Concresco by David Galjaard

A series of previous posts reviewed the books nominated for the Paris Photo / Aperture First Book Award. Well, Paris Photo is now in the past and David Galjaard's Concresco (available here for 45 euros plus shipping) was chosen as the best of the bunch. It's a decision I heartily endorse. The book is a fascinating portrait of post-Soviet Albania seen through the lens of a peculiar phenomena -- the 700,000 concrete bunkers built over 26 years following Albania's break with the Soviets and designed to provide shelter for every Albanian against whatever foreign invader may appear.
 
Self-published in an edition of 750, the book has exceptional production values and an exacting attention to detail. Take, for example, the cover. 

A simple, bold design in red and black pays obvious homage to both Albania (these are the colors of their flag) and the Soviet connection. A closer look displays a series of dots distributed across the cover in the shape of Albania. Holding the book, you realize these aren't dots, but rather bumps in the shape of the bunkers that protrude from the cover in the same way the bunkers protrude from the landscape. Thus, in tactile form, the cover embodies the book's central motif, the thousands of bunkers spread all across the country. 

Inside, the book consists of beautifully printed, full bleed, double page spreads. Though in a couple of cases it is a bit like Where's Waldo, virtually all the photos have one or more of the bunkers somewhere. The exceptions? A few images of worker's clothing and tools, several shots of items on the ground (including a turtle who's shell serves as a metaphor for the bunkers), and the last image in the book -- a photo of various souvenir items, among them ceramic models of the pillboxes. Sequentially, the early photos emphasize the worker's clothing and tools and shots of the ground. Then follow the bulk of the images, landscapes with bunkers and the concluding image of the souvenir bunkers. Thus, the sequencing creates a movement, from construction, to experience, to memory; a movement that is reinforced in the accompanying texts.

The most interesting of the textual material consists of a variety of small inserts that are spread throughout the book. These inserts document, in their own words, the experiences, memories and associations of individual Albanians with the bunkers. The spectrum of individuals ranges from workers who helped build the bunkers to journalists and academics reflecting on Albanian history and the the ongoing meaning of the bunkers. Take, for example, Ilir Mati: "Eventually we found out that these bunkers had nothing to do with war. They were related to something else: to power. People in power make those they rule do useless jobs so they can hold onto power. One of our famous writers Ismail Kadare has compared it to the construction of the pyramids. ... They had to work all their lives in order for the emperor to maintain his power. Similarly, over here, we were doing useless jobs to secure power for the regime, a power that seemed to be saying: 'I am useful to you. I saved you from war. I saved you from Nazis and Fascists.' This went on for a while, until one day the Berlin Wall fell -- and the bunkers fell too."

In short, a beautifully produced book that brings attention to a strange and perversely whimsical phenomena with deep and profound historical significance which continues to occupy the daily experience and the thoughts of Albania's citizens. As Galjaard puts it:

In this documentary, the bunkers are used as a visual metaphor in the telling of a larger social story. They help to paint a picture of developments in a country that was the last in Europe to renounce communism and has set out on a demanding quest to become part of the capitalist West.

In addition to the regular edition, there is a 150 euro Special Edition consisting of a signed book, wrapped in a handmade screen printed cover and a limited print (3x26 prints, size 24x30 cm) of one of three photographs from the series. Both the cover and the photo are numbered. Here are the three special edition prints (note: the center image has sold out and is no longer available).

Very highly recommended.
Video flip thru to be added shortly.

Reviewing the Paris Photo / Aperture Best Book Nominees: Part II

5) Anders Petersen. City Diary

The first of multiple installments, this bookwork consists of three distinct books of 68 pages each depicting life in the shadows in cities including Stockholm, Tokyo and St Petersburg.


Anders Petersen - City Diary from PhotoBookStore.co.uk on Vimeo.

