The Berlinische Galerie presents from Friday, 8 November 2024 to Monday, 10 February 2025 the art exhibition ‘Still – Moving. Portraits 1992 – 2024′ by the artist Rineke Dijkstra.
Image above: Rineke Dijkstra, Odessa, Ukraine, August 6, 1993, © courtesy of the artist, Galerie Max Hetzler, Marian Goodman Gallery and Galerie Jan Mot
Rineke Dijkstra (1959) is one of the world’s most renowned photo and video artists. The depiction of identity is the central theme of her portraits. She is particularly fascinated by phases of life and the moments in which these are formed – childhood and youth, but also formative events in adulthood, such as the birth of a child.
The comprehensive retrospective at the Berlinische Galerie presents eight series with around 80 works from the early 1990s to the present day – including some photographs from her archive that have not previously been on public display. Reduced to the essentials, her works are also of great visual power and make it easy for viewers to find their own approaches. They offer an almost meditative space and encourage reflection on individuality, (self-)staging and the expression of personality.
Dijkstra sees the camera as an opportunity to engage intensively with people. She takes a cautious approach, following her concept slowly and with concentration, but does not rule out spontaneous developments or variations. She often establishes a long-lasting and intensive connection with the people portrayed. This empathetic approach is reflected in her photographs through a special sensitivity: Dijkstra’s works capture fragile moments, subtle gestures that lie between a conscious pose and an unconscious attitude. She is able to emphasise the dignity as well as the insecurities of individuals.
The artist works with a 4×5-inch large-format plate camera, which she uses to photograph her subjects from the front. The results are images of exceptional detail and precision, whose composition is thought through and realised down to the last detail. As a separate sheet of film is required for each exposure, patience, time and concentration play an essential role for both the photographer and the model. At the same time, the subjects relax during these preparations and get used to the unfamiliar situation.
The portraits not only reflect how we present ourselves to the world, but also what it means to be documented by the media. They can almost be described as studies of human behaviour in front of the camera. Especially against the backdrop of the omnipresence of social media, they offer the opportunity to analyse claims to authenticity in images and changing strategies of (self-)staging.
Dijkstra’s work is divided into groups on which the artist
the artist has been working on for years:
‘Beach Portraits’, 1992-1998
In 1991, shortly after a bicycle accident, Rineke Dijkstra took a self-portrait in a swimming costume at the Marnixbad in Amsterdam. According to the artist, this unadorned self-portrait was the catalyst for starting the Beach Portraits series, which is now one of the best-known series of works within her oeuvre. First in the Netherlands, then in South Carolina (USA) and subsequently in a number of other countries in Western and Eastern Europe, including Poland and Ukraine, she photographed young people on the beach, alone or in groups. The background is always the sea and the sky. The young people sometimes adopt stereotypical poses, searching for a position for their feet and hands. Apart from their swimwear, there are no accessories. In the group, the young people appear more relaxed. They touch and hug each other, seek support and stabilise each other.
Rineke Dijkstra, Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 25, 1992, © courtesy of the artist, Galerie Max Hetzler, Marian Goodman Gallery and Galerie Jan Mot
‘Almerisa’, since 1994 and “Olivier (The French Foreign Legion)”, 2000-2003
In 1994, Rineke Dijkstra visited a Dutch refugee centre to photograph children for an art project and draw attention to their precarious living situation. She was particularly interested in six-year-old Almerisa. The girl had fled Bosnia with her parents a few years after the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars. Dijkstra has photographed Almerisa almost every two years since this first encounter. The photo series shows the transformation from a shy, young girl to an elegant, self-confident woman looking into the camera, who has since become a mother.
The series of works on Olivier also shows a process of change. At the age of 14, he decided to join the French Foreign Legion. Until his dream could come true – the earliest he could apply was at the age of 17 – he prepared himself by training his body at night. Dijkstra began the series on the day Olivier was accepted into the legion and documented his physical and mental development from teenager to experienced soldier over five years and various missions. The work is not only dedicated to Olivier’s development, but also questions the way in which viewers project their own ideas of identity, power and masculinity onto him.
‘Family Portraits’, since 2002
Rineke Dijkstra has been producing family portraits since 2002, both as commissioned work and out of her own fascination for the genre. She concentrates exclusively on children. The presence of the parents can be felt through the home environment, the clothing and the behaviour of the children. High windows, parquet floors, prestigious furnishings and other details hint at the privileged world in which these children grow up and in which they will presumably move just as naturally as adults.
