Kai Wiedenhoefer / CLOSED
WALLONWALL WORKSHOP
AUGUST 2013
This workshop supports the WallOnWall campaign on kickstarter: a photo exhibition on the Berlin Wall about 8 border walls that separate people worldwide. 36 panorama pictures will be printed in extra large format (9×3 meters)and mounted on one side of one of the longest stretches of the Berlin Wall still standing, along the river Spree in the city centre. Opening: July 10th at 7pm
The workshop will concentrate on the border zones along the former Berlin Wall. The topic will be approached in all its facets and handled openly by Kai Wiedenhoefer, so for example social differences between communities in East & West Berlin, architecture, the flourishing tourism around the wall, the new Mitte (center of Berlin) or traces showing the history of Berlin as the “frontline city” during the cold war. Photographers can also take it literally and work on the 34 places where the wall still exists. The range of possible photographic approaches is wide and spans from reportage up to art or architecture photography.
During the workshop the exhibition WALLONWALL showing separation walls worldwide will be up, covering more than 1100 square meters of the Berlin Wall.
The project “WallOnWall”
Confrontier – 8 borderwalls around the world
Since 2006 Wiedenhöfer took pictures at eight different regions: in Baghdad, between North and South Korea, on Cyprus, between the USA and Mexico, between Spain and Morocco, around the Palestine areas, in Belfast, and at the former German-German border.
In 1989, Kai Wiedenhöfer photographed the fall of the Berlin Wall in his hometown, and was deeply moved by this experience of history unfolding. At the time, Wiedenhöfer, like many, believed this event would mark the end of walls being employed as political tools and dismissed them as anachronistic instruments of division. Over twenty years later, history has proved us wrong; indeed, walls have enjoyed a barbaric renaissance. Border barriers have been erected in the US, Europe, and the Middle East in the aftermath of political, economic, religious and ethnic conflicts.Wiedenhöfer has documented walls in Belfast, Ceuta and Melilla, Baghdad, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the AmericanMexican border, Cyprus, Korea as well as the remains of the Iron Curtain. Confrontiers presents Wiedenhöfer’s comprehensive project and evidences his conviction that walls are not solutions to today’s political and economic problems, but proof of human weakness, error and our inability to communicate with one another.
BIOGRAPHY
Kai Wiedenhöfer, born in Germany in 1966, received a MA in photography and editorial design from the Folkwang School in Essen and studied Arabic in Damascus, Syria. Since 1989 the focus of his work is mainly the Middle East. He has received numerous awards, as the Leica Medal of Excellence, the Alexia Grant for World Peace and Cultural Understanding, World Press Photo Awards, the Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography and lately the Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism Award. He has published three books with the renowned publisher Steidl “Perfect Peace“ (2002) , “Wall“ (2007) and “The Book of Destruction“ (2010) which was exhibited as a solo exhibtition in the Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In Summer his new volume “CONFRONTIER“ about separation walls worldwide will be published by Steidl.
www.wallonwall.org
PROGRAM
The workshop takes place over 5 days from Wednesday to Sunday.
WEDNESDAY
9.30 am – 1.00 pm: Introduction of the theme, portfolio reviews
afternoon / night: Solo shooting the assignment
THURSDAY
9.30 am – 1.00 pm: Slideshow of other similar works, studying magazines, portfolio reviews
afternoon / night: Solo shooting the assignment
FRIDAY
9.30 am – 1.00 pm: Questions about the theme, solving difficult situations, the Master is available for questions and advices
afternoon / night: Solo shooting the assignment
SATURDAY
9.30 am – 1.00 pm: Portfolio reviews, editing pictures
afternoon / night: Solo shooting the assignment
SUNDAY
2.00 pm – 6.30 pm: Final editing session: viewing of the students’ work (30 pictures each, previously selected), editing and discussion. The Master photographer gives some final tips.
COSTS
The tuition fee for active participants is € 590 (VAT 21% excluded)
Payment method for active participants: directly on Kickstarters
This fee does not include travel or accommodation costs.