24 Feb 2009

Censored art work at Derby Festival

Author:

Olivier Laurent

Last week, we reported that curator Yasmina Reggad was asked to remove a video and photography montage designed by Brazil-based artists collective Cia de Foto because it included sexual imagery. Reggad is curating an exhibition in Derby’s Guildhall gallery as part of the Collectives Encounter project showing during the Format festival, which opens next week.

Read the full story here and the Derby's City Council's response here.

Now, you can view the censored work here:


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Comments

Although the guys worked hard, their project is immature and dull. It reveals a poor conception of photography. Even the so-called sexual scenes are artificial - they strongly remind me of d'Agata and his disciples, as if the exercise was compulsory.

The only reason why I would dismiss that work would be its quality, not its content.

Posted by: sue on 24 Feb 2009 at 09:48

sue - by implication you seem to think that artificial moments caught on camera are not worthy, which is kind of strange.

i think it´s a quality idea and executed really well.. clearly..

there are some great individual images within the piece and although the stop motion idea may be stretched a little thin i think it´s a piece of work well worth showing.

so.. is art okay so long as it does not illustrate the dawning of a family nor the human urges we all partake in?

shame on derby CC for narrow mindedness on this one.. i thought the essay was touching and honest.

Posted by: david bowen on 24 Feb 2009 at 12:37

Artificial or not and actual execution aside, I thought it was quite compelling and beautiful.

Posted by: Konstantin Golovchinsky on 24 Feb 2009 at 19:18

I have two young children and photograph them daily, as well as documenting my wife's pregnancies and intend to put the photographs together as a project (as soon as I get the time!) so I recognise a lot of what I see in this piece. I understand that some of the images are quite graphic, though I don't see why the piece can't be shown with some kind of warning (as is often the case with art of an 'explicit' nature). Reading the reports in th e BJP it seems as if this is something all parties are working on. Hopefully the organisers will be able to work with the council to sort this out.

As far as the piece itself; I think some of the images are excellent but on the whole it could be a lot better - Although some of it is great, the editing seems sloppy, some of the sequences feel forced, others just appear to be filler. Given the subject matter and the quality of some of the photography I was disappointed overall. But that's a different discussion altogether...

Posted by: Tom White on 24 Feb 2009 at 21:30

Wow! Some of you have impossibly high standards. Let's see you do some even remotely as good? It's not easy to make a piece of work like this that is of such an intimate nature.

I thought it was entirely wonderful. Such a celebration of family life. It was quite intense as family life is. It was like being a witness to my own family life. This was a wonderful film exploring the most intimate and lovely of human experience. Bravo I say. And shame on those short sighted yahoos who put the breaks on this.

Children would love this. I would have not problems letting my kids enjoy this. They'd see it for what it is, a reflection of their own lives. The more revealing aspects of the film would fly by them and they'd unlikely even notice. It's not something they'd recognize anyway. Humans have sex and the context of the sexual references here are entirely beautiful and real. Shortly afterwards the film moves on to the newborn. Kids would get that.

Posted by: Paul Treacy on 25 Feb 2009 at 08:33

I would like to answer Sue's comment on the scenes of nudity and sex.

I understand your point and how trendy has become taking pictures of people in bed doing sex, but this time I clearly noticed that those pictures are a bridge to the following sequence of the pregnancy, which I think makes perfect sense. Plus this slideshow, doesn't seem to be pretentious at all, and some of the photos are really beautiful, although this project is presented as a whole, therefore it is not that important to focus on the single images. This video made me think about a great deal of stuff like, having a family, young people coping with kids and which choice they follow to bring them up, and in which environment. Also it gives you this sense of fragility, typical of our time, that I personally feel quite a lot. Hence I fully approve this show. Best Mimi

Posted by: mimi Mollica on 25 Feb 2009 at 09:34

i think this is a case of prudishness winning over intelligent thought..

TOM

im 4 months into fatherhood with my first son and likewise have many photos from the relationship i have with my lover, through .. well.. everything..

the intention here is also to do ´something´ with the photos at some point.. perhaps that explains my own connection..

i´m with paul treacy after a second viewing of the piece.. and it makes me wonder why sue does not supply a weblink to her own work.. or perhaps there is a derby CC mole in our midst

:ø)

Posted by: david bowen on 25 Feb 2009 at 14:05

It´s a quality idea and really well executed. I do not understand why the piece can't be shown.

Great work !! Congrats. JC

Posted by: JC Couto on 25 Feb 2009 at 15:18

This piece of work appears to be a more personal photo essay.

I've just been to Cia de Foto's site (http://www.ciadefoto.com.br) and they do really amazing stuff.

Posted by: SuLTan on 26 Feb 2009 at 13:32

It's definitely a very interesting piece of work! I also like the way of using the slideshow. There is no point into applying censorship on such a photographic work, this is even ridiculous! I would be interested to meet the persons who took such a decision, they must live on another planet, or like we say in French," ils doivent avoir un balai dans le cul" ;-)

Posted by: Julien on 27 Feb 2009 at 12:20

I'm with you Sue the content is not of sufficient quality for the fuss, one suspects the fuss is being made to cover that fact.

Richphill

Posted by: Richard Phillips on 12 Mar 2009 at 14:47

The first comment is absolutely off base. "Poor conception of photography..."?!?!

Are you kidding me. The imagery is beautiful and it captures the most intimate kind of life there is. One's own.

Posted by: Matthew Williams on 21 May 2009 at 14:27

III Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Parana, PARTICIPATION & REGISTRATION

We invite you to participate in the Festival, which takes place in August- September 2011, in Parana , Entre Rios Argentina. If you dont live in Argentina, the easiest way to participate in the festival-is to organize your own exhibition or event sending us your propose and coloquium that step by step we will see in this times . The theme about festival is the energy and magnetism.The concrete name is "Magneto".



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We accept images (JPEG ) via email .

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Low resolution digital file requirements (for review only): Photoshop JPEG or PDF. 10 inches on the longest side. RGB. 72 DPI.640 x 480 or higer

Posted by: Eduardo Segura on 15 Jun 2009 at 04:57

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