The Alice Austen House, a fantastic and under-acknowledged resource for photography in New York City, is an exhibition space and museum dedicated to the ground-breaking, absolutely independent and unique photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952). One of America’s earliest and most prolific female photographers, Alice Austen broke away from the constraints of the Victorian era to create her own independent life.

Help the Alice Austen House take some much needed steps toward its own preservation and restoration via the 2012 New York initiative Partners in Preservation.  All you need to do is go to http://www.PartnersinPreservation.com and VOTE – a vote for this site will help direct national funding to keep the Alice Austen House vital and able to continue its programming of exhibitions and education in a beautiful, unique historic space. Voting ends tonight, 11:59PM EST on Monday, May 21.

——

Through June 14, 2012 the Alice Austen House Museum is pleased to present Foreclosed: Documents from the American Housing Crisis. The exhibition includes works by: Bruce Gilden, Lauren Greenfield, Todd Hido, Imara Moore, John Moore, John Francis Peters, T.J. Proechel, Brian Shumway, Brian Ulrich and Guillaume Zuili, examining how artists are using photography to record the aftermath of the housing bubble; from its’ beginning in 2006 to the dramatic effects it still has on the American Landscape today. The artists and photographers in the exhibition depict the ruins of rich and poor neighborhoods, as well as the families affected by the economic downturn. As a result, the exhibition aims to explore the disintegration of the American dream and how it effects a culture where home ownership is no longer a reality.

Foreclosed: Documents from the American Housing Crisis
On view through June 14, 2012

The Alice Austen House Museum
2 Hylan Boulevard
Staten Island, NY 10305

Aperture aggregates the best posts from this past week in the photography blogosphere.

• Time’s Lightbox profiles ‘Act’: Meditations on the Disabled Body by Denis Darzacq, a two-year project of photographing “people who have had trouble finding a place in society from the beginning of their lives,” he says. The Paris-based photographer known for his high-energy images and dynamic subjects will be giving an artist talk at Aperture this Monday, April 16, 2012 at 6:30 pm, FREE.
• Kathy Ryan, editor of The New York Times Magazine Photographs, shares the fascinating backstory of a photograph of Mohammad Ali with his future wife Lonnie that ran in the Sunday Magazine, taken at “the moment Cassius and I met,”  Lonnie wrote in an email to the photographer, Steve Schapiro.
• The New Yorker‘s photo department shares a collection of reader-submitted, “Hand-Picked Instagrams,” (as Wall Street Journal did last week, and more publications probably will in the future) alongside a thought-provoking essay by Ian Crouch, “Instagram’s Instant Nostalgia.” This, in the same week New York Times’ Bits Blog reports Facebook will buy Instagram for $1 billion.
• The British Journal of Photography reports on a controversial ad campaign for photographers’ rights launched by the French organization Union des Photographes Professionnels – Auteurs. In related news this week, the American Society of Media Photographers has filed a class action lawsuit against Google, PetaPixel reports, for “scanning, indexing, and storing copyright work without permission of the copyright holders” for their ambitions Google Books project.
• DIY gallerists take note: Phototuts+ shares “An Expert Guide to Matting and Framing a Photo,” which should be useful after you’ve watched their video lecture on Ansel Adams–delivered by Allan Ross who was Adams’ darkroom assistant for many years–and printed a bunch of restrained, expertly metered black-and-white landscape photographs of your own.
• American Suburb X shares a number of Nan Goldin readings this week, including an essay by Nan on actress and close friend Cookie Mueller who died of AIDS in 1989, as well as a fascinating in-depth paper by Mihaela Precup, “The Wound Which Speaks of Unremembered Time: Nan Goldin’s Cookie Portfolio and the Autobiographics of Mourning.” All great reads; our only quibble is: where did they come from? [UPDATE: ASX has appended the source of one of the pieces, created originally by Dirck Halstead at the once-pioneering web journal digitaljournalist.org]
• The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announce their 2012 Fellowships in photography, PDN Pulse reports. Ten photographers, including Doug Dubois of the monograph All the Days and Nights, and John Gossage, whose exhibition The Pond and a Little Romance opens today in Chicago, join the ranks of past recipients Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Robert Adams, Richard Mosse, Brian Ulrich, and Penelope Umbrico.

Penelope Umbrico on her piece For Sale/TVs From Craigslist at Aperture (May, 2009).

Consumer culture can be an ugly reality to face. Despite what might seem to be an oxymoronic concept, the contemporary sense of self is increasingly predicated on possessive individualism, a self-definition by way of consumption, or more simply put, the thought: ‘I am what I buy.’ Not only has shopping long become a pastime, so too has the proclamation of these purchases across social media.

This consumer culture is what we the audience are confronted with in the work of Penelope Umbrico and Brian Ulrich. On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, two of the most exciting photographers working today, come together for a conversation about how their use of images address this facet of our society. The event will take place at Julie Saul Gallery, where Ulrich currently has his exhibition Is This Place Great or What: Artifacts and Photographs on view through May 5, 2012.

