— Delphine Bedel

Archive
Photography

16 May – 30 august 2009
Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden

Crossing America during the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency.
A photographic essay.

Although the Route 66 is known to be a scenic road and a celebrated myth, Route 66 is most of all about the people who live and work along it, and who keep it’s unique spirit alive. Created in 1927, the route was for over half a century the main access from East to West, crossing 8 states. Decommissioned in 1984, Route 66 officially disappeared, to be replaced by new Interstate Highways. This created a great strain for the economy along the old road and its inhabitants. A renewed interest in the recent years for the Route’s rich patrimony and it’s legacy, central to the American history, is now contributing to a regaining popularity, transforming the Route itself into a tourist destination. Drawing a parallel with the emergence of Plymouth in the late 19th century as a tourist destination, as seen in Burbank’s photographs, Delphine Bedel initiated a new research project entitled ‘From The Sidelines’.

Crossing the country by car for a month together with the singer-songwriter Luke Nyman, during the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency, Bedel photographed the stunning scenery, the eclectic architecture and the people, and Nyman played in many places along the road. Together they also filmed and recorded stories from the ‘Children of the Mother Road’: a cowboy’s wife, motel workers, war veterans, artists, musicians and historians, all had stories to tell. From the Dust Bowl years to the Credit Crunch, from the New World to the Trail of Tears, (the forced exile of the Cherokee Nation), from the Grand Canyon to the ”Magnificent Mile’ of drive-thru chain stores, unexpected perspectives unfold along the journey across Obama’s America, and reflect upon a country in a disrupted present.

Bedel’s photographic essay an their road movie are presented in this exhibition. Luke will be performing at the opening and on the 4th of July, together with the Travlin’ Tunes Tour. This project was commissioned in the frame of the exhibition ‘Holland Mania’ at the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. A publication will be released on that occasion, with a text by Rachel Esner. A selection of 136 prints of the 19th century Burbank’s photographs will also be presented on that occasion. These images are part of the collection o the Library of Leiden.

The travelogue of Delphine Bedel and Luke Nyman on the Mother Road will be online soon at blog.fromthesidelines.org

In the frame of the exhibition ‘Holland Mania’
16 May – 30 august 2009
Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden
Oude Singel 28-32
www.lakenhal.nl

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Mercredi 7 Janvier 2009, Conférence 14.00-17.30
Jeudi 8 janvier 2009, ARC Tourisme, 10.00- 17.00
Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts de Besançon

Conference
All that is solid melts into air, Notes on Tourism est une réflexion sur le travail de l’artiste et de l’auteur Delphine Bedel. Parcs d’attractions et monuments, campings et stations balnéaires, ses photographies et écrits documentent des sites touristiques dans  divers contextes. Bedel questionne la représentation visuelle des loisirs, de l’architecture, et des artefacts culturels. Ce livre explore trois destinations touristiques controversées dont l’identité, l’usage, et la signification se sont transformes radicalement au siecle dernier : une statue de Lénine monumentale, enterrée dans une forêt de Berlin, la complexe architectural nazi de Prora, et le paysage voisin des falaises de craie sur Rügen comme peint par Caspar David Friedrich. Le tourisme et les loisirs influencent notre mode de vie et reflètent les changements économiques, sociaux, et culturels de notre société. Le rôle des images est central a l’expérience du tourisme. Quel la relation entre architecture et identité ? Qui possède le passé? Quelle est l’imagination romantique de la nature par rapport au tourisme aujourd’hui? Utilisant sa recherche photographique comme point de départ, Delphine Bedel a invité des auteurs des disciplines diverses à contribuer a ce livre, proposant ainsi des perspectives historiques et critiques inattendues sur les relations entre tourisme et politique de mémoire.
(Auteurs: Delphine Bedel, Francesco Bernardelli, Rachel Esner, Bruno Latour, Marco Pasi, Olivier Rolin, Thibaut de Ruyter. Photographies: Delphine Bedel. Editeur: Episode Publishers, Rotterdam 2008)

