artists / researchers

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Armin Linke

UNTITLED

6 books | digital prints on 20 x 30 cm | photographic paper

edition of 2 + 1 | UN-FICYP archives | thanks to Jozef Kocka and Brian Kelly


production Suspended spaces

After several periods spent in Cyprus, Armin Linke decided not to produce any additional pictures of the island; rather, he preferred to work with photographs already taken. He was interested in the documentation produced by the UN, and obtained authorization to use certain photographs taken by soldiers, for use in the UN’s archival collection. For Suspended Spaces he has made a selection, from 10,000 photos, of a few dozen images which he has organized in six books, each one dealing with implicit “themes”: aerial views of the green zone, variations on surveillance outposts, photos of soldiers on missions, and the like. The books, which have stiff, board pages are presented on a table. They may be looked at with gloves on, to protect these published “objects”.


“What interested me was the fact that in that archive there was no differentiation between images of real events, images of events specially staged to prepare for how to confront certain situations (for example, how to deal with a fire on the green line), images of events staged solely for the photograph itself, and images produced for legal documentation  or for the UN (for example, how high is this wall on each side? what is inside this abandoned shop? what are the constructions in the buffer zone?)”, explains Armin Linke.


These images are presented with no commentary, and no precise date or place is given. The artist thus plays on the erasure of the boundary between reality and fiction. By drawing up a dramatic listing of these photos, the artist gets the viewer interested in the details, questioning the actual intention of this documentation, and the status of the document.



Charlène Dinhut - Françoise Parfait - Eric Valette

Translated by Simon Pleasance & Fronza Woods

Armin Linke | Serap Kanay | Aristide Antonas

LIFE

2009 | video | colour | sound | 3' | looped


production Suspended spaces

After several periods spent in Cyprus, Armin Linke decided not to produce any additional pictures of the island; rather, he preferred to work with photographs already taken. He was interested in the documentation produced by the UN, and obtained authorization to use certain photographs taken by soldiers, for use in the UN’s archival collection. For Suspended Spaces he has made a selection, from 10,000 photos, of a few dozen images which he has organized in six books, each one dealing with implicit “themes”: aerial views of the green zone, variations on surveillance outposts, photos of soldiers on missions, and the like. The books, which have stiff, board pages are presented on a table. They may be looked at with gloves on, to protect these published “objects”.


“What interested me was the fact that in that archive there was no differentiation between images of real events, images of events specially staged to prepare for how to confront certain situations (for example, how to deal with a fire on the green line), images of events staged solely for the photograph itself, and images produced for legal documentation  or for the UN (for example, how high is this wall on each side? what is inside this abandoned shop? what are the constructions in the buffer zone?)”, explains Armin Linke.


These images are presented with no commentary, and no precise date or place is given. The artist thus plays on the erasure of the boundary between reality and fiction. By drawing up a dramatic listing of these photos, the artist gets the viewer interested in the details, questioning the actual intention of this documentation, and the status of the document.



Charlène Dinhut - Françoise Parfait - Eric Valette

Translated by Simon Pleasance & Fronza Woods

View of the exhibition Suspended spaces #1-from Famagusta at the Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, 2010

Life is showed on the flat screen