iHuis Marseille, Museum for PhotographyGrachtengordel
Andrzej Steinbach: Hier
A first Dutch introduction to Andrzej Steinbach's meticulously composed photography, treating seeing itself as an aesthetic problem across typologically organised series.
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Preview: written before the show opened
A builder sits sideways on a chair, leaning forward, staring straight into the camera. It is the pose Alexander Rodchenko gave the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1924, except a hard hat replaces the fedora and a vape stands in for the cigarette. Andrzej Steinbach directs his sitters down to where a hand goes, and calls them "figures".
This is the Polish-born photographer's first show in the Netherlands, the last stop of a tour that began in Braunschweig and Erfurt, built around his newest series, Erweiterungen (2024). There, people hold tools as add-ons to the body, such as a sewage pipe standing in for the intestines. In Gesellschaft beginnt mit drei you count three figures and, in almost every frame, three eyes, because one face is cut in half.
The museum's own text says the work poses problems it doesn't solve, so come ready to read. Entry is €12.50, free for under-18s, and Thursdays run until 9pm. The galleries are up the many stairs of two canal houses.
Look for
The builder as Mayakovsky
Look for a construction worker on a chair in Rodchenko's 1924 Mayakovsky pose, with a hard hat for the fedora and a vape for the cigarette.
Gesellschaft beginnt mit drei
Three figures swap poses, formations and clothes across the 2017 series, and in almost every shot one face is cut in half, leaving three eyes.
Bodies with add-ons
In Erweiterungen, figures pose with practical implements: a sleeping bag regulating skin temperature, a mirror widening the view, a sewage pipe as an extra intestine.
The empty-handed picture
One Erweiterungen photo shows no object at all, only purposeful hand gestures pointing at something you can't see.
The tools of Auto Erotik
Close-ups of dented, scratched screws and tools, some drilled through so they no longer work, balanced against one another.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
With kids
Under-18s get in free. The galleries are up many staircases in two canal houses, so prams have to be left at reception.
Also at Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Andrzej Steinbach: Hier© Andrzej Steinbach
- Glass, Made in AntiquityCourtesy of Allard Pierson
- Cabinet of Stories: Change the World, Not UsCourtesy of Allard Pierson
- Do It Yourself! On CassetteCourtesy of Allard Pierson
- Huis Marseille, Museum for PhotographyHmamsterdahm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Allard PiersonAndy Li (Onthewings), Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Museum Van LoonRijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Foam Fotografiemuseum AmsterdamDqfn13 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL
- Royal Palace AmsterdamC messier, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0