6) Stephen Shore, Book of Books

To begin with, no matter how great the quality, it's hard to get past the $2500 price.  This just isn't value for money. Beginning in 2003, Shore produced a number of print on demand books that sold in editions of 20 at the galleries where his photos were on display. This two volume set brings together all 83 of these books in one place. So, conceptually, the 20 copies of the originals are the hardbound version of Graham's 12 volume 'Shimmer of Possibilites' and this is the democratic, mass market soft cover version. But the hard cover version of Shimmer sold for $250, where the 'accessible' version of Book of Books sells for 10 times that amount. This isn't a photobook, it's the transformation of a catalog into a status object.

While the individual books look interesting, the experience of wading through such a bulky book is antithetical to the intimate quality of many of the series. 

Here's a video of Shore talking about the project, followed by a video showing the books themselves.





7) Pietro Mattioli, Two Thousand Light Years From Home

No video available, but images of the book, along with a French review, are here. Mattioli, tethered to his home by the signal from his baby monitor, used his flash to transform the nocturnal surroundings of his neighborhood into curious and frequently disturbing images.






8) Jacqueline Hassink, Table of Power 2

From the publisher:

The financial crisis of 2009 shook the global economy to its very foundations. Yet has anything changed at the centers of power since? Do executive suites look different than they used to? And what do they actually look like?

A decade ago, Jacqueline Hassink (*1966 in Enschede, the Netherlands) captured images of desks and conference room tables at what were at the time the largest multinational corporations in the world. Magnum photographer Martin Parr included her project in his catalogue of the most important photo books of the twentieth century. Today, the artist is taking another look at the headquarters of the approximately fifty companies that the American business magazine Fortune lists as the most powerful actors on the market: banks, insurance companies, and corporations such as Shell, BP, Volkswagen, and ING. With scientific precision, Hassink focuses on the desks and tables in deserted, soulless rooms—as if emptiness was one of the inherent features of power.

Interesting question? Do executive suites look different in the era of the 1%? Unfortunately, without the original book for comparison, you'll never know. Yes, it's a great concept. But does anyone seriously believe that a sequel is the best book of the year?





9) Lise Sarfati, She (signed copy)

A riff on relationships based on images of four American women -- two sisters approximately 40 years old and the two daughters of one of them.

A family album preserves only carefully selected photographs. Out of an entire life, it stores only handpicked moments, privileging special occasions, happy ones usually, and consigning the rest to oblivion: happy faces, relaxed moments, places of leisure rather than work. .... None of this figures in She: instead of a chronology, time is stopped, it appears to stammer and bite its own tail. There is no group photo or desire to stage a collective destiny, but only isolated models and individuals who do not seem to communicate amongst themselves, or only barely; no happy moments or picturesque places, only indifferent moments in ordinary places; no strong gesture, none of the conventional poses, and no complicity with the photographer. ... When we close the book and think a bit about it, we cannot but see She as the anti-family album par excellence. -Quentin Bajac

10) Anouk Kruithof, A Head with Wings

 At $24, serious value for money. Kruithof has a history of making photobooks that engage the viewer on a number of levels. The tactile dimension of this book, as illustrated in the video, is a big part of the experience. Not to be missed.

Reviewing the Paris Photo / Aperture Best Book Nominees: Part I

In a series of earlier posts, we reviewed the Aperture First Book Award nominees.  This post, the first part of a two part series, reviews the books nominated for their other prize, PhotoBook of the Year. 

1) Ori Gersht, History Repeating

More a book of photographs than a photobook in the narrow sense, the book is an exhaustive review of Gersht's carreer to date and a catalog for the current mid-career museum retrospective currently on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. As the publisher notes:

