Catherine Leutenegger PORTFOLIO

Transcription

1 Catherine Leutenegger PORTFOLIO Catherine Leutenegger Studio Valentin 34 1/2 CH 1004 Lausanne

2 Catherine Leutenegger PORTFOLIO BIO Catherine Leutenegger [born in Switzerland, 1983] received her BA and MA in Photography with First Class Honours from the University of Art and Design / ECAL, Lausanne. Her first book titled Hors-champ (Off-camera) revealing photographers workspaces, was published in 2006 through the prestigious Manor Cultural Prize which includes a generous cash award and an exhibition at the Musée de l Elysée in Lausanne curated by William A. Ewing. Beside she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Swiss Federal Design Grant and The RAYMOND WEIL Club International Photography Prize. In 2007 she took part of an artist residency program in New York City and started her project named The Kodak City in Rochester, NY. Leutenegger has exhibited internationally in galleries, festivals and museums : Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich ; Museum Bellerive, Zürich ; Fotomuseum, Winterthur; Bieler Fototage, Biel; International Photography Festival, Leipzig ; Carla Sozzani Gallery, Milan ; Aperture Gallery in New York.

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4 - Hors-champ Hors-champ - Off-screen - Ausserhalb des Blickfeldes [Manor Cultural Prize 2006 / Swiss Federal Prize of Design 2006 / Raymond Weil Photo Prize 2008] Hors-Champ ( Off-screen ) is an invitation to discover a place that often remains unknown: where photographs are made workshops and studios, darkrooms, development and print labs. The work behind the illusion so meticulously crafted by photographers in their studios is indeed rarely revealed. Author: Catherine Leutenegger Editor: Infolio & Musée de l Elysée Lausanne ISBN: Date de publication: 01/2007 Language: Français/ Anglais Size: Broché p. Dimensions: 20.5 x 24.5 cm The realization of this project arises from a personal desire to explore, behind-the-scenes, the world of professionals in the photography field in my region, at a point in time when, obviously, photography is undergoing a deep change both in its technical aspects and its esthetical ones. In this digitalized age, what really occurs behind-the-scenes? What will become of studios and traditional photo labs? Off-screen is an homage to photography, its history and to the creators of images, and encourages the viewer to reflect on the future of this medium of communication.

5 - Hors-champ Hors-champ in Switzerland 2005

6 - Hors-champ in NYC Henry Leutwyler s shooting with Beyoncé for People Magazine, NY 2007

7 - Hors-champ in NYC The Starn Twins, Lois Greenfield, Jennifer Trausch, Grégory Colbert, Raymond Meier s studios, NY 2007

8 - The Kodak City The Kodak City [Swiss Federal Design Grant 2008] The year 2004 was marked by an explosion of digital camera sales, but also by a sharp drop in the sales of film, prints and film processing to professionals as well as the general public. This decrease in the traditional photography business led to the closing or restructuring of many photo-processing labs. Now it seems that the golden age of traditionnal photography is soon over and that we are entering in an exculsive digital era. In the way to understand better the consequences of such a singular mutation, I felt the strong desire to visit and document the Eastman Kodak Company located in Rochester, NY because it is the most important Kodak Author: Catherine Leutenegger Editor: Self-published Date de publication: 07/2007 Language: Français/ Anglais Size: Broché p. Dimensions: 20.5 x 24.5 cm corporation worldwide and it is also the best representive place where past (traditional analogue photography) and future (digital technology) coexist. Clearly photography is following a new road, and its future seems to be digital. By revealing now the sites in which the traditional practice of photography evolved in a way, and by documenting the sites in which new technology is growing in the other way, my desire is to question the Photography s very future but also to keep in memory what belongs / or will soon belong to the past.

9 - The Kodak City

10 - Founex Motel Founex Motel The Motel of Founex made up of a restaurant-grill, a swimming pool and a discotheque, is located in the edge of the motorway A1 Lausanne-Geneva, near the wealthy districts of the Municipalities of Commugny and Coppet. This cheap hotel complex built in 1969 upon the model of the American motel contrasts with the helvetic landscape. Switzerland has a worldwide reputation for high-class tourism infrastructures and for its luxury hotels. Abandonned for nearly 10 years, following the bankruptcy of its owner and because of multiple disputes concerning the projects about the refitting of the territory, the Motel of Founex is an atypical place, out of time, which shelters strange stories and rumours...

11 - Founex Motel

12 - Welcome Home Baby Welcome Home Baby Objects of collection or decoration, works of art or toys, the dolls «So Truly Real» of the house Ashton Drake Galleries are disturbing of realism and question us about the usage that make its purchasers of them. Manufactured from vinyl and from silicone, these ultra-realistic new-born dolls were conceived in their slightest details. The expression of the face, the hair stuck by hand on the head, the stuffed soft body, the folds of hands and feet. Everything gives the impression that these dolls are real babies. These models are generally available with a wide range of extra-accessories such as clothes, the announcment of birth, curb chain, heart working on battery and even a breath device! The designer of these dolls, Linda Webb declares that - at the birth of her son - she felt the deep desire to immortalize him in a doll to keep a faithful memory of the first days of his life. But who are the people buying these dolls? And what for? What is the point of imitating with so much precision the anatomy of new-borns?

13 - Welcome Home Baby Lambda prints, semi-mat paper, mounted on aluminium 100 cm x 53 cm