Teodelina Detry, Denis Jutzeler, Nacoca Ko, Catherine Rebois,
Nicolas Delaroche, Julien Spiewak and Martin Widmer
What exactly is a ‘photograph’? A surface, an imprint, a medium? It originally existed on photosensitive copper and glass plates, then on film, and now it is virtually recorded on a digital sensor.
Today, photography is not only immaterial, but also essentially timeless, or at least it maintains its own temporality, as Roland Barthes conceptualises with the phrase ‘ça a été’1 . It is then reproduced with a depth that it did not originally have, because photography is above all writing with light. It is therefore necessary to combine the production of form and colour with the materiality of a future medium in order to achieve the physical reality of the object that photography then becomes.
In the different approaches presented here, we see a questioning of tradition in order to go further. Photographic artists are experimenting with new ways of presenting their work, free from traditional artistic protocols and frameworks. This is what the exhibition ‘Fragmented Realities’ sets out to explore with seven artists who are determined to break free from rules, space, surface and media.
Teodelina Detry is exploring black and white photography, specifically how freedom and fragility can be represented. Denis Jutzeler oscillates between photography and cinema, between still images and movement. Here, he offers us a tribute to Roman Opalka. Nacoca Ko shows us virtual images that intertwine with reality, allowing us to explore new narratives. Catherine Rebois extends her approach to photography to installation art, multiplying the sensory possibilities of bodily perception and representation. Nicolas Delaroche captures intimate behind-the-scenes glimpses of the art world within private collections and shifts the photographic medium towards supports that evoke fragments of archaeology. Julien Spiewak revisits museums to intrude into the image and create confusion in the reproduction of a representation. Martin Widmer is an artist whose main mediums are photography and writing, which he combines with raw materials.
Photography is becoming increasingly dematerialised, but it is also associated with a genuine jubilation linked to the desire of artists, in the questions they raise in their works, to reinvent their practices by transcending conventions.
Today, Espace L offers us an extraordinary artistic effervescence in photography with this exhibition.