Spallart Collection Acquires »Images Through an Algorithmic Lens«
Elias Wessel
After the Kunstsammlung Spallart acquired selected works from Die Summe meiner Daten in 2019 the collection is now also including the small format edition of the 13 image series Images Through an Algorithmic Lens – Zur Visualisierung der Wirklichkeit. The private art collection initially evolved from the enthusiasm for the diversity of possibilities that photography uses to obstruct, to deny and to challenge our perception. The art collector Andra Spallart acquired first contemporary photographic works in the mid 1980s – after its move to Vienna in 1995, the constantly growing collection got a clear orientation and emphasis: contemporary photography from Austria – certainly with reference to the European context. Video works of various photo artists were added later. From 2010 on, the advisory artist and curator Dr. Fritz Simak helped to supplement the private collection with the very important fundament of classical American and European photo works. Today, the collection includes numerous works from artists such as Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Candida Höfer, Pablo Picasso, Stephan Reusse, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Aaron Siskind, Thomas Struth, Ai Weiwei, Elias Wessel and many others. Follow this link for additional information, images and a complete inventory list of the collection.
In Images Through an Algorithmic Lens, photographs executed unconventionally using »panorama mode« are no longer represented as usual by their underlying algorithm and thus become complex images of landscapes and urban spaces. Occasionally, there are references to visual reality in the abstraction, which establishes a connection between the image and our everyday life. But the abstract »misrepresentations« reduce our perception of concrete realities to that fundamental common denominator that all humans can agree on: sensuality. Therefore, each of these 13 images claims to be a more convincing representation of reality than the perfectly calculated images of our digital magic boxes. For images that strive to depict every little detail merely cloud our view of a higher reality.
Elias Wessel, Images Through an Algorithmic Lens – Zur Visualisierung der Wirklichkeit, IMG-4276, 2018-19 (small format edition #5/30) in artist‘s frame (see front and verso of this and other works from the series by clicking into the image)