History Repeating is the first comprehensive survey of the Israeli-born photographer and video artist Ori Gersht (born 1967). This richly illustrated book presents the best of Gersht's achingly beautiful images, and explores how he intertwines spectacles of painterly and narrative imagery with personal and collective memory, metaphysical journeys, contextualized spaces and the history of art and photography. Be it in the scars left on the sunlit yet war-torn buildings in Sarajevo, the white noise of his train journey to Auschwitz, or the clearing of trees in a forest that once stood witness to mass murder in Ukraine, Gersht's vision bridges a history that is full of violent horror and a world of emergent, transcendent beauty. From the radiant optical glow of pollution in the atmosphere to his freeze-frame shots of shattering floral arrangements frozen by liquid nitrogen, Gersht's calm is one that comes after the storm. In his 2010 series of Japanese landscapes, the ghostly visual static of cherry-blossom petals echo the militarism and sacrificed youth of World War II and the more recent nuclear fallout of Fukushima, but in their own extreme transience, they also manage to embody the possibility of spiritual renewal. History Repeating demonstrates the thin line between beauty and brutality and the sublime draftsmanship behind history's various traumatic scars. History repeats itself: first as tragedy, then as unexpected beauty.

 See Gersht discuss his work with the museum curator in the video below (long, but interesting):



For a quicker take on the videos, which I find more interesting than the still photos, here's "Falling Bird" (spoiler -- the pay off is in the second half of the video).



2) Mikhael Subotzky, Retinal Shift

Retinal Shift is a first retrospective of Subotzky’s work. According to the publisher: "He investigates the practice and mechanics of looking – in relation to the history of Grahamstown, the history of photographic devices, and Subotzky’s own history as an artist. The book fuses his compelling and sometimes brutal photography with essays and archived portraits from the last century to create an intricate and esoteric collection."

 

While I haven't seen a copy, it is another book based on an exhibition consisting of a mix of stills and videos.

3) Sophie Calle, Rachael, Monique

Another exhibition based book I haven't seen. Released in France, but hasn't yet made it into mass distribution in North America. Here's the description from Digital Daze:

Ex-lovers, family members, strangers on the street: those around Sophie Calle often become involved, sometimes without their knowledge, in her multi-media pieces that debate the nature and boundaries of intimacy. Her current show, ‘Rachel, Monique’, held at the Palais de Tokyo’s new space, a 9,000 square meter basement still in a state of construction, follows her mother’s recent death in a reportage-style, and simultaneously celebrates her life and personality. “She was a woman who loved attention, and would have loved the show” said the artist.

And a video of the exhibition ...



4) David Alan Harvey. (based on a true story)

The quintessential post-modern photobook. Colorful, sexy, nominally true ... but infinitely revisable. From the publisher:

(based on a true story) takes you deep into David Alan Harvey’s fictional night in Rio, it is myth and truth together, a visual novella of the mood and feel of the people surrounding him and the journey into his inner self.

Not just a book, it is a puzzle, a game, a story to be read many different times, in many different ways. It is his story, but it can become yours. Not only virtually, but for real. (based on a true story) is meant to be taken apart, to be deconstructed and reconstructed the way YOU see and feel it. You become part of it, along with the characters of this play.

To be spread out on the floor, to be pinned to the wall, framed, with (based on a true story) you can do it. It is an analogue interactive 3D experience made real.

(based on a true story) is solid photography. Each frame tells you what Rio feels like, roaming from the people in the favelas to those of the upper class, with respect for everyone. From the beaches up to the Corcovado, the duality of Rio is made tangible in the way the book is constructed, pictures not only standing on their own, but completing each other. Interwoven, the feelings, the story, the mood, the dream..
(based on a true story) is raw, sensual, sexy, bold, tender, simple and intriguing, passionate, soft, fun, subtle, hot, quiet, crazy.. it is “feel it, live it”… based on a true story..

Bernard Plossu's Europa

Plossu's Europa was picked by PhotoEspana as the best Spanish photobook of 2011.



French photographer Bernard Plossu (born 1945) has described photography as "the meeting place between delirium and absolute peace." Europa demonstrates his viewpoint, showing urban Europe in all its speedy, glittering intensity, as well as its serener counterpoint--the gorgeous countrysides. Culled from hundreds of photographs, Europa brings together the most memorable and spontaneous of Plossu's European shots from the 1970s to the present.