12.03.–05.06.2022
Opening: Friday, March 11, 2022, 6–8 pm
The exhibition at Portikus is Jochen Lempert’s (*1958) first solo show in Frankfurt. Since the 1990s, the Hamburg-based artist has been working with the medium of photography, whose premises he subtly explores and expands. In his black-and-white prints, which he presents unframed in space, multi-layered relationships emerge in a direct dialogue between culture and surprising phenomena from flora and fauna.
His photographs are combined with the greatest care and arranged into “constellations”–multiple precisely composed images that the artist arranges in close coordination with the respective exhibition space and will now show on different levels at Portikus. While in the entrance gallery, the photographs are placed on the walls, the lower floor space features works in four custom-made vitrines that allow a different mode of viewing.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication in close collaboration with the artist and Roma Publications in Amsterdam, distributed by Idea Books. Since the 1990s, Lempert has used the book itself as a classic medium for conveying knowledge, narration, and visual experiments. Jochen Lempert. Paare / Pairs contains, in addition to numerous photographs by the artist, an essay by Portikus Director Yasmil Raymond.
Curated by Yasmil Raymond with Deborah Müller
The exhibition is made possible by generous support from Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturamt der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Dr. Marschner Stiftung, and Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation. Additional support is provided by Städelschule Portikus e.V., ProjecteSD in Barcelona, and BQ in Berlin.
Special thanks to Rosario Aninat, Arhun Aksakal, Samuel K. Baah, Louisa Behr, Theresa Büchner, Mahmoud Tarek, Tornike Gognadze, Paul Haas, Aerin Hong, Mustafa Köyneksiz, Julian Krause, Sam Lasko, Line Lyhne, Tomás Maglione, francisco m.v., Rosa Nitzsche, Sebastian Peter, Gabriel Possamai, Deshaun Price, Sophia Scherer, Maximiliano Siñani, Hermansingh Lutchmun, Hilda Stammarnäs, Simon Shim Sutcliffe, Teodora Talhoș, Alex Thake, Ian Waelder, Ming Yuan, and Victor Zaiden.
Additional thanks to Liberty Adrien, Carina Bukuts, Claudia Famulok, Alexander Mayer, Mira Starke, Regine Steenbock, and Stefan Wieland.
Curator Yasmil Raymond will offer tours of the exhibitions on the following dates: 04.05.2022, 18.05.2022, 01.06.2022, at 18h
Poetry reading by Marion Poschmann: Thursday, 02.06.2022, 18h. On the occasion of Jochen Lempert's exhibition at Portikus, Marion Poschmann reads from her latest poetry collection Nimbus (2020) in the presence of the artist.
Installation views: Diana Pfammatter
Photos Reading: Ian Waelder
