Michael Wolf est né à Munich en 1954. Il a grandi aux Etats-Unis et étudié à l'Université de Berkeley, Californie, ainsi qu'à celle d'Essen en Allemagne (Folkwang School), avec Otto Steinert comme professeur. Il a vécu et travaillé comme photographe et auteur en Chine à partir de 1994. Il a été exposé dans de multiples musées à travers le monde et est présent dans de nombreuses collections muséales.
Trois ouvrages ont été édités sur son travail en Chine : China im Wandel (Frederking und Thaler, 2001), Sitting in China (Steidl, 2002) and Hong Kong front door/back door (Thames and Hudson, 2005 and Steidl, 2006). The Transparent City (Aperture, New York, 2008) est le dernier ouvrage publié sur ses travaux.
1954
Naissance à Munich, Allemagne.
1955
Immigre aux Etats-Unis.
1955-61
Atlanta, Géorgie, Etats-Unis.
1961-71
Berkeley, Californie, Etats-Unis. Prend des cours de photographies au California College of Arts and
Crafts avec le Professeur Penny Dhaemer.
1971-72
Fréquente le North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Canada.
1972-73
Etudie à l'University of California, Berkeley, Etats-Unis.
1973-76
Fréquente la Folkwang School, University of Essen, Allemagne. Etudie avec Otto Steinert.
1977
Diplômé de la Folkwang School, University of Essen, Allemagne, en Communication Visuelle.
1977-94
Photographe indépendant en Allemagne.
1995
S'installe à Hong Kong, Chine.
1995-2003
Photographe accrédité en Chine pour le magazine Stern.
2003
Commence à travailler à Hong Kong sur les séries Architecture of Density and Back Door.
Début de la série des Copy Artists.
2005
World Press Photo Award, meilleure récompense dans la catégorie des Articles, Numéros
Contemporains.
American Photography Award pour la série Architecture of Density.
2006
Commence la série des 100 x 100.
Installation The Real Toy Story au Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Etats-Unis.
2008
Commence la série Transparent City.
tc39, « Transparent City », Lambda Print sur papier Kodak Endura, 160 x 120 cm, 2007
Expositions :
2009
- Transparent City/Architecture of Density
- Julie Saul Gallery, New York, Etats-Unis.
- Atelier Elipsis, Istanbul, Turquie.
- The Association of International Photography Art Dealers : The Photography Show, New
York, Etats-Unis.
- Entropy Art, Naples, Italie.
- Transparent City
- Gallery Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas.
- Gallery 51 Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgique.
- Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, Etats-Unis.
- Art Brussels, Bruxelles, Belgique.
- The Armory Show - Modern, New York, Etats-Unis.
- Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Pays-Bas.
- Landscape as Dream (Group show), Studio la Citta, Verona, Italie.
2008-2009
- Transparent City
- «Museum for Contemporary Photography» Chicago, Etats-Unis.
- Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, Etats-Unis.
2008
- Hong Kong Back Door, Lumenvisum Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine.
- The Real Toy Story/Architecture of Density, China Design Now, London, Angleterre.
- Eastern Standard, Western Artists in China (exposition de groupe), Mass MoCA, North Adams, Etats-
Unis.
- Heritage, Hong Kong Corner Houses, Goethe Institute, Hong Kong, Chine.
- Real Fake Pictures/Architecture of Density, Gallerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas.
2007-2008
- Pieces of China - A Retrospective of Michael Wolf's China Projects (catalogue), Museum Center
Vapriikki, Tampere, Finlande.
2007
- Two Photographers in a Dialog : Architecture of Density with Stephen Canham's, Traveling Gypsie's
Homes, Hallische Gallerien, Dresden, Allemagne.
- Real Fake Art/100 x 100, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, Etats-Unis.
- China Projects/100 x 100, Real Fake Art, The Real Toy Story, Shanghai Gallery m97, Shanghai,
Chine.
- Fake - Portraits of Chinese Copy Art, Goethe Institute, Hong Kong, Chine.
