Exhibition on view from: December 3, 2018 to May 15, 2019
Exhibition Curator: Andreja Zupanec Bajželj
At least from the 19th century, a window – an opening in the wall of a building – has been a symbol of view and has been a popular motif for many painters and artists.
It is worth remembering that photography was born right next to a window, or with a view through a window. In 1826/1827, the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce placed a simple wooden cabinet fitted with lenses (camero obsuco) on a window of his apartment and, on a tin plate covered with bitumen, captured forever the view of the Le Gras estate from the window (View from the Window at Le Gras). The captured image is considered the “first photograph”. Almost simultaneously, in the spring of 1838, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre took advantage of the soft light through the window of his studio in Paris. With a camera directed at Boulevard du Temple in Paris, despite the lengthy exposure required he captured the image of a person on the plate. A window is thus in many respects the place where photography actually started and is one of the first motifs of photography. Throughout the history of the media (photography), many famous foreign photographers have played with the image of people at a window, or the significance of a window. Many Slovenian photographers and photoreporters have also captured on their cameras the motif of a window and views through them. The selected twelve photographic images from the archive of the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia offer only a tiny insight into the motif in question and put a view through the window at the heart of our thinking. A window as a
Colophon:
Text and selection of photos:Andreja Zupanec Bajželj, kustosinja
Authors of photographs: Dragan Arrigler, Svetozar Busić, Marjan Ciglič, Peter Kocjančič, Miško Kranjec, Jože Mally, Tone Stojko, Rudi Stopar in Edi Šelhaus
Photo editing: Sarah Poženel, Sašo Kovačič
Design: Tomaž Perme
Proof reading: Irena Destovnik
Translation: Martin Cregeen
Printing: Pegaz d. o. o.
The exhibition has been made possible by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.