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Zondag 21 december 2008, 11.00- 18.00
Fotografiemuseum, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam

Fotoboekenmarathon! Signeersessies, interviews, discussies
Op 21 december 2008 organiseren Huis Marseille. PhotoQ en Shashin een fotoboekenmarathon: een dag met interviews, discussies en signeersessies. Ruim twintig Nederlandse fotografen van wie de laatste tijd boeken zijn verschenen komen aan het woord en zullen verkochte boeken desgewenst voorzien van een opdracht of handtekening. De fotoboekendag onderstreept het toegenomen belang van fotoboeken en biedt de mogelijkheid voor de kerstdagen een bijzondere aanschaf te doen. Bovendien geeft het evenement kopers de gelegenheid tot direct contact met de fotografen.

Het programma:
11 – 12 uur: Hellen van Meene, Dana Lixenberg, Ilse Frech
12 – 13 uur: Paul Kooiker, Johannes Schwarz
13 – 14 uur: Koos Breukel, Ringel Goslinga, Geraldine Jeanjean
14 – 15 uur: Hans van der Meer, Marco van Duyvendijk, Jan Banning
15 – 16 uur: Bert Teunissen, Carla van de Puttelaar, Edwin Zwakman, Geert van Kesteren
16 – 17 uur: Maurice Scheltens, Cuny Janssen, Bart Julius Peters
17 – 18 uur: Delphine Bedel, Hans Rooseboom

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Nov 21 – Jan 17, 2009
AEROPLASTICS Contemporary, Brussels

An exhibition with a deliberately ambiguous title (given the double-sense of “people” as celebrities [People Magazine, etc.] or the general mass, “Power To The People” is a response to thinking about the complex relationships that now exist between artists and the powers-that-be. Whether political, institutional, financial, the world of galleries, collectors, auction houses… so many spheres that in one way or another potentially come to influence the creative process. Each spawns its own codes that the artist may choose to adopt, ignore, transgress. This form of independent-arbiter might well serve as metaphor for a natural desire on the part of individuals (and not only artists) to determine their own destiny. And to the extent that this exhibition brings together French-speaking and Flemish Belgians, as well as artists from further afield, it also in a way proposes a re-examination of the debate on this country’s future, a debate within which culture plays an essential role.

Delphine Bedel, Delphine Boël, Charley Case, Patrick Corillon, Alain De Clerck, Andre Stas, Ann Veronica Janssens, Bernard Gigounon, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Bouli Lanners, Chéri Samba, Christophe Bruno, David Pirotte, Davis Nicholson, Douglas Gordon, Emilio Lopez Menchero, Eric Delayen, Gianni Stefanon, Hap, Jacques Charlier, Jacques Lizène, James Ensor, Jan Bucquoy, Jan Van Imschoot, Jean-jacques Rousseau, Jérôme Considerant, Johan Muyle, Kamagurka, Karine Marenne, Marcel Mariën, Marina Cox, Messieurs Delmotte,  Pol Pierart, Ronald Dagonnier, Ronald Ophuis, Sébastien Delire, Selcuk Mutlu, Sneed, Sterenn Denys, Steven Brouns, Thomas Lerooy, Thomas Mazzarella, Vaast Colson, Vincen Beeckman, Walter Swennen, Wim Delvoye

AEROPLASTICS Contemporary, Brussels
Opening preview: Thursday, 20th of Nov. 18.00 – 21.00 powertothepeople.aeroplastics.net

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The Publications Project is a one year course on publishing and a collection of artists publications issued by the DAI/Dutch Art Institute and designed in collaboration with the designers from Werkplaats Typografie. The 2009-10 edition is directed by artist/curator Delphine Bedel, who is Associated Professor at the DAI.

