June 6 – July 16, 2023
project office of DFI e.V.
Eiskellerberg 1-3
40213 Düsseldorf, Germany
Opening hours:
SAT & SUN from 11 am – 6 pm
During open studios of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf,
July 3 – 7, 2 – 8 pm
Exhibition
Hans-Peter Feldmann, one of the most significant artists of our time, passed away on May 26, 2023 at the age of 82. Born on January 17, 1941 in Hilden and at home in Düsseldorf until the end, photography played a key role in Feldmann's multifaceted oeuvre. Feldmann collected and collaged images, but also created his own. When the Verein zur Gründung und Förderung eines Deutschen Fotoinstituts e.V. (Association for the Foundation and Promotion of a German Photo Institute) asked its members and friends for suggestions for the newly emerging institution at the beginning of the year, Hans-Peter Feldmann also sent us a text. It did not deal with the tasks or focal points of a future photo institute. Rather, the artist recalled the roots of his practice, a Sunday walk with his family at the age of ten, during which he was in possession of a camera for the first time in his life:
"A small box covered with black paper. Inside the box were a few holes, few buttons and other technical devices whose operation, however, was easy to learn. On top of the camera was a small leather strap to carry it. [...] I don't know why I remember that walk so well today. Maybe because I was so proud to own a camera for the first time."
Feldmann's short text contains much of what makes up his oeuvre: photography's proximity to life, its ability to capture the incidental, the fleeting, and the seemingly banal, its chronicler function, the playful. The simplicity of camera operation described by the artist allowed photography to become a mass medium in the post-war period, documenting family life as if in passing and elevating everyone, including children, to the rank of image producers.
The DFI e. V. dedicates the first exhibition in the newly occupied project office at Eiskellerberg to Hans-Peter Feldmann. On display is the portrait series "100 Years" from 2001, a groundbreaking work that can be found in the Federal Art Collection and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among other places. In this series, Feldmann portrayed relatives, family members and acquaintances ranging in age from eight weeks to one hundred years in 101 black-and-white images - a cross-section of all ages of human beings. In the center of the exhibition, according to the artist's instructions, a bouquet of field flowers is placed, picked in the nearby surroundings.
EXHIBITION VIEWS
With friendly support:
Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf
Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf
In cooperation with:
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln