Joachim Schmid

Inside Art: Joachim Schmid now on Dazed Digital

“At last, a retrospective for the German photographer whose career started as a freelance critic. In 1982, he found his first photograph that would begin a twenty-five year ongoing series called Bilder von der Straße (Pictures from the Street). Unfortunately it is not to be seen in its entirety (there are still 900 images), but there is a nice addition to the series, as the last image was found on the street outside The Photographers’ Gallery just days before the show opened. Collected in many cities from Berlin, Padua, Luxor to Edinburgh, these discarded ‘pictorial histories’ become an intriguing glimpse into the lives of strangers.
To accommodate his vast demand for images, in 1990 he set up The Institute for the Reprocessing of Used Photographs. People were asked to send in their unwanted photographs that have become an endless source for his work; there are unknown Brazilian faces in Belo Horizonte, Praça Rio Branco and morphed portraits from a Bavarian Studio Photographer in Photogenetic Drafts. But don’t confuse Schmid for an anthropologist or scientist as he vehemently wants nothing to do with such labels, he is merely someone who likes doing things! Be sure not to miss the sound photographs Tausend Himmel (Thousand Skies or Thousand Heavens), an extremely personal exploration also a move into the inevitable field of the digital era.”

Interview by Freire Barnes, filming and editing by Roland de Villiers, produced by Rod Stanley

Joachim Schmid Photoworks 1982–2007
A 288-page monograph with essays by Stephen Bull, Joan Fontcuberta, Frits Gierstberg, Jan-Erik Lundström, John S Weber and Val Williams, edited by Gordon MacDonald and John S Weber, published by Photoworks, Brighton and Steidl, Göttingen in association with Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs
ISBN 978-86521-394-5

Joachim Schmid, Tausend Himmel
A full-colour 64-page artist book published by The Photographers’ Gallery, London
ISBN 0907879799/9780907879794

Joachim Schmid Selected Photoworks 1982—2007
April 20 — June 7, 2007
The Photographers‘ Gallery, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7HY
Private View: April 19, 6.30—8.30 pm

“For the last 25 years Joachim Schmid (b. 1955) has challenged the traditional and prevailing idea of ‘art photography‘. Instead, he has championed the importance of photographs that are produced and seen everyday; ranging from passport photos, to high street studio portraits, ID cards and, more recently, the Internet.
In Bilder von der Strasse (Pictures from the Street, ongoing since 1982) Schmid has collected discarded photographs from around the world, revealing the bizarre in the ordinary and overlooked. The exhibition also includes Photogenetic Drafts (1991). Using negatives a studio photographer had cut in half to prevent their further use, Schmid has created ironic and unsettling photo-collages that play on the predictability of the commercial studio portrait. The exhibition will premier two multi-channel digital photo installations, Tausend Himmel (Thousand Skies, 2005) and Menschen und Dinge (People and Things, 2006).
Schmid‘s interest in collecting and archiving photographs reflects a concern with photography as an all-encompassing discourse that runs throughout the public and private spheres of our lives.
The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with the Tang Museum at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, New York).
Two publications have been produced to coincide with the exhibition and are available from the Gallery Bookshop. Tausend Himmel, published by The Photographers‘ Gallery, is a full colour 64-page artist booklet featuring images from the project of the same title; and a monograph, Joachim Schmid Photoworks 1982—2007, published by Photoworks (UK), Tang Museum (USA) and Steidl (Germany), with support from The Photographers‘ Gallery and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.”

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 8 pm
Dunkerley Dialogue with artist Joachim Schmid and Michael Ennis-McMillan, Dean of Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College

Joachim Schmid, Photoworks 1982–2007
February 3 – April 29, 2007
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College
815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Opening reception: February 3, 6:30 pm

Organized by the Tang Museum, Skidmore College, curated by John Weber. Touring to the Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam (September 2007) and Bild Museet Umeå (2008), in association with Joachim Schmid, Selected Photoworks 1982–2007 at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (19 April to 17 June 2007).

Published soon by Photoworks and Steidl in association with Tang Museum: Joachim Schmid, Photoworks 1982–2007, a major monograph with essays by Stephen Bull, Joan Fontcuberta, Frits Gierstberg, Jan-Erik Lundström, John S Weber and Val Williams, edited by Gordon MacDonald and John S Weber.