- Hong Kong Industrial, Ursula Huber Gallery, Basel, Suisse.
- New Urban Vistas (exposition de groupe), Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, Etats-Unis.
2006
- Architecture of Density/Architecture of Work, Art Fair Kunst Zürich, Gallery Huber, Zürich, Suisse.
- Architecture of Density Architecture of Density
-Gallery 51 Fine Art, Paris Photo, Paris, France.
-Artspace 1918 (exposition de groupe), Shanghai Biennale, Shangai, Chine.
-798 Photo Gallery, Beijing, Chine.
-Janet Oh Gallery, Séoul, Corée.
-Hasted-Hunt Gallery, New York, Etats-Unis.
-Artspace 1918, Shanghai, Chine.
-Architecture of Density/China Copy Artists, Gallery 51 Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgique.
-100 x 100, Gallery of the Goethe Institute, Hong Kong, Chine.
-100 x 100/Architecture of Density
-Daegu Photo Biennale, Daegu, Corée.
-Gallery Laif, Cologne, Allemagne.
-The Real Toy Story
-Museum for Work, Hambourg, Allemagne.
-Museum of Contemporary Photography (exposition de groupe), Chicago, Etats-Unis.
-Hong Kong Architecture, Robert Koch Gallery, AIPAD, New York, Etats-Unis.
-Sitting in China, Kap Forum, Cologne, Allemagne.
-New Work from Hong Kong, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, Etats-Unis.
2005
-Architecture of Density
-Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, Etats-Unis.
-Robert Koch Gallery, Art Basel, Basel, Suisse.
-Ping Yao Photography Festival, Ping Yao, Chine.
-Useful, Cute and Collected. The Photographed Animal. (exposition de groupe), Museum Folkwang,
Essen, Allemagne.
-Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door, Galerie Colette, Paris, France.
2004
-Truth! -Photography's Promise of Reality (exposition de groupe), Ruhland Museum, Essen,
Allemagne.
-The Real Toy Story, John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine.
2003
-Sitting in China, Kestner Museum, Hannover, Allemagne.
2000
-Peking Shanghai Shenzhen : Cities of the 21st century (exposition de groupe), Bauhaus Museum,
Dessau, Allemagne.
1990-91
-Otto Steinert and Students (exposition de groupe), Museum Folkwang, Essen, Allemagne.
1982
-Wie Lebt Man im Ruhrgebiet (exposition de groupe), Folkwang Museum, Essen, Allemagne.
1979
-Eugene Richards/Michael Wolf : Neighborhoods, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Allemagne.
1975
-Portraits of Craftsmen in Essen Werden, Room 315 of the University of Essen (commissariat : Ute
Eskildsen), Essen, Allemagne.
Bibliographie :
Natasha, Egan, Geoff Manaugh et Michael Wolf, Michael Wolf : The Transparent City, Aperture et Museum of Contemporary Photography. Chicago, Etats-Unis, 2008.
Ute Eskildsen, The Photographed Animal : Useful, Cute and Collected, Steidl, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Allemagne, 2006.
Kenneth Baker et Douglas Young, Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door, Thames & Hudson, New York, Etats-Unis, 2005.
Michael Wolf, Sitting in China, Steidl, Goettingen, Allemagne, 2002.
Harald Mass, China im Wandel (China in Transition), Frederking & Thaler, Munich, Allemagne, 2001.
Michael Wolf, Marc Izikowitz et Wolfgang Staiger, Maloche, Leben im Revier, Eichborn AG, Allemagne, 1982.
Articles (sélection) :
"The Back Door : Michael Wolf", Ojodepez, Février, 2004.
Wagner, Andrew, "The City Revealed", Dwell Magazine, Mars, 2004.
"Architecture of Density", Quest Magazine, Allemagne, Novembre/Decembre, 2005.
"Portfolio : Michael Wolf Hong Kong", Abitare, Italie, Mai, 2005.
