Tamara Janes
Set and setting
22.06 – 29.09.2024
Set and setting presents the first institutional solo show of Swiss artist Tamara Janes. Janes is fascinated by how we see, question, and change the post-modern conditions of the image. She addresses these issues by utilising a unique blend of high-culture and popular culture sources that captivate audiences and humorously expose both profound and mundane aspects of contemporary visual culture. A large part of the exhibition shows bodies of work she made after researching the New York Public Library Picture Collection in 2018. It acts as a source of images for her, which she later organizes, adjusts, recontextualizes and modifies based on her artistic preferences. Tamara Janes was awarded the Swiss Design Prize in 2023 for the Copyright Swap series.
Video
Tamara Janes
Born in 1980 in St. Gallen, Tamara Janes lives and works in Bern. After studying at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the School of Visual Arts in New York (SVA), she obtained a Master’s degree at the Institute of Art Gender Nature (IAGN) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Basel. She worked for several years as a graphic designer before starting her career as an artist. Through her practice, she explores the conditions of production and reception of images in the digital age. Using "poor" images, image archives, and search engines, she tracks the strange and the ironic to take a critical view of our current photographic behaviors.
In 2017, her book Halbschlaf was published by Kehrer Verlag in Heidelberg. A year later, she participated in a six-month artist residency in New York, funded by the city of Bern, and began long-term research dedicated to the analog archives of the New York Public Library: "The Picture Collection." Since then, she has created several editions and projects based on this visual material. In 2023, she received the Swiss Design Award in the photography category. Titled Set and Setting, her first institutional exhibition will be presented at Photo Elysée during the summer of 2024.
Exhibition views
EXHIBITION TEXT
Credits
Tamara Janes. Set and Setting
Curation
Lars Willumeit
Project manager
Audrey Zimmerli
Scenography
Tamara Janes, Lars Willumeit
Proofreadings and translations
Iris Heres, Janet Jent, Stéphanie Klebetsanis, Tanya Loringett, Audrey Zimmerli
Tamara Janes and Lars Willumeit would like to thank the Migros Culture Percentage Platform Double and the team of La Becque – Artist Residency.
With the support of
Images Vevey is simultaneously presenting the series Funny Snow Face, created by Tamara Janes and Natalia Funariu at L’Appartement – Espace Images Vevey, from 7 September to 3 November 2024.
Biennale Images Vevey, from September 7 to 29, 2024
