Seen Fifteen is delighted to announce our participation in the eighth edition of Unseen Amsterdam – the leading platform for contemporary photography. Unseen has an exclusive focus on what’s new in the photography world, and Seen Fifteen shares the same passion for celebrating emerging talent and the latest developments in the medium. We’re proud to present a curated booth of works by two exciting young artists – Alexander Mourant and Marianne Bjørnmyr. Both artists will show new work that questions human interventions on the landscape, whilst also experimenting with photographic process and ways of seeing photography.
ALEXANDER MOURANT TO FEEL ITS TOUCH
Alexander Mourant presents a new series of abstract works which respond to the ubiquitous cycle of urban renewal and regeneration. To Feel Its Touch began as a commission by the Financial Times to make a body of work reflecting the artist’s feelings about London and his place within it. On an early morning walk, Mourant was struck by the sight of an area of the city being excavated and unearthed. A section of the city appeared before him as a void, ruptured as if it had an open wound:
“ I realised that London is essentially an interwoven lattice of materials – combining and dividing – instigating our meeting and plotting our separation.” Alexander Mourant
Inspired by ideas around memory and the city, Mourant retraced areas of London he had known during childhood which were now undergoing change. Where he found major works he removed some excavated earth and took it back to the darkroom.
Alexander Mourant’s practice is concerned with the metaphysical nature of photography. He experiments with the photographic process to find new ways to draw attention to and question our relationship to our environment. For To Feel Its Touch he created an abstract, interconnecting photogram using nine large format negatives. The material from the London excavations was suspended in a large tank of water. Taken during one exposure, this intensely physical process imbues itself with suggestive qualities and personal memory.
MARIANNE BJØRNMYR BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Marianne Bjørnmyr presents Between a Rock and a Hard Place, a new project that explores the secret history of mineral mines in Norway. The project grapples with the central paradox that the value of metals and minerals shapes wealth and conflict – beauty and destruction – at the same time. The work displays handmade photographic prints of disused and active dolomite quarries in Northern Norway, together with still life photos made in the artist’s studio.
For hundreds of years, Norwegian mining villages have risen and fallen in line with the fluctuating global value of the country’s natural resources. Recently released government documents outline a top secret and lucrative deal between Norway and the United States in 1951 which secured the export of Norwegian niobium, mined from dolomite quarries, for a period of 10 years. The agreement and the information that the exported niobium was as a key component in the development of US nuclear weapons during the Cold War arms race was not revealed to the Norwegian people for over 50 years. It is this dark secret that intrigues Marianne Bjørnmyr:
“The artist has long been fascinated by the unseen, the subject matter that doesn’t easily present itself to the camera. In contrast to the urge to capture a dramatic moment, Bjørnmyr’s work attempts to photograph the invisible, to evoke a sense of the cycles of things and reflect upon the longer term reverberations of war and conflict minerals worldwide.” Francesca Marcaccio
UNSEEN OFFICIAL OPENING PARTY
Thursday 19th September, 6.30-9pm
OPENING HOURS
Friday 20th September 11am to 9pm, Saturday 21st September 11am to 8pm, Sunday 22nd September 11am to 5pm
Download the press release here