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Joachim Giesel

Joachim Giesel

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About

After an apprenticeship as a photographer in Hanover, I worked as a photojournalist for the “Hannoversche Presse”. In 1966, after passing the master's examination in Hamburg, I set up my own studio in Hanover with a focus on people photography in portraits, advertising and journalism. With like-minded friends I founded the first non-commercial photo gallery in Germany (Photogalerie spectrum), which was then integrated into the Sprengel Museum in 1991. I said goodbye to pure service photography and now photograph my own subjects.

Statement

My photos, which I take freely and without a commission, should influence the viewer – I don’t just want to inspire people to look, but also to think! The photos must be able to speak. The viewer should not only perceive the superficial but should also learn about the photographer’s intentions and intentions. As a photographer, I am also interested in the “ picture behind the picture ”. Basically, I want to take contemporary pictures that are also timeless, i.e. to capture the time in which I live. For me, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is the real inventor of photography. He once had Faust say: “ If I were to say to the moment: Be still! You are so beautiful! Then you may put me in fetters, then I will gladly perish! ” Capturing the beautiful moment is also the idea behind photography. Nothing is more beautiful than capturing a beautiful moment for the future The earlier saying: “ A picture is worth a thousand words ” has unfortunately become obsolete, because digitalization and the endless possibilities for manipulation, including Photoshop, mean that pictures are now being invented that don’t actually exist! And this is increasingly diluting the credibility of “ real ” photography. In my work, I try to maintain the idea of truth and reality whenever possible!

Education

  • 1980 | Studium als Dipl.-Designer für Fotografie, Fachhochschule Dortmund (DE) 1966 | Meisterprüfung, Hamburg (DE)
  • 1961 | Gesellenprüfung, Hannover (DE)
  • 1958–61 | Ausbildung zum Fotografen, Fotostudio Klaus Berger, Hannover (DE)

Institution (Work Experience)

  • 2002 | Seminar für Kulturwissenschaften und ästhetische Praxis zur „Vermittlung von Theaterfotografie“, Hildesheim (DE)
  • 1998–2000 | Meisterkurs Fotografen-Handwerk, „Portraitfotografie“, Düsseldorf (DE)
  • 1994 | Meister-Vorbereitungskurs, Weil im Dorf (DE)
  • 1990 | Lehrauftrag im Fachbereich Design, „Mode-Photographie aus der Praxis“, Hannover (DE)
  • 1990 | Lehrauftrag „Werbe-/Modefotografie“, Fachhochschule Dortmund (DE)
  • 1989 | Lehrauftrag, „Fotografie/Mode-Werbe-Fotografie“, Fachhochschule Dortmund (DE)
  • 1988 | Lehrauftrag, „Werbefotografie“, Fachhochschule Dortmund (DE)
  • 1984 | Lehrgang, „Einführung in die Technik des Bildjournalismus“, Bergische Universität-Gesamthochschule Wuppertal (DE)
  • 1981–87 | Bundesinnungsmeister des Centralverbandes Deutscher Photographen, Düsseldorf (DE)
  • 1980 | Lehrauftrag, „Szenische Fotografie in der Werbung“, Fachhochschule Bielefeld (DE)
  • 1979–99 | Fotograf, Niedersächsische Staatstheater, Hannover (DE)
  • 1972–91| Kurator, Photogalerie spectrum, Hannover (DE)
  • 1966–2006 | Selbstständigkeit und Ausbildungsbetrieb, Hannover (DE)
  • 1961–1966 | Bildjournalist, Hannoversche Presse, Hannover (DE)

Selected Awards

  • 2001 | Victor – Grand Prix der Fotografie für das Lebenswerk durch die Association of Independent Professional Photographers (PPofE bzw. EAP), Internationales Festival für Fotografie, Belgrad (SRB)
  • 1992 | Europäischer Porträtfotograf des Jahres des Kodak European Gold Awards, Wien (AT)
  • 1985 | Niedersächsischer Staatspreis für das gestaltende Handwerk, Hannover (DE)
  • 1983 | Goldmedaille, Triennale Le théâtre dans l’art photographie, Novi Sad (SRB)
  • 1964 | Goldmedaille, Photo 64 / Landesgewerbeamt Stuttgart, Stuttgart (DE)
  • 1961 | Bundessieger im Praktischen Leistungswettbewerb der Deutschen Handwerksjugend, Hannover (DE)

