Press: The Top 15 Photo Books of 2008
Press: Fraction magazine, nr. 3
The Top 15 Photo Books of 2008!
selected by Melanie McWhorter (Photo-Eye magazine)
All that is solid melts into air – Notes on Tourism by Delphine Bedel
Authors: Delphine Bedel, Francesco Barnardelli, Rachel Esner, Bruno Latour, Marco Pasi, Olivier Rolin and Thibaut de Ruyter
Design by Esther Krop.
episode publishers, Rotterdam 2008
All that is solid melts into air, Notes on Tourism is a reflection on the work of artist and writer Delphine Bedel. From amusement parks and monuments, to camping and beach resorts, her photographs and writings document sites of tourism in diverse contexts. She brings into question the visual representation of leisure, architecture, and cultural artefacts.
This book explores three complex and controversial tourist destinations
and cultural heritages whose identity, use, and meaning have shifted radically over time: a giant Lenin statue buried in a forest of Berlin, the monumental Nazi holiday resort in Prora, and the nearby landscape of the Chalk Cliffs on Rügen as painted by Caspar David Friedrich, all located in Germany. As one of today’s largest world industries, tourism and leisure influence our way of life and reflect
upon shifting cultural, economic, social, and historical realities. The process of constructing meaning and interpretation through images takes center stage in the experience of tourism.
What is the relationship between architecture and identity? Who owns the past? What is the Romantic imagination of nature in relation to tourism today? Using her photographic research as a starting point, Delphine Bedel invited writers from diverse disciplines to contribute to the book, resulting in original and unexpected historical and critical perspectives on the relations between visual culture, tourism, and memory politics.
Language: English
Size: 24 x 17 cm, 64 pages, paperback
ISBN: 978-90-5973-072-4