Parklife by Kathrin Kur (August 1, 2010) 
(13 votes, average: 1.69 out of 5)
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Introduction by Marta Daho
In her work, Kathrin Kur normally confronts us with the seemingly obvious. Her photographs of places and common situations are strictly documentary and yet the way she presents them subtly prevents the viewer from making an immediate interpretation of what they see. The places photographed include empty television studios (Smoke and Mirrors), Shooting Ranges or as here presented, the scene of a (Mediterranean ferry loading) quay at night. Parklife is an exploration of a single image. A virtual camera forces us to look the image at a slow and punctuated pace thus creating a certain suspense. Parklife can also be considered as a brilliant mise-en-scene that touches upon one of Photography’s core issues: its fragmentary nature. This piece also connects very effectively with the reflexion about some of the main trends in Contemporary Photography. Namely, its refusal for a fast viewing, the theatrical construction of the image, the uses of cinematographic language, or the issue of new formats that literally overwhelm the viewer.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
Parklife traverses data made from a large format night-time photograph of a Mediterranean ferry loading quay, panned systematically and continuously by a virtual camera. Never able to grasp the image at once in its entirety we are forced to apprehend the scene by way of the clinical “vision” of the virtual camera.
Related to the cinematic device of the tracking shot, and Orson Welles’ famous scene in which a couple crossing the Mexican-American border witness a car bomb exploding in “Touch of Evil” – Parklife builds on the mechanics of suspense and anticipation. However in this case, exploring the pictorial space and single moment of the photographic image rather than a continuous narrative unfolding in space and time.
At the same time the “off space” of the photograph is revealed, as the virtual camera pans across the “main action” of the image, as well as more contextual elements of the images itself, such as street lamps or the top of the ferry building. The photographic image emerges as a cinematic space of sleeping people scattered on the dockside, becoming entangled in the formulaic strategies of a Hollywood disaster movie, and inheriting an unexpected suspense.
Kathrin Kur (1975) lives and works in London / she is currently artist in residence in Mexico City.
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