout the world including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; amongst others. He lives and works in Amsterdam, Cologne, and Los Angeles.

John Stezaker, born in Worcester, UK, 1949, studied at the Slade School of Art, and currently teaches Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Stezaker’s work has been exhibited internationally since the 1990s and has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions most recently in Luxembourg, and Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, USA, 2011; Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA, 2011; Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany, 2010; The Approach, London, UK, 2010; and Richard Grey Gallery, Chicago, USA, 2009 amongst others. His work has been adopted in renowned museum collections around the world such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Saatchi Collection, London; and the Tate Modern, London. He lives and works in London.


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