Olaf Wipperfürth
THE MUD CYCLE (Series)
DESCRIPTION
THE MUD CYCLE
// by Olaf Wipperfürth
Tokyo 2014 - 2016
For over 2 years Olaf Wipperfürth photographed regularly two traditional japanese Sumo schools
(Chiganoura Beya + Takadawa beya) during their early morning training session.
Taking pictures in theses places opened not only a view on the visual language of sumoculture of today
vs. complexity of hypertech societies, but also a sort of intimate mysterious psychogram,
Represented through unfamiliar, almost dance and trance like movements and emotions, we enter a fragile archaic set.
The translation of the japanese beya, means room or also stage, The captured movements and athmosphere in these images
are ment to locate more the theatrical qualities of comtemporary dance then those of combat.
Olaf Wipperfürth excludes in his photography the actual moment of wrestling, instead he concentrates on the abstaction and the mud imprints on the sumo bodies. The photographs avoid the codes of reportage and invites the viewer to more ephemeral perspectives, Mostlikely they stand as a blanc canvas, open for the spectators eyes and his multiple interpretation but also for the imprint of defeat, acceptance, submission, tollerance.
AUTHOR
born in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Olaf Wipperfürth studied philosophy and art history in Germany before moving to Paris in the late nineties
to finalize his doctorate,
- The “moment"- in contemporary art and philosophy, published in 1999.
After his doctorate and supplementary studies at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie.
Olaf exclusively dedicated his life and passion to photography + film, projecting his theoretical
and conceptual knowledge into his artistic universe. Deeply influenced by the imagery of film,
contemporary dance and german 80 th subculture he generated an body of work in portrait and
conceptual photography. His art is shown in various exhibitions and book publications and explores mainly the themes of absence, trace and ephemeral spaces.
Exhibitions
-Stream - JWT Gallery, London 2008
-The Window Collection- BBH, London 2009
-Windowblack - NoGood Gallery Paris, 2011
-Aquarium - Videoprojection, NoGood, Paris 2011
-Beauty in the 21th Century / Traumfrauen - Deichtorhallen, Hamburg 2014
-Any Human Heart-Pin Up Studios, Paris 2015
Book publications
-The aesthetic rest: remarks on a aesthetic of the moment, Doctorate, Gerhard Mercator University.
-Glas - Quadratur, Text by Prof Dr. C. Rülcker ISBN 3-9806677-2-3
-L'intérieur - 24 Poses, Text by Carine Soyer, ISBN 2-84779-005-5
-Beauty in the 21st Century. - Dumont
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