Exhibitions, Italy, Venezia, 12 April 2014
After the launch at The Photographers' Gallery and at RED Gallery in London, Jarach Gallery is pleased to present, for the first time in Italy, "The Looking Game”, an exhibition by M. F. G. Paltrinieri and Mirko Smerdel, which takes its title and draws inspiration from the homonymous book they published back in 2013.
“The Looking Game” (published by Discipula edition in collaboration with Akina Books) offers an innovative point of view on the photographic medium starting from the connection between the shots of Rodney Alcala, an American serial killer and amateur photographer active at the turn of the Seventies and the alias he used during his escape: John Berger, just like the renowned British art critic, author of the famous Tv series Ways of Seeing. Was it just a peculiar coincidence or Alcala actually knew John Berger’s work?
Paltrinieri and Smerdel’s editorial project compares some of Berger’s writings with the images taken from the serial killer’s archive, found by the police officers of Huntington Beach, California, and published online in 2010. Starting from there, the authors construct a narrative that investigates the multi-level relationship between photographer and photographed as well as the act of shooting and the possible interpretations of the resulting images.
The installation Paltrinieri and Smerdel will put on display at Jarach Gallery represents a not just physical but also conceptual extension of their editorial project.
By recombining the original material used for the book with notes and theoretical observations developed by the authors, the exhibition moves from the study of the Alcala — Berger relationship, this time putting the visitors and their own personal experience with the photographic image to center stage.
“The Looking Game” (published by Discipula edition in collaboration with Akina Books) offers an innovative point of view on the photographic medium starting from the connection between the shots of Rodney Alcala, an American serial killer and amateur photographer active at the turn of the Seventies and the alias he used during his escape: John Berger, just like the renowned British art critic, author of the famous Tv series Ways of Seeing. Was it just a peculiar coincidence or Alcala actually knew John Berger’s work?
Paltrinieri and Smerdel’s editorial project compares some of Berger’s writings with the images taken from the serial killer’s archive, found by the police officers of Huntington Beach, California, and published online in 2010. Starting from there, the authors construct a narrative that investigates the multi-level relationship between photographer and photographed as well as the act of shooting and the possible interpretations of the resulting images.
The installation Paltrinieri and Smerdel will put on display at Jarach Gallery represents a not just physical but also conceptual extension of their editorial project.
By recombining the original material used for the book with notes and theoretical observations developed by the authors, the exhibition moves from the study of the Alcala — Berger relationship, this time putting the visitors and their own personal experience with the photographic image to center stage.
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