Zoe Leonard. Photographs / Retrospective at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

The Pinakothek der Moderne is staging Zoe Leonard’s first retrospective in Germany. The exhibition has been initiated by the Fotomuseum Wintherthur, Switzerland, and comprises some 90 works. The focus is being placed on Zoe Leonard’s photographic work of the past twenty years, their subtle, visual look at the relationship between the sexes, the ambivalence between culture and nature, history and the present day, as well as the relation between space and time. The 600 square meters exhibition space has been re-designed by the artist herself especially for the Pinakothek der Moderne. The exhibition runs until July 5, 2009.

Leonard was born in 1961 in Liberty, New York. Among other venues, her works were shown at the documenta in 1992 and 2007. For more than twenty years her photographs have reflected her wanderings – lost in thought – and her cognitive way of looking at things. Leonard’s unconventional views of water or with mirrors, her images of female anatomical wax figures, of fashion shows, of trees and fencing, her hunting trophies from various cities and countries are not intended as pictorial inventions but show the precision and attentive manner in which she finds, captures and memorises her subjects. Seemingly everyday things photographed in black and white or in color will be shown in a new context. The artist wants to render her lost history visible again, to give it a voice of its own while, at the same time, wresting it from its transient state.

In this video the director of the collection for photography and new media at the Pinakothek der Modern in Munich, Dr. Inka Gaeve Ingelmann, talks about the concept of the exhibition and Zoe Leonard’s work.

Zoe Leonard. Photographs. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich / Germany. Video by Gürsoy Dogtas.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

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