John Gossage and Alec Soth for AUT workshop

A unique opportunity to spend 3 up-close days with John Gossage and Alec Soth two of the most influential American photographers working today.

Friday January 16th - Sunday January 18th 2009 AUT School of Art and Design, ST PAUL ST Gallery, Auckland City

Facilitated over three days by Harvey Benge, John and Alex will talk about their working methods and outline the strategies they have developed to shape their own unique photographic styles and approaches. From a position that "anything is possible" the workshop will look at photo based art practise in a post-modern digital cyber world where the possibilities for making and showing work are endless. Participants will also have the opportunity to have their work constructively reviewed by John and Alec who will offer feedback and suggest ways forward.

Photographer Bruce Connew comments on a previous workshop.."I must congratulate the AUT School of Art and Design for hosting an extraordinary workshop with Harvey Benge, Peter Biolabrezski and the incomparable Antoine D'Agata. All are world class, at the top of their respective games, while one in particular is on his way to greatness - should he survive the journey. These workshops offer a rare and honest insight into world class photographers practices and the varied and complex world of photo art. They give each participating photographer a way forward, no matter the stage of career. That AUT should be involved in assisting Harvey Benge to bring such an intellectual and accomplished level of photographer to New Zealand is an absolute credit to the School's commitment to photography. Very, very well done....these workshops are career-defining days for any photographer."

John Gossage born in Staten Island New York in 1946 is noted for his artist's books and other publications using his photographs to explore under-recognised elements of the urban environment and themes of surveillance, memory and the relationship between architecture and power. He has shown his photographs in solo and group exhibitions since 1963 and his work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C His publications include Berlin in the Time of the Wall (2004), The Romance Industry (2002), Empire (2000), There and Gone (1997), The Things That Animals Care About (1988), Three Days in Berlin 1987 (1987), and Hey Fuckface! (1984). After a number of years with Nazraeli Press his usual publisher is now Loosestrife Editions and Steidl Verlag. He has taught at the University of Maryland, College Park, and curated several photographic exhibitions. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.

Alec Soth born in 1969 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the recipient of several major fellowships from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations and was awarded the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Soth's photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney and São Paulo Biennials, Jeu de Paume (Paris, France) 2008 and Fotomuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland) 2008. His first monograph Sleeping by the Mississippi, was published by Steidl in 2004 to critical acclaim. Since then Soth has published Niagara (2006), Fashion Magazine (2007), and Dog Days, Bogota (2007). Soth is represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York, Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis, and is a member of Magnum Photos. http://www.alecsoth.com

This is the fourth in AUT's series of photographic "master-classes" and promises to be as rewarding and exciting as the previous.

As interest is high and places limited to secure a place please contact Neil Cameron Registrar AUT School of Art and Design on email: neil.cameron@aut.ac.nz

Fee for the Gossage / Soth workshop is $600 payable by November 7th. Payment can be made direct to Gossage/Soth Workshop ASB Bank Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand, Account No 12-3019-0770674, cheques to Gossage/Soth Workshop PO Box 47373 Ponsonby, Auckland.

Image:
Charles, Vasa, Minnesota, 2002. From Sleeping by the Mississippi series.
Copyright Alec Soth