Industrious - Marco Grob & hiepler, brunier, 02.03. - 06.05.2012
The Magic of Precision
Portrait photographer Marco Grob and photographer duo David Hiepler and Fritz Brunier took pictures of employees and production plants around the world in a very unique project for the centennial anniversary of the Holcim Group, the Swiss-based international supplier of building materials. The Kunstmuseum Bern is presenting a curatorial selection from the photographic project Industrious – comprising new fine-art photography making masterful statements in large-format black-and-white pictures.
The Kunstmuseum Bern has acquired quite a reputation for outstanding photography exhibitions (Balthasar Burkhard, Cécile Wick, Paul Senn et alia), and is continuing this tradition with its presentation of the photographic project Industrious. Internationally famous Swiss portrait photographer Marco Grob and renowned Berlin photographer duo David Hiepler and Fritz Brunier were commissioned to undertake worldwide artistic research for the centenary anniversary of the international Holcim Group. The commission entailed a portrayal of Holcim employees and the concern's production plants. The artists were free to interpret the proposed project in their own way, and the visual language ensuing from their research and efforts was combined to produce a comprehensive and fascinating illustrated volume. Thus Holcim created a framework for the photographers to independently and ultimately realize a work of fine art – which in turn inspired the Kunstmuseum Bern to organize Industrious as an exhibition project. Our curators have chosen to exhibit a selection of the images as large-format black-and-white photographs and arranged the show by juxtaposing portraits with locations, thereby underpinning the suggestive power of the individual pictures.
Internationally famous Swiss photographer Marco Grob involves his sitters as partners in dialogue by dynamically implementing his camera. He eloquently succeeds in capturing rare insights into their lives and characters.
The Berlin-based photographer duo Hiepler and Brunier communicates the arresting atmosphere of the industrial plants in images marked by uncanny precision, illustrating reality in a way we otherwise would not be able to perceive at a single glance.
«These people’s strength, the diverse realities they face in their lives, and the photographers’ talents and proficiency make a powerful impact on us,» says Dr. Rolf Soiron, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Holcim Ltd., and this provides a fitting symbol for the 80,000 people working for Holcim in some 70 different countries all over the world.
