Two Dutch Photographers:

Hans van der Meer: European Fields ‒ The Landscape of Lower League Football Bertien van Manen: Give me your image

Hans van der Meer and Bertien van Manen are major representatives of contemporary Dutch photography. The exhibition at the Ludwig Museum presents two independent bodies of work in a single space, offering broader opportunities for association between the images created by the two artists.

Hans van der Meer has been engaged in photographing the grounds and matches of amateur football teams since 1995, while touring in the Netherlands, Flemish-Belgium and other regions of Europe. In large-sized, sharp photos evoking the sports photography of the early twentieth century, he records the totality and the environments of the grounds, together with “accidental elements” that emerge upon shooting. With an empathetic sense of humour so characteristic of him, he connects the genres of sports photography and landscape representation.

Bertien van Manen began her career as a fashion photographer and subsequently turned to documentary photography. During her journeys, she photographs people and their environments at various corners of the world. Give me your image is the most recent example of her lyrical work imbued with a sense of intimacy. Recalling the quality of amateur images, she takes photos of family photos found in home environments, recording the life documents, personal mementos, and faces of various people at various sites. Her images explore the relationship of photography and captured time, inquiring into the role played by photography in remembrance.

The exhibition is part of the LOW Dutch-Flemish Cultural Festival. The European Fields is presented by Paradox.