Exhibition En route, Ad van Denderen
from 30 september 2023 to 28 january 2024
Fotomuseum of Rotterdam
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The exhibition En Route, presented at the Museum of Photography in Rotterdam, retraces almost six decades of Ad van Denderen’s work around the world.
Ad van Denderen began his career in the mid-1960s, initially documenting the conflicts in the Balkans and Chechnya, and the lives of the Kurds in Turkey. From then, he devoted himself entirely to photography, exploring a wide range of subjects and questioning the human condition in a modern way.
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Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm
Statendam 1 (Wilhelminapier), Rotterdam
His Incarcerated series (1978-1979), for which he imposed himself on the living conditions of prisoners by integrating two Amsterdam detention centers, was only the first major project in a long list through which he shaped a photographic approach, as close as possible to his subjects.
From “Go No Go”
With Go no Go (1988-2001), he chose to live with migrants from all over the world, stranded on the beaches of Italy, France, Spain or Portugal: he transcribed the fear of crossing borders at night, the sense of urgency and abandonment, and the difficulty of their escape and their lives.
In 1990 and 1991, in his Welkom in South Africa series, he focused on the segregation of South Africa – a project he take up again a few years later and continue until 2019.
From 1993 to 1996, Ad van Denderen, who used to photograph everyday life in Israel and Palestine, decided to investigate on the stones that define the landscape on either side of the border: a subtle representation of the complex and precarious situation in this part of the world, he reveals how they are at once weapons, obstacles and shelters.
From “Stones”
From 2003 to 2007, he travelled along the Mediterranean coasts of Algeria, Libya, Lebanon and Spain for his So blue so blue project, with the aim of capturing the economic, political, social, religious and ecological issues and conflicts in these territories.
From “So blue so blue”
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