"Hong Kong Front Door/Back Door", Prestige Magazine, Novembre, 2005.
"Architecture of
Il peut être réduit, naturel, dédié au travail, dévasté mais surtout, il peut être photographié ! Quoi donc ? L'espace ! Vous l'aurez compris, c'est précisement le thème de la 7ème édition du Prix Pictet.
Bref rappel : depuis 2008, le Prix Pictet récompense un photographe et son travail autour du développement durable. Premier prix au monde consacré au développement durable, le Groupe Pictet entend promouvoir les discussions et débats sur ce sujet. Le travail des douze finalistes sera présenté lors d'une exposition qui se tiendra à Londres au Victoria and Albert Museum le 4 mai 2017.
Découvrons les douze finalistes et leur espace en images !
Mand...
La street photography connaît aujourd’hui un renouveau sans précédent.
A travers le portrait de 46 photographes actuels, les auteurs de ce livre nous donnent à voir le meilleur de la création contemporaine dans un domaine qui n’a cessé depuis Gary Winogrand, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson et Robert Frank — quatre des plus grands noms de la photographie de rue — de fasciner photographes, écrivains et un public amateurs d’« instants décisifs ». Toute la magie, la poésie, la beauté mais aussi le comique et le tragique de nos vies urbaines sont révélés par ces photographes capables en une fraction de seconde de rendre compte avec une rare éloquence de la complexité de la...
During his more than 14 years in Hong Kong, German-born photographer Michael Wolf‘s perspective on his adopted city has boiled down to an essence of density – the hemmed-in, closely built environment which shapes everything from its peoples‘ lifestyles to their outlooks and even dreams. In Hong Kong Inside Outside, Wolf collects the works of his two previous collections – Architecture of Density and 100x100 – into a two-volume set focusing on the visual elements of one of the world’s most crowded cities.
For Architecture of Density, Wolf‘s photographic technique removed any sky or horizon line from his depictions of Hong Kong buildings, flattening his subjects until they become relentless abstractions of urban expansion. It is a disorienting vantage point, which perhaps is the...
Sous le thème « le naturel de l'homme ou comment fabriquer le réel », la 4e édition des Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, à l’été 2013, est une invitation à parcourir la péninsule pour suivre la trajectoire artistique de plus de 30 photographes d’ici et d’ailleurs.
Les Rencontres 2013 réunissent des artistes qui se sont intéressés à la représentation du réel dans ce qu’il peut être distordu, transformé ou modifié, suscitant chez le spectateur de nouvelles perceptions. Autant de voies offertes aux créateurs pour s’interroger sur la manière dont l’individu vit dans son environnement et la façon dont il l’appréhende.
...
CONTACT is an annual festival of photography in Toronto, during the month of May, with over 1000 local, national and international artists exhibiting at almost 200 venues. Founded as a not-for-profit organization 16 years ago, and now a charitable organization, the festival is devoted to celebrating, and fostering the art and profession of photography. It stimulates excitement and discussion among a diverse audience that has grown to over 1.8 million. CONTACT is the largest photography event in the world, and a premiere cultural event in Canada.
Stimulated by the renewed global interest in street photography, this year’s festival explores the theme “Public” in a series of exhibitions, site-specific installations, and events across the city. Drawing attention to social and political issues tha...
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FORMAT 2011, the UK’s leading international festival of contemporary photography and related media today announces its full programme for its 5th edition, taking place at various venues in and around Derby, 4th March – 3rd April 2011.
This year’s festival, curated by Louise Clements around the theme Right Here, Right Now: Exposures from the public realm, explores the resurgence of street photography – put simply, photographs taken in public places. Presenting more than 3,000 works by over 300 artists of international significance, FORMAT11 will provide the most comprehensive survey of street photography ever seen.
The Festival will show curated exhibitions and new commissions by leading international artists within the practice of street photography. In a unique com...
“NYC is the melting pot, the metropolis of the world, and therefore the most natural location for a festival with a mission to bring together global talent that is both timely and critical.”