The group portraits also reveal subtle dynamics among the siblings. Some look alike, others less so, but they convey a sense of solidarity. At the same time, they all try to stand out in their own way and emphasise their individual personalities. Looking at them inevitably raises questions about what has become of the children.
‘New Mothers’, 1994 and “Bullfighters”, 1994 and 2000
The ‘New Mothers’ are undoubtedly among the most intimate portraits that Rineke Dijkstra has realised in her artistic career. Dijkstra took the portraits in the women’s homes – they are acquaintances and friends who have given birth at home, which is more common in the Netherlands than in other countries of Western culture. Just a few hours after the birth, the ‘new mothers’ hold their newborns naked in their arms. They are marked by the exertions and at the same time radiate happiness and contentment.
In Portuguese bullfighting, the ‘bullfighters’ known as forcados try to force the bull to the ground using muscle power alone. Dijkstra portrays the young men immediately after the ritualised fight – exhausted, their faces covered in blood, their finely embroidered jackets dirty and torn.
‘Parks’, 1998-2006
A series of portraits taken in Berlin’s Tiergarten park in 1998/1999 during Rineke Dijkstra’s stay in the city as part of the DAAD artists’ programme is the starting point for the exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie. It shows children and young people whom Dijkstra approached during her explorations in the park, away from the leisure hustle and bustle in front of deep green vegetation at the height of summer. The artificially created, ultimately urban landscapes are a simulation of nature, of forests and meadows. At the same time, the lush greenery and the effect of light and shadow lend the parks an uncanny air. The fact that this is a controlled, domesticated form of nature and vegetation is not evident in every one of the photographs. Dijkstra continued the series in other urban parks, such as the Vondelpark in Amsterdam or the Parque de la Ciutadella in Barcelona.
In addition to the photographic works, Dijkstra also repeatedly creates video works. Photography is integrated into the production and stills are created parallel to the moving image, which Dijkstra sees and presents as autonomous works.
‘The Buzz Club’, 1995 and “The Buzz Club, Liverpool, UK/Mystery World, Zaandam, NL”, 1996-1997
Rineke Dijkstra’s experiments with moving images date back to 1996/97. For ‘The Buzz Club, Liverpool, UK/Mystery World, Zaandam, NL 1996-97’, Dijkstra approached young people in nightclubs who seemed interesting to her. Unsupervised by their parents, the young people try themselves out, dress up for the evening, test their sexual attraction and experiment with their bodies. They are no longer children and are in a phase of transformation and therefore in an emotionally turbulent and conflict-ridden period. Youth as a central myth of modernity is charged with questions of self-discovery, rebellion, but also conformity.
Rineke Dijkstra portrayed the young people in the Buzz Club a year before the video work was created. The Berlinische Galerie is presenting some previously unpublished photographs from this series, which the artist recently rediscovered in her archive.
‘I See a Woman Crying’, 2009
The three-channel video work ‘I See a Woman Crying’ is about the perception and interpretation of Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Weeping Woman’ from 1937. Rineke Dijkstra observes a group of young pupils who have been given the task of describing this painting. The painting itself is not shown. The camera looks at the children’s faces as they try to get closer to the painting by describing it, subtly showing how inspiring it can be to engage with art. When looking at the painting, the children are still uninfluenced by preconceived ideas about modern art. They sense a closeness to the sitter and, against the background of their own life experience, the children begin to interpret the fate of the weeping woman. In an almost sentimental way, Dijkstra argues in favour of enabling children to engage with art.
About the artist
Rineke Dijkstra was born in Sittard in the Netherlands in 1959. She attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam from 1981 to 1986. She has been honoured with the Johannes Vermeer Prijs (2020), the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (2017), SPECTRUM, Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen (2017) and the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize (1999), among others.
Retrospectives of her oeuvre have been shown at Museum De Pont, Tilburg, Netherlands (2018), the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (2017), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2012). In 2013, the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) in Frankfurt am Main presented the world’s first comprehensive film retrospective of the Dutch artist.
WHEN?
Exhibition dates: Friday, 08 November 2024 – Monday, 10 February 2025
WHERE?
Berlinische Galerie
Alte Jakobstraße 124 – 128
10969 Berlin