Umbrico’s work over the past few decades offers a radical doubletake on the consumer and vernacular images with which we are bombarded. She aggregates photographs that follow a kind of “script,” compiling thousands of somehow related images found on social media websites like Craigslist and Flickr. Some are selling used products, others are sharing personal but generic vacation moments. All, however, have hints of privacy or intimacy in them. As she explains in the clip above, the used TVs people sell on Craigslist often bear reflections of themselves or their apartments. Her most recognized work Suns From Flickr, which made the cover of her conceptual first monograph from Aperture in Fall, 2011 Penelope Umbrico (photographs), is made up of thousands of found snapshots, generic vacation photos tagged with term “sunset,” cropped down to sun alone, sometimes 5% of the original photograph, and installed on a mural-sized grid.  The monumental result is meant to explore ”what [these images] can tell us about our relationship to photography, technology and each other.”

Ulrich’s work on view at Julie Saul is part of a decade-long exploration of the American consumer landscape for a series called Copia. The project, he explains for Time’s Lightbox, is something he embarked on as a response to the president’s call for the nation to bolster the economy in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by way of shopping. The series, comprised in three parts tracking the degradation of this consumer cycle–”Retail,” “Thrift,” and “Dark Stores,”–was also published by Aperture in Fall, 2011 as Ulrich’s first monograph, Is This Place Great or What.

“Retail” features often vibrant candy-colored, mostly medium-format images taken in big box stores. He captured candid moments with the help of a waist-high viewfinder. The nameless shoppers within his frame carry hollow expressions that convey a kind of alienated stupor during the precise moment, Ulrich says, “the Germans call Konsumieren Rausch or Consumer Intoxication.” “Thrift” features more cluttered images of consignment stores and second-hand shops where the original goods are discarded, while “Dark Stores,” features images of derelict, hollowed out, abandoned malls and shopping centers across the country that have shut their doors.

Penelope Umbrico and Brian Ulrich In Conversation
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 6:30 pm
FREE

Julie Saul Gallery
535 West 22nd Street, #6F
New York, New York
(212) 627-2410

Brian Ulrich’s photographic investigation of the American consumer psyche has for the past decade examined the complex relationships consumers form with the industries that seek their consumption (Copia, 2002-2006), the trickle-down movement of consumer goods (Thrift, 2005-2007), and the end remains of dead malls and big box stores, stripped of product and identity (Dark Stores, 2008-2011).

Ulrich’s upcoming exhibition at Julie Saul Gallery looks at this decade-spanning body of work, juxtaposing photographs with artifacts from the past (a vintage sign in florescent italics announcing Fast Food), objects culled from an expansive archive, amassed by the photographer in simultaneity with the development of his images.

—

Is This Place Great Or What: Artifacts and Photographs opens Thursday, March 22^nd at Julie Saul Gallery, New York City.

This exhibition coincides with Ulrich’s first published monograph, Is This Place Great or What, published by Aperture Foundation, with an essay by Juliet B. Schorr and 95 plates ($35, available here).

Also consider Ulrich’s limited-edition, “Chicago, Illinois, 2005,” from the series Thrift ($600, available here).

Armory Week is almost here. Join us on Saturday, March 10 for our annual all-day Armory Collectors Brunch to mix and mingle with friends and colleagues in the heart of Chelsea’s art district. The event will include a special walk through of the current exhibition Shared Vision, with Marcelle Polednik, Director MOCA Jacksonville and collectors Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla at 11:00 am, followed by book signings with Aperture artists including Bruce Davidson, Richard Mosse, Brian Ulrich, Penelope Umbrico, collector Bill Hunt.

Saturday, March 10, 10:00 am–1:00 pm
FREE

Aperture Gallery and Bookstore
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

During Armory Arts Week, you can also visit Aperture at the eleventh annual SCOPE New York Art Fair. You can see some of our newest limited-edition prints from artists Hank Willis Thomas’ “After Identity, What?, 2011,” Lars Tunbjork’s “42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, from the Times Square portfolio published May 18, 1997” and Richard Mosse’s “Débris, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2011.”

This year, SCOPE’s VIP first view will take place on Wednesday, March 7 at an exciting, high profile location across from The Armory Show. The 35,000 square foot pavilion and its dramatic glass box entrance on 57th Street and 12th Ave will host 50 international galleries and museum-quality programming highlighting groundbreaking, emerging work in contemporary art and beyond.

First View:
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
3:00 pm–9:00 pm

Fair Continues:
Thursday, March 8, 2012-Sunday, March 11, 2012

Admission required.

SCOPE Pavilion
57th St & 12th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
212-268-1522

Colonel Soleil’s Boys, North Kivu, Eastern Congo (2010) © Richard Mosse

SCOPE Pavilion
Wynwood Arts District
NE 1st Avenue (Midtown Blvd), at NE 30th Street
Miami, Florida
(212) 268-1522

Join Aperture Foundation at SCOPE Miami! Now in its eleventh year, the art fair will present the best of cutting edge contemporary art in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District. Aperture will be joining 80 international galleries to show our very best books and limited editions, including work by artists Penelope Umbrico and Richard Mosse.