Jody Quon, curator, NYPH’09
The First International Photography Festival in the United States
Photography, one of the most important visual media of our lives, has been surprisingly uncelebrated, particularly in the United States. New York City, home to the most influential commercial and fine art photography community, has lacked—until now—a large-scale event dedicated to photography. The inaugural New York Photo Festival (May 14–May 18, 2008) delivered a dynamic, high-quality event in what is arguably the photographic capital of the world. This event celebrated both contemporary photography ...
Press release
M97 is pleased to present Hong Kong - Informal Solutions, an exhibition of multimedia works by Michael Wolf. The exhibition features printed photographs, video loops, and objects and artifacts collected by the artist in the back alleys of Hong Kong. This is Michael Wolf’s fifth solo exhibition at M97.
Behind the monumental facades of the roaring megalopolis there lies an unexpected world of daily inventions and informal solutions. From his wanderings in the back alleys of Hong Kong over the last twenty years, photographer and long-term Hong Kong resident Michael Wolf has gathered together a patchwork of disparate objects and assemblages that identify a core element of Hong Kong’s back alley street life and visual anthropology. He has used this archive to map out a subjective and sensitive ...
Michael Wolf photographie les mégapoles.
Avec cette première exposition institutionnelle française consacrée au photographe allemand, le Centre photographique met en lumière un pan essentiel de son œuvre à savoir : l’exploration menée depuis plus de quinze ans par Michael Wolf dans les rues de Hong Kong, ville où il a élu domicile. Aux grandes artères et leurs architectures rutilantes, il préfère les petites ruelles et arrière-cours, et leurs constructions empiriques. Dans la lignée d’un Walker Evans qui a œuvré avec constance et tendresse pour la reconnaissance des formes vernaculaires, Michael Wolf s’attache à dresser minutieusement une cartographie souterraine de la ville,...
M97 cordially invites you to the opening of Paris Rooftops, an exhibition of Michael Wolf’s newest body of work. Paris Rooftops is a continuation of Wolf’s life-long fascination with architecture and urban life, this time taking the viewer to Paris, where he moved part-time with his family in 2008.
Having lived in Hong Kong since the 1990s and having photographed mostly in Asia, Wolf took in his new Parisian surroundings with cautious curiosity, making a conscious decision to stay away from the quintessentially Parisian sights that adorn travel books. During his exploration of the city, Wolf discovered the uniqueness and beauty of its zinc roofs. With a strong sense of color and his characteristic genius for composition and abstraction, Wolf captures the density and humanity of urban life through a city&rs...
Through the use of historical and contemporary photographs, we celebrate the ingenuity and culture of subways. Since the late 19th Century, cities have turned to tunnelling to transport their ever growing mass. Efficient, claustrophobic, worn down and constantly updated, for many city dwellers subways are a necessary part of their daily lives. Transporting oneself underground seems both otherworldly and commonplace; it is a place where solitude is often felt strongly.
© Ewing Galloway - Subway construction, N-Y (1932)
This exhibition features work by unknown photographers hired to document the building of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. in New York. Their work is surrounded by photographs taken by a number of known photographers. This theme of construction is complimented by Vid Ingelevics’ photograph...
Michael Wolf développe depuis près de 15 ans une recherche unique sur la vie dans les villes et leurs structures architecturales.
A Hong Kong, il orientait son appareil photographique vers les bâtiments frappants dʼaustérité qui caractérisent cette mégapole. Le résultat – visible dans la série « Architecture of Density »– en était presque abstrait.
Lʼintérêt de Michael Wolf pour les habitants de ces espaces et leurs rapports à la cité sʼaccrut par accident lorsqu’il agrandit un détail des immeubles vitrés quʼil photographiait alors dans Chicago. La série «Transparent City», issue de ce travail, juxtapose des images dʼimmeubles et des focus sur des int&eacu...
