barthouse culture concepts and Hatje Cantz present : Ralf Peters at Contributed Art Space, Berlin

Petrol stations, landscapes and airports are photography and conceptual artist Ralf Peters’ (*1960 in Lüneburg) favourite subjects. His photographs produce an aura of familiarity at first glance, yet become a cause of irritation afterwards.

The petrol station series sees its logos and signage removed, the photographs are far from being realistic depictions of the existent, but are calculated aesthetic images of the everyday environment. They deliberately reject the claim of conventional realism. The ‘Candies’ are comprised of intimate scenes such as mountainscapes or beaches, conjuring the dream of idyllic living spaces, but are missing any form of identity due to the intense digital processing in the end. Reality is only what is being simulated; the remaining essence is nothing but opaque fields of colour emitting the air of a painting that reaches out to our memories.

Contributed presents a small retrospective of the internationally acclaimed photographer whose works have just been on display in Japan to great success. Series on show include ‘Tankstellen’ (Gas Stations), ‘Skylines, Box, 24 Hours’, ‘Mix’, ‘Porträts bei Nacht’ (Portraits by Night), ‘Porträts von Porträts’ (Portraits of Portraits) and ‘Candies’,

Contributed is a new platform for publications and shows creative productions in time with their publication in magazines, books and catalogues. Zeitgeist transforms into tangible art, new forms of perception are created, the hype decelerates and the image is granted a body and thus a piece of eternity.

Contributed was founded by the beginning of 2009 as an open source project for fashion, design and media. International artists and fashion designers have used it to promote their works and have used the platform as a showroom. Here, the focus evidently shifts towards the understanding of the publication as an art form. Contributed yielded to the demand and now operates as a regular gallery on the art market.

Nadine Barth of Barthouse Culture Concepts heads the curation.

Hatje Cantz presents: Ralf Peters 'Until Today'
19 March to 5 May 2010
Private view & book signing: 18 March, 7pm

Contributed – Studio for the Arts
Strausberger Platz 16, 10243 Berlin
www.contributed.de
Tue-Fri 2-7pm, Sat 12-4pm

Ralf Peters: ‘Until Today’
Publ.: Bernhard Knaus
Text by Klaus Honnef, Heinz Kattner, Renate Puvogel, Raimar Stange
212 Pages, 410 coloured pictures
25,60 x 28,10, Hardcover
€ 39,80 | CHF 69,00, ISBN 978-3-7757-2608-5