Selected Exhibitions/Publications

  • 2022 | Sprengel Museum, Hannover (DE)
  • 2015 | Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig (DE)
  • 2014 | Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig (DE)
  • 2009–2010 | Stadtmuseum, München/ Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg/ Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal/ Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig (DE)
  • 2005 | Theatermuseum, Hannover (DE)
  • 2004 | Handwerksform, Hannover (DE)
  • 2002 | Haus der Fotografie, Hannover (DE)
  • 2000 | Fabrik Heeder, Krefeld (DE)
  • 1998 | Nationalmuseum (Nationale Sammlung für Fotografie), Peking (CHN)
  • 1998 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrad (SRB)
  • 1991 | Staatlicher Kunstfonds, Moskau (RUS)
  • 1987 | Kunstverein, Eislingen (DE)
  • 1984 | Karl Ernst Osthausen Museum, Hagen (DE)
  • 1883 | Triennale Le théâtre dans l'art photographie, Novi Sad (SRB)
  • 1980 | Foto-Galerie der Landesbildstelle, Hamburg (DE)
  • 1979 | Stadtmuseum, München (DE)
  • 1977 | Galerie Spectrum, Barcelona (ES)
  • 1976 | Galerie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie, Köln (DE)
  • 1976 | Congress Centrum, Hamburg (DE)
  • 1976 | Kunstverein, Hamburg (DE)
  • 1976| Foto-Galerie der Landesbildstelle, Hamburg (DE)
  • 1975 | Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (DE)
  • 1975 | Galeria Il Diaframma, Mailand (IT)
  • 1975 | Industrieform, Essen (DE)
  • 1975 | Handwerksform, Hannover (DE)
  • 1972 | Galerie Spectrum, Hannover (DE)
  • 1971 | Landesgewerbeamt, Stuttgart (DE)
  • 1970 | Landesgewerbeamt, Stuttgart (DE)
  • 1970 | Marktgalerie, Hannover (DE)
  • 1970 | NDR-Funkhaus, Hannover (DE)
  • 1969 | Städtische Galerie KUBUS, Hannover (DE)
  • 1967 | Landesgewerbeamt, Stuttgart (DE)
  • 1964 | Landesgewerbeamt, Stuttgart (DE)
  • Publikationen
  • 2006 | mit Weber-Ploemacher, Anne; Zeyen, Tigo, 100 Hannoversche Köpfe, CW Niemeyer Hameln (DE)
  • 2003 | Verrückt nach Ilten. Klinikum Wahrendorff, Wara-Psychiatrie-Verlag Sehnde (DE)
  • 2000 | Reise in die Nacht. Fotografien zur Performance von Harald Weiss, Niedersächsische Lottostiftung Hannover (DE)
  • 1990 | Photo-Portraits aus Hannover, Fackelträger Verlag Hannover (DE)
  • 1989 | Tänzer-Portraits. Photographien vom Ballett der Niedersächsischen Staatsoper Hannover, EA Quensen Lamspringe (DE)
  • 1983 | Kurz vor der Schmerzgrenze, Stern Magazin (30), S. 20–34 (DE)
  • 1970 | Experiment Strassenkunst Hannover. Der Anfang, o.V. Hannover (DE)

Personal Website

http://gieselarchiv.de

Works

Joachim Giesel | Borderland–No man's land (1965–1989)

Joachim Giesel | Borderland–No man's land (1965–1989)

Kurz vor der Schmerzgrenze was the title of the article in the 20th issue of Stern in 1983, which showed eight photographs by Joachim Giesel. Between 1965 and 1989, the photographer repeatedly traveled to the inner-German border, to the so-called zone border area. There he documented the extinction of once populated areas from a West German perspective in a large number of photographs. The motifs show dilapidated estates, disused railroad tracks, fields overgrown with weeds, closed roads, closed ferry ports as well as guard posts, fences, borders and border crossings. In his photographs, Giesel captured the desolation of once existing connections: both scenic and political.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Joachim Giesel | Borderland–No man's land (1965–1989)

Joachim Giesel | Facades (1975)

Joachim Giesel | Facades (1975)

In 1975, Joachim Giesel traveled to Mexico and visited the fishing village of Progreso on the north coast of the Yucatán province. Fascinated by the town's colorful and varied house facades, Giesel captured them in photographs. For his series “Fassaden” [Facades] series, the photographer unusually chose color film to capture the broad color spectrum of the house fronts in warm turquoise, blue and red tones. He always stood in front of the facades and photographed them from a central perspective. The village appears to be empty, with not a soul to be seen on the streets. Nevertheless, a parked bicycle and a stray dog hint at human existence in the village.

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Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Joachim Giesel | Facades (1975)

Joachim Giesel | Crazy about Ilten (2003)

Joachim Giesel | Crazy about Ilten (2003)

Joachim Giesel photographed the series “Verrückt nach Ilten” [Crazy about Ilten] at the Wahrendorff psychiatric hospital in Ilten, very close to his hometown of Hanover. The 76 black and white portraits of the patients and staff were published in a book of the same name in 2003. Giesel provides an insight into the personal environment of the people portrayed and allows them to sign the photographs themselves, thus creating a space in which the people portrayed can stage themselves. With these photographs, he attempts to make people living in psychiatric wards, who are excluded and hidden from society, visible as individuals with their own abilities and hobbies.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Joachim Giesel | Crazy about Ilten (2003)
Year Created:
2024

Joachim Giesel | Man in a Group (1970–1979)

Joachim Giesel | Man in a Group (1970–1979)

Between 1970 and 1979, Joachim Giesel created the series “Der Mensch in der Gruppe” [Man in a Group], which consists of over 100 group portraits. He was interested in both individual and social characteristics that bring people together in a group - be it profession, religion or hobbies, but also sexual orientation or social stigmatization. His group portraits are both a social photographic documentation and a sociological study of West German society in the 1970s. Giesel consciously places himself in the tradition of August Sander and his people of the 20th century. In Giesel's series the focus is not on people's affiliation to a “class” or “status”, but on people as social beings.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Joachim Giesel | Man in a Group (1970–1979)
Year Created:
2024