Against all the institutionalised supremacy, a young dynamic, accessible answer is being formulated in the exhibition Rotterdam Photo XL. This initiative, is a few years old, but today it is on an international scale: more than 100 photographers from all continents in a pop-up location on the edge of the museum district.
For the organisers, values such as awareness, ecology, democracy, tolerance, integration and involvement are central, which is reflected in the chosen themes. Moreover, it is also a special Extra Large edition: after 2 years of isolation, the initiators are showing the selection of 2 calls, Planet Human (2021) & The Human Blueprint (2022). Consequently, this edition is suddenly twice as big – or how Corona can provide an increase in scale.
Wild, young, dynamic, but don’t think of it as a negligible sympathetic local initiative! The selection shows an international company of photographers that guarantees quality. We saw the images of the French polymath Philippe Sarfati (photographer, architect, designer), the sober images of the Spanish photographer Jose Ignacio Hernandez Larburu, the ecological approach of Nick Verhaeghe who develops his polarised negatives with plant extracts, the minimalism of the Japanese photographer ATOM, the beautiful poster image of British German photographer Chris Noltekuhlmann and the discovery of the other by the young Belgian photographer Hanne van Assche.
Rotterdam Photo is a nice addition to the programme of Art Rotterdam week. I would certainly advise photographers to look out for next year’s call, curators and gallery owners will certainly find young talent among the exhibitors and interested parties should add the 2023 edition to their agenda.
Venue
Rotterdam Photo 2022 XL
Willemsplein
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
