Fotografiska’s Mission: Art for All

Sharon Edelson

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Fotografiska is the un-museum.

The highly acclaimed institution devoted to photography today opens its doors at 281 Park Avenue South in the Church Missions House, a six-floor, 45,000-square-foot historic, Renaissance revival landmark built in the 1890s with stained glass windows and an intricate terra cotta facade.

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In a city with no shortage of world-class art institutions, including at least one devoted exclusively to photography, Stockholm-based Fotografiska rejects the art world’s patriarchy and other biases, pretension and exclusionary practices, in favor of the high-minded goal of making photography accessible to a broad swath of visitors, including those who may never have set foot in a museum exhibition before.

Granted, Fotografiska’s exhibits will be unlike those of other New York City museums. Fotografiska wants to strip away the layers of snobbishness and arrogance that can be associated artists and their handlers. Fotografiska isn’t a collecting institution, and as such, doesn’t have a permanent collection. It’s an important distinction, said Amanda Hajjar, director of exhibitions at Fotografiska New York. “It allows us to be very flexible and have a lot of exhibit space to show new work. It’s not about us. Building a collection says to your visitors, ‘This is what we feel is important. We want to show works from the photographers’ perspective.’

“Fotografiska is trying to create a multilayered experience, with photography, food, drinks and even a shopping experience,” said Hajjar, who was the first employee hired for the new location. “We’re trying to create a welcoming environment. We’re trying to transport and import the vibe they have in Stockholm and make sure that the art feels accessible.”

While the spaces at Fotografiska are beautiful — from the galleries to the restaurants, shopping experience, lobby and six-floor event space, nothing is too precious to prohibit a visitor from sipping a glass of wine or bottle of beer while strolling through an exhibit.

“We’ll have programs and events that will go late into the night,” Hajjar said. “We’re installing sound for music for the exhibit floor and people can bring their drinks to the exhibits. There will be a bar in the lobby.

“We haven’t announced upcoming exhibits yet,” Hajjar said. “We’re really trying to focus on photography that’s different. When someone comes, they can see landscape photography, portraiture, fashion photography and more commercial works.

Hajjar said Fotografiska in 2020 will offer 22 exhibitions. “It’s a lot,” she said. “We’ll be showing established photographers and emerging artists. We’re opening with fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth. There are some really exciting fashion photographers that have been shown in Stockholm that we hope to show in New York.’

Since Fotografiska is not focused on owning works, it may not be as beholden to the various constituencies vying for power in the art world, from the museums, auction houses, gallerists and collectors that inflate the egos and bloated wallets of some artists to the patrons who may want to shape exhibitions to reflect their own tastes and world views.

Besides von Unwerth, who’s known for setting the cheeky tone of the early Guess campaigns, other exhibitions of fashion lensmen and women will include Bettina Rheimes, Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle and Chen Man.

Fotografiska is a private institution with private investors. Hajjar declined to discuss financial aspects of the museum, except to say, “It’s a different model.”

In the first exhibition lineup, Tawny Chatmon, a Baltimore-based photographer, exemplifies Fotografiska’s open-armed approach. The artist, who often uses her children as subjects, uses a mix of mediums to embellish her photos, including paint, digital collage, illustration and gold leaf.

Inspired by classic portraiture, Chatmon wanted to change the narrative of galleries where she’d take her children. “We could walk past and view 100 faces before we’d finally come across one that looks like us,” she says in a short film alongside her work, adding that she wants to contribute something important to a world in which her children can thrive.

The children in Chatmon’s portraits are regal-looking and dressed in traditional African garb, gold jewelry and headdresses or wearing dresses encrusted with Gustav Klimt-like repetitive decorations in gold leaf and colorful bits of glass or plastic.

“I’m inspired by the Vienna Secession, the Renaissance, and pre-Raphaelite paintings, among other things,” Chatmon said.

Added Hajjar, “She uses large ornate gold frames that she finds at estate sales and wants to revise the museum experience for black children. She’s looking toward the future and what her children see in museums. She’s really adorning her photographs with symbols of wealth.”

“I’m continuing to reimagine the narrative,” Chatmon said. “I’m shifting the narrative in my own way.”

In addition to three floors devoted to exhibitions, Fotografiska will soon open a restaurant, Veronika, operated by Starr Restaurants under the direction of executive chef Robert Aikens. Veronika, which is a nod to Veronica, the patron saint of photography, was designed by studio Roman and Williams with interiors inspired by the moody quality of early photography and the “tone, texture and timbre of European grand cafés before the turn of the 20th century.

The menu owes a debt to northern France, Austria and Eastern Europe and places an emphasis on seasonality and sustainability. Veronika’s interior features the building’s original ceilings, cornices and archways with new stone and plaster work, opulent fixtures, dramatic murals and colored glass that impart a gauzy, impressionistic glow into the natural light that streams through the building’s copious arched windows.

The lobby café features wine by the glass and coffee as well as croissants and other pastries. On a recent visit just days before the opening, linzer tortes were spotted. Across the lobby, in the retail area, there’s a portfolio of images from the exhibition archives, including master edition print sets, an iconic poster series, limited-edition literature showcasing the work of photographers exhibited in Stockholm, and merchandise from previous and current shows.

Next door to Fotografiska, V, will serve as a gathering place after the museum has closed — up till 11 p.m. on weeknights, midnight on Saturday.

Fotografiska was founded by brothers Jan and Per Broman, the sons of a newspaper darkroom manager. Not only were they surrounded by photography, learning to create and develop their own images at an early age, they no doubt have been dismayed by the demise of the many print publications that prominently featured photographic work.

A thinly veiled quote included in press materials from photographer Vee Speers, seems to take social media to task: “In a world that seems to encompass everything visual but inspires little dialogue, and where we are often immersed in a deluge of banality, Fotografiska takes us by the hand and guides us to higher grounds.”

“It’s pretty great,” Hajjar agreed, adding, “although it’s not without its stressful moments.” The photography director was working at Gagosian when she met Jan Broman at the gallery. “I learned about their expansion efforts and that they had New York on their horizon,” she said. “I went to Stockholm last year for two and a half weeks and got to see their process of installing and de-installing an exhibition and see what types of events they had. I ate in the restaurant and hung out.

“We’ll have lectures on photography, music and film screenings,” she said. “We’re looking outside the box, too. We want to host parties with DJs.”

Launch Gallery: Fotografiska’s Mission: Art for All

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