Photographs whose effect unfolds in a quiet way. Magdalena Abele exhibits in Munich
After painting and drawings, now photography. With its 55th exhibition, foryouandyourcustomers Munich takes up another genre of artistic creation. At the vernissage, Magdalena Abele guided the eyes of the 65 guests, friends, customers, neighbours and family members to the mysteriousness inherent in her works, eager to see the reactions of those present.
“I am happy when my works trigger a sense of wonder,” explains Nuremberg-based artist Magdalena Abele about the intention of her multi-layered photographs. “A sense of wonder about the world we live in, but also a sense of wonder about image-making itself. Beyond that, my works are meant to make people think and smile. I hope that the employees will be able to discover this amazement for themselves during the long examination and confrontation with my works and manage to carry it on in the same way,” she describes and continues: “I actually gave a lot of thought to the effect my works would have on the employees at foryouandyourcustomers over such a long period of time – already in the run-up, but also during the hanging of the exhibition. Since my photographs often show tourist places, supposed “holiday motifs”, I tried, together with curator Carola Conradt, to find a balance for the employees between images that can also give them a kind of “time out” for the head, but still don’t take them completely out of their focus.” And the works are “very well received” in the office, as site manager Jens Plattfaut can confirm after only a short time. “People feel very, very comfortable in the environment of the new art, deal with it, get to know and appreciate the subtleties in it.”
From the series „Matador“ – Magdalena Abele’s „art“ can only be recognized on closer inspection.
Works from three different projects by Magdalena Abele irritated, fascinated and inspired the guests, enlivening the work spaces from now on and thus enriching the everyday life of the employees at foryouandyourcustomers in Munich.
“At first glance, the works look like aesthetically staged holiday photos. Only at second glance do they reveal surprising details. They invite you to dream and lose yourself.”
– Jens Plattfaut, CEO foryouandyourcustomers Munich
At the presentation, she enumerated small, playful works of the „minimalpeople“, Abele’s current, very personal project „Universe“, and works from her largest „main project“ Mirador.
In “Mirador”, the vantage point, the artist takes the viewer on a photographic journey to spectacular landscapes, to famous sights, to tourist magnets all over the world, photographed millions of times – with an inherent mysteriousness that only dissolves on closer inspection. For Magdalena Abele condenses time. Taking one perspective, she photographs the same scenery several times in a row and creates a single image from it. The landscape remains untouched by her intervention, but the figures on it triple or quadruple, moving across the picture as if on a stage.
The landscape remains untouched by her intervention, but the figures on it triple or quadruple, moving across the picture as if on a stage.
“The works are very accessible and invite us to pause, to look at them with precision, to pay attention to details as well,” is how curator Carola Conradt described the reworked dream landscapes and sights in her introductory speech at the vernissage.
But it was not only “Mirador” that caught the eyes of the 65 guests. “It is the entire arrangement, the selection of different series, which, when hung in these beautiful rooms, create a harmonious atmosphere,” the participants echoed. Or as Carola Conradt described it: “While Mirador shows landscape, widens the office space and virtually provides it with a window to the outside, the Universe series leads back to everyday life and sharpens the eye for small, marginal beauties and wonders. „
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