The tensions in photographs can be both obvious and subtle. In Oblivion, Jasper Lam groups portraits of friends seemingly united in youthfulness and joy, but soon to be torn apart. In the shadow of broken friendships off-camera, the artist explores how photography can express the incongruence of sentiments that transform over time. In parallel, Marie Sommer traces the tensions between two territories in a series of spectral images culled from the archives of post–World War II photographic surveillance missions conducted between the two Germanies on behalf of both sides of the Iron Curtain.

For the sixth edition of Assemblages, the yearly photography book mock-up workshop at VU, the two artists will share a physical and temporal space to explore different processes of writing and relationality through image. Their individual research will unfold around the table and on the walls, and the shared space will allow them to talk about their work process. Assemblages is a way to reflect on what helps artists enter into exchange, and how photographs also talk to and seep into each other, allowing their own unique voices to emerge.

Assemblages is a project that grew out of an idea from Alexandre Berthier.

Details about the training session and how to register will be available on January 10!