"Blind Walls and night trees & My favourite things" Michael Wolf
Paris Tree shadows - Paris Rooftops - My favourtite things ©Michael Wolf
Gallery FIFTY ONE is honored to present Michael Wolf’s third solo exhibition at the gallery with works from his most recent series “Paris Rooftops”, “Paris Tree Shadows” and “My Favourite Things”.
This exhibition brings together Wolf’s personal readings of these radically different cities – a contrasting portrait which illustrates his unique sensibility to modern urban life.
"Who are you, Vivian?" Vivian Maier
©Vivian Maier/John Maloof Collection
In this exposition FIFTY ONE TOO is proud to reveal a series of the latest unpublished images from the early 1950s ...
Christophe Guye Galerie is pleased to announce the group exhibition 'Urban Spirit' featuring the art of Stephen Gill, Will Steacy, Beat Streuli, Sascha Weidner and Michael Wolf. These artists study the 'location' and the 'human' in different ways. Depending on the degree of presence or absence of 'places' or 'humans' in their photographs, they create a suspense which stimulates the viewer to narrate his or her own story. Although the works offer suggestions, these stories are ultimately created in the viewer's imagination based on his or her own cultural and social background.
«'Urban Spirit' connotes a commitment to an open mind, promises of cultural diversity and opportunities for optimal individual/collective development in urban areas. Each city is distinguis...
“Portrait(s)”, la deuxième édition du rendez-vous photographique de la ville de Vichy prend son essor et se tient cette année du 13 juin au 31 août. Après le succès de la première édition, saluée par 25 000 visiteurs, Vichy redevient le temps d’une saison un avant-poste de la photographie d’aujourd’hui et présente au public des expositions à la fois marquantes et accessibles, centrées exclusivement sur l’art du portrait.
Le festival présente différentes approches du portrait, qu’elles soient issues de la tradition documentaire ou bien qu’elles relèvent de la fiction, de l’intime ou encore de dispositifs plus conceptuels. Il s’appuie sur les oeuvres de p...
Flowers gallery will be holding an exhibition of iconic works from acclaimed photographer Michael Wolf's series : Architecture of Density. The photographs depict the vibrant city of Hong Kong from an inimitable perspective and have never been presented at this scale before in London.
The large scale works examine the architecture of the city by leaving convention to one side. Wolf focuses on repetition of pattern and form to cause a visual reaction. The result is a sense of rediscovery, as Wolf frees you of the constraints of a typical photograph.
Densely populated and restricted by land mass, the city of Hong Kong has propelled itself upwards to contend with the lack of lateral space. Home to more sky scrapers over 150m than any other city in the world, the air is populated with a forest of high rises. Mi...
This exhibition will explore the breadth and global diversity of contemporary photographic portraiture since 2000, highlighting recent acquisitions to the museum's permanent collection.
About Face will include works by twenty-nine artists from the United States, England, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Iran and South Africa. Though each of these photographers approaches portrait-making differently, certain thematic threads resonate throughout the show, including questions of racial, cultural, ethnic, class and gender identity; the relationship between individuals and typologies; the way photographic processes themselves inform meaning; the relevance of historical precedents to contemporary practice; and the impact of media stereotypes on self-presentation. Considered collectively, the works in About Fa...
M97 Gallery is pleased to present “Standing at the Water’s Edge”, a Group Exhibition featuring the works of sixteen M97 artists.
Exhibiting more than 30 photographs by 16 artists, "Standing at the Water's Edge" immerses the viewer's perspective in a juxtaposed state between land and water. The boundaries and relationship between these two intrinsically linked yet fundamentally opposed elements of nature encourage our gaze and stimulate our imagination. The water's edge is at once boundary and transition, destination and a point of departure. The bedrock of land acts as foundation and the continuous flow of water depicts the flow of time. From the water’s edge we can seek perspective, enlightment, or to feel the vastness of the universe against the smallness of our bei...
TOKYO-GA will participate in New York Photography Festival 2012, May 16-20th.
