Mardi 02 Décembre 2014 11:31:22 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Sink or Swim: Designing for a Sea Change explores the human story of resilience, from adaptation for survival to ambitious infrastructure planning, in some of the richest and poorest of the world’s coastal communities. Rather than showing pristine architectural photography, the photographs present viewers with various human responses to changes in their landscapes that could be intensified by sea level rise. Sink or Swim aims to foster critical dialogue through the provocative juxtaposition of diverse responses to a challenge shared by millions worldwide.

Curated by architecture writer and radio Host and Executive Producer of KCRW’s “DnA: Design and Architecture” Frances Anderton with the Annenberg Space for Photography, Sink or Swim features newly commissioned and archival works by photographers Iwan Baan, Stephen Wilkes, Paula Bronstein, and Jonas Bendiksen. This is the first exhibition for Annenberg Space for Photography to feature commissioned works. Through the work of this select group of architectural, fine art and news photographers, the exhibition casts an eye on both the problem of climate change in densely populated coastal regions and contemporary design as a means to navigate the changing landscapes.

In the face of increasing global attention on climate change and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Superstorm Sandy, and the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Sink or Swim is a timely examination of resiliency strategies in architecture and design. Images range from highly complex coastal flood-mitigation in the Netherlands, controversial sea walls in Japan, to innovative homes and community buildings by leading architects including Pritzker prize-winners Thom Mayne, Toyo Ito and Shigeru Ban.

Anderton collaborated with photographers experienced in capturing fragile built environments to determine the locations, design projects and communities across the world that served as subjects for the commissioned works in the exhibition. Sea walls, floating schools and temporary disaster relief housing in disparate ecological and social contexts provide concrete starting points for considering questions about nature, culture and design at the heart of Sink or Swim.

“It has been a privilege to dig into these extraordinary photographers’ rich archives and also send them back out on assignment to create compelling new work that we look forward to sharing with the public through the exhibition,” says Anderton.
“Photography is an ideal medium through which to explore climate change and the built environment because ultimately this is a human story and the photographs get to the emotional heart of that story. Through images of coastal communities—the devastating impact of climate change, including super-storms and rising sea levels, and also the varied and innovated design solutions—Sink or Swim offers visitors the opportunity to engage with and enrich dialogue about all aspects of this predicament.”

Image Caption: A woman makes her way down the seawall along the Kitakama and Ainokama coastline in Sendai, Japan. After the tsunami in 2011 the Japanese government has spent billions of yen on the reconstruction of a 31.8 km seawall along the Sendai coastline which is slated to be finished in 3 to 4 months. Commissioned photograph for the exhibition. ©Paula Bronstein

An original documentary film commissioned by the Annenberg Space for Photography and produced by award-winning director Steven Kochones and Arclight Productions will include interviews with the artists, architects, historians and scientists engaged with climate resilient strategies for waterfront communities.

A collaboration between the Annenberg Space for Photography and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands will offer visitors to Sunnylands a preview of select prints from the Sink or Swim exhibition. The images will be on display beginning in October 2014 to coincide with a retreat at Sunnylands on the topic of rising sea levels and ocean acidification. An exhibition catalogue will be published by Sunnylands Press for release in December 2014.

The exhibition also will showcase works focused on California. Dutch-born, Los Angeles-based, photographer Monica Nouwens finds a local example of wetlands restoration in the restored Malibu Lagoon and also captures a very human story of denial, exemplified in a photograph of a California woman walking her dogs, oblivious to a tsunami sign above her head. Mark Holtzman contributes aerial images of nature and infrastructure in California including the Los Angeles River, Mailbu and Oakland. Images by Kip Evans focus on Elkhorn Slough, one of the largest and last remaining coastal wetlands in California.

Also, a special Iris Nights lecture with Sink or Swim: Designing for a Sea Change photographer Iwan Baan will be held on December 10th.