Aperture recently published Penelope Umbrico’s book Penelope Umbrico (photographs), which offers a radical re-interpretation of everyday consumer and vernacular images. Richard Mosse was featured in Aperture magazine #203, Summer 2011. His work will also be showcased in the upcoming book Infra and the very special collector’s edition of the publication. His limited-edition print Débris, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2011 will also be featured. Look for these artists and much more fantastic work at Aperture’s booth.

The fair will take place from Tuesday, November 29, 2011–Sunday, December 4, 2011. Tickets are required.

Tuesday, 4:00 pm–8:00 pm (VIP and press)
Wednesday–Saturday, 11:00 am–7:00 pm
Sunday, 11:00 am–6:00 pm

Saturday, December 3, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
In Conversation: Penelope Umbrico and Brian Ulrich
Soho Beach House
RSVP@aperture.org

Sunday, December 4, 2:00 pm
Infra: Richard Mosse Book Signing
SCOPE Pavilion, booth B31

Please join us on for a Book Party celebrating Is This Place Great Or What, Brian Ulrich’s long-awaited first monograph. The event will be held at Aperture Gallery on Thursday, October 20, 2011, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

The book presents the photographer’s decade-long exploration of the shifting tectonic plates that make up American consumer society. Ulrich focuses, in part, on photographing the architectural legacies of a retail-driven economy in the midst of collapse—shopping malls on the brink of demolition, empty big box stores, and other retail structures in transition.

Is This Place Great or What coincides with an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Brian Ulrich (born in North Port, New York, 1971) holds an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. In 2009, he was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He is represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; Julie Saul, New York; and Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco. In 2006, Aperture published his work as part ofMP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project.

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Brian Ulrich is on press for his upcoming book Is This Place Great Or What at Main Choice Printers in China. This monograph presents the photographer’s decade-long exploration of the shifting tectonic plates that make up American consumer society. Ulrich focuses, in part, on photographing the architectural legacies of a retail-driven economy in the midst of collapse—shopping malls on the brink of demolition, empty big-box stores, and other retail structures in transition. Look for the book in stores this October! Is This Place Great Or What will accompany an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read more here from Brian’s experience making the book on his blog Not if But When.

Sway, 2009 by Jowhara AlSaud

Today is the first day to bid online for items in Aperture’s largest auction ever. Browse Aperture’s Auction Catalog which features photographic works by a diverse range of artists including Jowhara AlSaud, Diane Arbus, Bruce Davidson, Joel Meyerowitz, Richard Misrach, Graham Nash, Mickalene Thomas, Brian Ulrich, James Welling, Kehinde Wiley, Michael Wolf, and Hank Willis Thomas. For the first time ever Aperture is also presenting an Emerging Artists Auction with works by Timothy Briner, Jen Davis, Cig Harvey, Mark Lyon, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Will Steacy, among many others. Online bidding will remain open through Monday, November 1st at 12:00 noon EST.

Aperture’s 2010 Benefit and Auction will take place at The Lighthouse, Chelsea Piers on November 1st honoring Richard Misrach, Steven Ames, and Julie Saul. Immediately following the Benefit Dinner and Live Auction, the SNAP! Benefit Party co-chaired by Hank Willis Thomas, Carolyn Francis, and Giovanni Tomaselli of Polaroid, will feature special guest DJs, a raffle, an open bar, lite bites and treats.

Click here to preview auction items and bid online

Click here for more details and to purchase tickets to the 2010 Benefit Dinner & Auction

Click here for more details and to purchase tickets to the SNAP! Benefit Party

Chicago by Brian Ulrich

Art Chicago, the annual international fair of contemporary and modern art, opens this Friday!

Visit Aperture’s Art Chicago booth for exciting new and classic Aperture publications, limited-edition photographs and Aperture Magazine subscriptions.

In addition a panel discussion about  Aperture and the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s ongoing collaboration The Midwest Photographers Project will take place at Art Chicago’s NEXT Talk Shop this Sunday at 3:00pm. Panelists will include artists Curtis Mann and Brian Ulrich, Aperture’s Christina Caputo and MoCP’s Karen Irvine.

Aperture at Art Chicago
Friday, April 30, 2010 – Monday, May 3, 2010
Booth 12-363

The Midwest Photographers Project Panel Discussion
Sunday, May 2, 2010 3:00 PM
NEXT Talk Shop

Art Chicago
The Merchandise Mart
222 Merchandise Mart Plaza
Chicago, Illinois

Click here to view MP3: Midwest Photographer’s Project Volume I

Click here to view MP3: Midwest Photographer’s Project Volume II

Click here to buy a limited-edition of Chicago, by Brian Ulrich.