The Publications Project is an experimental research and production platform that aims to address the specific process of artist books production, from concept and design to distribution. Designers and artists are invited to team up in couples to develop one project, in close collaboration with an author. The format of this diverse collection can varies from magazine, essays, books, and artist editions to performance artefacts. Through very diverse perspectives the artists and designers reflect on publishing as a versatile medium. The limited editions are distributed through artist’s performances, bookshops and artist book fairs.

The Publications Project 2009
Collection editor: Delphine Bedel

Artist books by: Kevin Drager, Rana Hamadeh, Yota Ioannidou, Sasha Miljevic, Suzanne van Rest, Buba Cvoric Marina Tomic, Seda Manavoglu, Barbara Philipp, Teresa Diaz Nerio, Tvika Gutter, Yen Yitzu/Itz, Hidenori Mitsue, Raymond Huizinga, Manami Yoshimoto.

Designed by: Marc Hollenstein, Dries Wiewouters, Julie van Severen, Stephen Serrato, Hyo Kwon, Joris van Aken, jeremy Jannsen, Julie Peeters

Contributions by: Grzegorz Dmochowski, Michael Uwemedimo, David Morrow, Sandra Alvarado Bordas, Jovana Stokic, Vesna Madzoski, Yannis Eustathopoulos, Sands Murray Wassink, Marko Stamenkovic, Francesco Bernardelli, Sabina Pasic, Philip Jenks, Samira Borovik Brandao, Carole Counihan, Alena Alexandrova, Hala Elkoussy and others

Book distribution: Shashin Art Bookshop, Monospace Press, Amsterdam

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Saturday 27 September, 20.00
Lokaal 01, Breda / Breda Photo 2008

Film Screening:Mounir Fatmi, Jérôme Schlomoff, Ayako Yoshimura. Schlomoff and Yoshimura will introduce their film.
Curated by Delphine Bedel

These films present unexpected perspectives on the inescapable process of urban transformation, from the city of Amsterdam to the French suburbs or the megalopolis. Often made out of still images, and constructed on visual and poetic narratives, these films reflect upon urban palimpsests and globalization.

In the frame of the photography festival Breda Photo 2008
Lokaal 01, Breda
Kloosterlaan 138, NL-4811 EE BREDA +31 (0)76 514 19 28
www.lokaal01.nl/actueel

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26 September- 26 October 2008
Breda Photo 2008 / Lokaal 01, Breda

The Experience of Atopia.
Exhibition and Film Programme curated by
Delphine Bedel
Kamal Ajafari, Delphine Bedel, Renata Poljak, Ilya Rabinovich, Rossella Biscotti

With a very singular and strong photographic or cinematographic language, the works presented in the exhibition and the films selected for the screening, investigate the urban or political transformation -that occurred in the diverse contexts addressed by the artists- and draws unexpected and complex relations between personal memory, history and experience. Personal narratives reflect upon historical and political changes, which often find a translation into specific architectures, places and images. Buildings, industrial sites, holiday location or family houses become the central character of the works presented. The ‘return to place’, the recall of familiar locations and images or films becomes a subtle movement between architectures of memory and placelessness. Atopia, as defined by Roland Barthes, is a singular place that resists taxonomy, stereotypes and territorialisation. It is a place in movement. The exhibition offers a reflection upon the transitory structures of cultural representation and the experience of atopia.
A publication, edited by D. Bedel will be available in the exhibition.

Film Screening Saturday 27 September, 20.00
Jérôme Schlomoff, Mounir Fatmi, Ayako Yoshimura

These films present unexpected perspectives on the inescapable process of urban transformation, from the city of Amsterdam to the French suburbs or the megalopolis. Often made out of still images, and constructed on visual and poetic narratives, these films reflect upon urban palimpsests and globalization. Schlomoff and Yoshimura will introduce their film.

Breda Photo 2008 / Lokaal 01, Breda
Kloosterlaan 138, NL-4811 EE BREDA. +31 (0)76 514 19 28
Opening: Friday 26 September, 20.00 Thur-Sun, 13.00-17.00
www.lokaal01.nl/actueel

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