The exhibitions of Magnus Wennman, Martin Schoeller, Pieter ten Hoopen, Thomas Wågström on view at Fotografiska, Stockholm

Magnus Wennman / Aftonbladet
Where the children sleep
30 september, 2015 — 24 january, 2016
Where do the children, fleeing from the Syrian war and the terror of IS, go when the night falls? The exhibition ”Where the children sleep” is a cooperation between #fotografiska for Life, photographer Magnus Wennman and Aftonbladet ViHjälper.
A boy is missing his bed. A girl, her doll with the dark eyes. A third child is dreaming of a time when the pillow was not an enemy. The war in Syria has continued for almost five years and more than two million children are fleeing the war, within and outside of the country borders. They have left their friends, their homes, and their beds behind. A few of these children offered to show where they sleep now, when everything that once was no longer exists.
Magnus Wennman, winner of two World Press Photo Awards and fourfold winner of Swedish Photographer of the Year Award, has met child refugees in countless refugee camps and on their journeys through Europe. The stories taking place when the night comes is a living narrative with no given ending. #fotografiska and Aftonbladet aim to recognize the vulnerable situation of these children who have been displaced by war in order to support the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. To help UNHCR help fleeing children, you can send an SMS with the word FLYKT150 to 729 80 to give SEK 150 to UNHCR. You can also send a Swish with any amount to 123 90 01 645. (Please note that these numbers only work with a telephone registered in Sweden.)

Martin Schoeller
Up Close
2 october, 2015 — 7 february, 2016
A strong desire to get behind the facade, to capture the unique moment rather than confirming the received image has taken Martin Schoeller far. One of the world’s most respected portrait photographers, Schoeller’s pictures capture that which is both unique and universal for each person, whether it is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Barack Obama, Katie Perry, Hilary Clinton, Jay Z, a female bodybuilder or someone he has met on the street.
Fotografiska’s exhibition Up Close will be the first time Martin Schoeller’s four photographic series have been exhibited at one venue. “The exhibition at #fotografiska is my most comprehensive to date. It is absolutely wonderful to see all the works together,” Martin Schoeller explains enthusiastically. Both the artist and his works are characterised by enthusiasm and warmth and it is evidently clear that the photo sessions have been conducted in both an inspiring, playful and at the same time extremely technically professional way.
This comes across in the images of the many celebrities that have posed in front of Schoeller’s camera such as when Jay Z relaxes in a diner, Quentin Tarantino attempts to break loose from his straight jacket surrounded by the ultimate symbol of peace – white doves, or when Marina Abramovic hangs around with good-looking naked people on the subway. They all share themselves with Martin, and via his gaze he shares them with us. As an emergent photographer Schoeller managed, through life’s twists and turns, to secure a position as assistant to Annie Leibovitz, whose constantly innovative style perfectly suited the young creative artist, who was brought up in Munich. Since then his creativity has continued to expand in all directions.
Soon, he was sought after by the world’s major magazines and newspapers, and in addition to portrait commissions he has pursued his own projects, which he is just as strongly dedicated to. The best known of these is perhaps Close Up – a series in which he asks those he portrays to pose for an intimate picture taken in a specific way that focuses on certain facial characteristics. “I use the flash and lighting in order to highlight the eyes and mouth. I think that these two features of the face best show each individual’s uniqueness, while at the same demonstrating how similar we are, all of us,” Martin says. It is a clearly democratic endeavour where photography in a smart and efficient manner helps open both the viewer’s eyes and heart: What really differentiates Hilary Clinton from Denise Martin who lives on the street? What is it that makes their respective expressions unique – and what do they have in common?
Martin Schoeller’s photographic work also comprises a series featuring female bodybuilders, a group that is rarely portrayed outside of the specialised fitness press. Schoeller explains why he fell for this particular group. “Few others care about the outcome of these women’s struggle to obtain, in their eyes, the best body. But they are so dedicated to the task they have set themselves that the response from others is not really important, only the response from their own group. For me the commitment that these people display for what they have chosen to pursue is deeply fascinating, regardless of what the majority might think.” Martin finds such an attitude very attractive and a meta-communication about what you choose to show and what you choose to hide can also be discerned in many of his other works. Sometimes there is a dialogue between the image we are accustomed to seeing of the sitter and the unique encounter of the moment. An example is when he has George Clooney hide his eyes behind a crumpled image of himself. Is this how George hides behind his persona? What is he trying to say to us? This question could be asked of many of the portraits in the exhibitions, “How is it – really?” You may find the answer in the exhibition and perhaps you will also discover something new about yourself…

Pieter ten Hoopen
Hungry Horse
19 november, 2015 — 31 january, 2016
Emmy-nominated photographer and filmmaker Pieter ten Hoopen’s exhibition in Fotografiska’s video gallery comprises his film Hungry Horse and images from his eponymous book; two different expressions of the artist’s attempt to describe and shed light on American society, which has provoked mixed, and strong, emotions.
In September, Pieter ten Hoopen was nominated for an Emmy for his film, which is the culmination of a decade-long documentation of life in the small town of Hungry Horse in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. The project began when George Bush was re-elected and was fighting terrorism. It was a time when the gap between the rich and the poor widened.
Hungry Horse is a photographic rather than factual documentation of the state of mind of the people of the region and its landscape. Ten Hoopen wanted to get beyond the clichés of a country that many people have very distinct ideas about. Reproduced in movies and books, the stereotypical image of America is alien to most of the inhabitants of this small town in the Rocky Mountains. These are people who have been hit hard by the recession and unemployment. People plagued by drugs, poverty and loneliness.
“The project was like a slow food process. In order to learn to know the people and discover the unique expression of this special condition, it was crucial that I spend as much time as possible with them. After ten years I can confidently say that I have done everything I can to describe the town and the experience of the people who live there.”
The many aspects of the place and the people are brought out in a poetic and emotional work about our society and the time in which we live, sparking as many questions as answers. The images displayed at #fotografiska are ten Hoopen’s artistic interpretation of the state of the place, while the film, in the style of a documentary, provides the people with a platform to express their own views of the situation.
The work has been nominated for an Emmy in the New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture category. The exhibition also includes a film by Peter Hoelstad in which journalist Lasse Bengtsson interviews ten Hoopen about the project and shows what happened when Hungry Horse was screened at the local saloon.

Thomas Wågström
On Earth
20 november, 2015 — 16 march, 2016
Thomas Wågström at Fotografiska - An observer of the visible and the invisible.
A unique and magical pictorial world. That the author Karl Ove Knausgård has written the exhibition text and the preface to the book says a lot about Thomas Wågström’s ability to attract artists with an eye for detail.
Fotografiska’s exhibition On Earth is a comprehensive survey of Thomas Wågström’s poetic and distinctive pictorial world. Over time, with his consistent and magical imagery, Wågström has built up an honourable reputation in photographic circles. An observer of the visible and the invisible, he creates the unexpected.
Wågström explains that he has always wanted to explore the introspective, the power that goes inwards. He regards his pictures as a narrative possessing an existential undertone of the universality of the human condition.
The exhibition comprises three series that reflect each other in a manner that expands the senses. Necks, clouds and views are juxtaposed in varying formats, while still exuding the same language. Suddenly a crease in an old man’s neck converges with a highway of clouds that in its turn is repeated in the footsteps of two women’s encounter in the snow. Everything is connected. The result is a general meditative reflection of our time on earth.

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S-116 45 Stockholm
Sweden
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