Joachim Schmid in conversation with Stephen Bull
Wednesday, October 18, 2007, 6.30–8 pm
Sussex Arts Club, 7 Ship Street, Brighton

Contemporary Photography: Professional Practice and Contexts
Photoworks and the MA photography course at the University of Brighton present a series of talks and discussions by artists, writers and curators working with contemporary photography.

Admission is free but booking is essential

Poetische Positionen II
September 1 – October 8, 2006
Kasseler Kunstverein, Fridericianum, Friedrichsplatz 18, 34117 Kassel
Opening: August 31, 7 pm

Artists: Jens Carstensen, Max Christian Graeff, Bernard Heidsieck, Yoko Ono, Bernd Salfner, Joachim Schmid, W. Mark Sutherland
Curator: Jürgen O. Olbrich

^ Untitled drawings, 2002 (indian ink and color pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm each)

Mickey dans tous ses états
July 7 – September 17, 2006
Hôtel Dassault, 7 Rond-Point des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris
Opening: July 6, 6 pm

Artists: Kenneth Anger, Eduardo Arroyo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pol Bury, Lionel Pierre Cartiser, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Robert Combas, George Condo, Dalek, Mark Dion, Anthony Earnshaw, Gudmundur Errò, Mick Finch, Steve Galloway, Keith Haring, Philippe Huart, Interduck, Jean-Pierre Khazem, Rachid Khimoune, Serge Kliaving, Pascale Lafay, Bertrand Lavier, Mickael McMillen, François Mendras, Takashi Murakami, Nadin Ospina, Pavlos, Jean-Yves Pennec, Joyce Pensato, Bernhard Pras, Bernard Rancillac, Hughes Reip, Xian Fan Ru, Peter Saul, Joachim Schmid, Sara Schmidt, Arthur Shallit, David Spiller, Li Tianbing, Patrick van Caeckenbergh, Gé-Karel van der Sterren, Ultra Violet, Kimiko Yoshida, Wang Ziwei
Curators: Jessy Mansuy-Leydier, Nathalie Zaquin-Boulakia

^ Cyberspace #25, 2004

Photo-Trafic
June 7 – August 13, 2006
bac (bâtiment d’art contemporain), 28, rue des Bains, 1205 Genève
Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, 10, rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, 1205 Genève
Opening: June 8, 6 pm

Artists: Ant Farm, Daniel Berset, Claude Closky, Silvie Defraoui, Christoph Draeger, Enrique Fontanilles/Lukas Mettler, Rainer Gahnal, G.R.A.M., Peter Kennard, Elke Krystufek, David Larnelas, Yaron Leshem, Zbigniew Libera, Nicolas Lieber, Ute Lindner/Patrick Huber, Rogelio Lopez Cuenca, Bjørn Melhus, Otto Mittmannsgruber, Ernst Mitzka, Gianni Motti, Marco Poloni, Thomas Ruff, Karin Sander, Michael Schaefer, Manuel Schmalstieg, Joachim Schmid, Sean Snyder, Klaus Staeck, Thierry Verbeke, Kelley Walker, Wang Du, Patrick Weidmann, Serge Wolkonski
Curators: Joerg Bader, Manuella Denogent
Organized by Centre de la Photographie Genève

The Masters in Photographic Studies at the University of Leiden (Holland) is organising the symposium Artists’ Strategies, Photography and Archives on April 25. The symposium will focus on the changes in contemporary photographic practice: from image maker to visual historian. Keynote speakers are Elizabeth Edwards, Jacqueline Hassink, Susan Meiselas and Joachim Schmid.
For additional information and registration click here.

^ Cyberspaces
Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris
March 2 – April 30, 2005

Marks of Honour – A Striking Library
foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam
May 11 – 15, 2005
Galerie van Zoetendaal, Amsterdam
May 18 – 21, 2005

^ Cyberspaces
XX Multiple Galerie, Rotterdem
July 2 – August 13, 2005

Portraits
The State Museum of Urban Sculpture, Saint Petersburg
July 19 – August 7, 2005

Portrait
Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris
July 2005

After the Fact
Berlin Photography Festival, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
September 24 – November 14, 2005

Else-Heiliger-Fonds. Ein Überblick
Akademie der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin
September 27 – October 31, 2005

^ Error #2_Wrong Exposure
error one, Antwerpen
October 15 – November 26, 2005