An astounding collection of raw talent comprises the 96 framed photographs in the Art Institute of Boston's latest exhibit, "reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow." Of the 50 artists, 25 are from the original show at the Mus?©e de l'Elys?©e in Lausanne, Switzerland, which was shown in June 2005, and are on display at the Boston exhibit until Nov. 5.
The show is mainly large-scale digital pieces and medium-format prints, including a DVD that plays through the complete collection. The subjects range from photojournalistic representations of war in Iraq to a comparison of beauticians behind various company makeup counters. These emerging students or recent college graduates deliver a fresh interpretation of traditional forms of photography.
At the original exhibition in Switzerland, the large sampling of photographers revealed an interesting trend: a tendency to move away from the influences of previous generations of artists and towards a contemporary exploration of photographic theory and approaches. In the photographs of the new generation of photographers, which are notably more in black-and-white than in color, the artists tended to reject past generations' concern with revealing the "truth," and instead offered commentary on their world and people's lives around them. Photographers today are not taking a single "great" picture; instead, they are making a statement through a series of images.
For the collection's showing in Boston, curator of the exhibit and director of the Mus?©e de l'Elys?©e William Ewing gave a lecture at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts Sept. 28 concerning the criteria and the challenges of putting together a show like "reGeneration."
The assorted artists were assembled through an invitational process that requested one hundred universities from around the world to submit the work of their best photography students. After an anonymous viewing, the curators chose the final 50, who were then offered the opportunity to show their work internationally with the exhibit. Ewing also published a photography book of the collection earlier this year.
The collection offers the opportunity to follow the careers of these emerging talents who, according to Ewing, will reach their full potential after 30 more years of experience. He also stresses, after having received a wave of negative responses from universities excluded from the selection process, that this collection is only a sampling and not a proclamation of future talent.
For example, take the work of Miklos Gaal from Finland, who photographs public scenes from high vantage points using a 4x5 view camera. Playing with the camera's ability to manipulate focus, Gaal reinterprets the world through a mixture of fiction and reality, allowing it to remain alive. Another set of photographs examines the living spaces of the recently deceased, projecting the disheveled and abandoned mental state and social status of their late owners.
Despite consistent overall talent, the show does fall short of equally representing the international community. It consists heavily of work from the United States and Europe, which Ewing justifies by suggesting that these countries have greater funding for the arts and higher education. Ewing also mentioned his disappointment in the lack of participation from certain countries and the surprisingly poor submissions by others. The organization could have remedied this situation by extending its invitation deadline; however, the fundraisers gave Ewing a tight deadline for assembling the show: a somewhat rushed two years.
Ewing is considering a follow-up to "reGeneration," which would follow the development of these emerging artists over the next two decades. The reGeneration project is one of the largest of its kind ever undertaken, and it would seem that Ewing would like to track the progress of these young bright spots in the photography world.
For now, the artists of this installation are definitely noteworthy - as they will be, perhaps, 20 years in the future.
