Connecting Pittsburgh
Galerie Deset in Waldes Museum in Prague
Moskevská 262/57, 110 00 Praha 10, Vršovice
from 11 December 2009 until 15 January 2010
daily except Monday from 2 pm to 6 pm, Saturdays from 1 pm to 5 pm
Authors: Sue Abramson, Scott Goldsmith, Clyde Hare, Teenie Harris, Elizabeth Heisey, Deborah Hosking,Tim Kaulen, Ross Mantle, Heather Mull, Don Orkoskey, Renee Rosensteel, Kevin Sweeney, Lorraine Vullo, Michael Picarsic III, William D. Wade
Curators: Jen Saffron, Eva Heyd
Photograph exhibition Connecting Pittsburgh will introduce the works of fifteen American authors from Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh.
This city, once called the Steel Heart of America, had once been the final destination for immigrants from all over the world. The Czech and Slovak enclave, created at that time, still exists today, albeit in a changed form. It was here that T.G. Masaryk signed the Czech-Slovak agreement – or Pittsburgh Agreement as it became known – one of the most important documents on route to Czechoslovak independence. These rich historical events are followed upon by new cooperation and friendships by Czech and Pittsburgh artists, resulting in an exchange exhibition project, organized by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Prague House of Photography. Its aim is not only presenting the public with works of top photographers but also to awaken and bring back the relations between both places, so fatally created many years ago.
The first of the two exhibitions, titles Czech It, took place in spring 2009 in Pittsburgh's Space Gallery. The exposition showed the works of eleven Czech photographers, presenting the Czech photographic output throughout three generations of authors, from the Czech avant-garde to today's generation (J. Funke, E. Wiškovský, J. Štreit, D. Kydrová, Š. Grygar, E. Sobek, M. Pěchouček, K. Držková, A. Kotzmannová, K. Milde, P. Malá).
Prague's exhibition Connecting Pittsburgh in Gallery Deset was developed with a similar aim. It focuses on showcasing not only contemporary documentary and art photography but also works originating as far back as in the 1940's and thus follows existing creative advancements. Among the eldest shots are those of Teenie Harris, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Courier, who had documented the life in black neighborhoods since the 1940's or those of Clyde Hare, who had captured the change and reconstruction of the city during the 1950's. Top reporter Scott Goldsmith introduces some of his views behind the scenes of top politics, while Ross Mantel's pictures from the last G 20 meeting also include elements of political commentary. Renee Rosensteel's documentary portraits contain understanding, consonance and compassion, while Don Orkoskey moves his photographs of community artmaking almost to a surrealistic level. Interesting are also works by Tim Kaulen, which document his own sculptures made from lost scraps in city landscape or by Lorraine Vullo and Picarsic III, who work similarly but use a homemade pinhole camera and then transfer the photographs to handmade paper and frames.
Part of the exhibition Connecting Pittsburgh will also be a small exposition of archive documents related to the Czech history which took place in Pittsburgh and to the lives of Czech and Slovak countrymen in this city.