In an act of global solidarity, TOKYO-GA will present for the first time a selection of Tokyo photographs by Japanese, American, and European photographers.
TOKYO-GA created an extensive photographic project: describing Tokyo Scapes by 100 Photographers.
Tokyo reacts quickly to changes of the times; as the largest and most recognizable city in Japan it has become a site of unity.
The idea for TOKYO-GA originated as an internal response to the devastating natural disasters that occurred in Japan in 2011.
These events brought an awareness of the global connectedness of not just Japanese people, but all of humanity.
© Masayoshi Sukita
&...
L’exposition de photographies Peurs sur la ville, présentée à la Monnaie de Paris du 21 janvier au 17 avril 2011 invite le visiteur à poser un regard radicalement différent sur les manifestations de la violence urbaine à Paris.
L’exposition, volontairement construite autour d’images chocs, s'articule autour de trois points de vue : les photos d’archives de Paris Match, la série Paris Street View de Michaël Wolf et Guerre ici de Patrick Chauvel. Trois prises de parole pour revenir sur « la vie telle qu’elle est », prendre conscience des agressions indirectes que nous ne soupçonnons pas et se projeter dans une fiction dramatiquement réaliste de conflits mis en scène dans Paris.
L’histori...
m97 Gallery is pleased to present "LIFE IN CITIES" a solo exhibition of new works by Hong Kong/Paris-based German photographer Michael Wolf.
The “LIFE IN CITIES” exhibition comprises four main bodies of Wolf’s most recent works: “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, “Street View”, “Tokyo Compression”, and “Transparent City”. “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and “Street View” (2009-2010), Wolf’s latest projects, use Google’s online Street View database as raw material, navigating Paris and other cities, capturing a series of classic yet evocative street photos. Wolf’s work further continues his exploration of the glories and humiliations of contemporary urban life, while touching on issues of priv...
La Galerie Particulière est heureuse de présenter l'exposition Metropolis, une sélection de photographies de Michael Wolf issues de deux séries distinctes :
« Architecture of Density »
« Transparent City »
Tous les travaux de l'artiste sont visibles à La Galerie Particulière, notamment sa dernière série : « Real Fake Art ».
Les oeuvres seront présentées jusqu'au samedi 26 septembre.
La galerie sera en congés du 15 août au 7 septembre.
Architecture of Density (Hong-Kong)
Dans les 50 dernières années, Hong Kong a connu une très forte croissance économique et démographique, entraînant la construction de forêts d'immeubles d'une hauteur vertigine...
Michael Wolf (1954) verwierf alom erkenning en waardering voor zijn langlopende project over het verdichte bouwen in het explosief groeiend China. Om aan de enorme behoefte aan woningen en kantoren te voldoen, wordt de ene wolkenkrabber na de andere torenflat uit de grond gestampt. In China, en met name Hong Kong, wordt ‘verdicht’ gebouwd, dus nieuwbouwprojecten pal naast elkaar.
Wolf fotografeerde het eindeloos repeterende patroon van horizontale en verticale lijnen met een telelens, waardoor het beeld wordt plat getrokken en alle gevoel voor dimensies verdwijnt. Nergens is een horizon te zien, noch voor- of achtergrond, lucht of omgeving zodat het onmogelijk is je een voorstelling van de schaal te vormen.
In 2005 werd Wolf uitgenodigd om, als Artist-in-Residence, de hoogbouw van Chicago te documenteren....
Parallax is the effect whereby the distance between two objects appears to shift when viewed from different vantage points and can help determine an otherwise unknown distance. Following on this concept, the "Parallax" exhibition places together two or more works by each artist from different times in their career. Creating an imaginary sense of distance by juxtaposing photographs of different size, subject matter, and year of creation presents an opportunity for the viewer to see how the artist's focus and technique has developed creatively or conceptually and how the style of their work has changed or remained consistent.
By bringing together photographs from different bodies of work by each artist from different stages in their career, "Parallax" highlights the evolution of each artist's style a...