Press release | Amsterdam, 8 May 2012
Petra Noordkamp
La Madre
29 June - 2 September 2012
In the project La Madre, photographer and
filmmaker Petra Noordkamp (1967) shows her most recent, not
previously exhibited work. The impetus for La Madre was
Noordkamp's short relationship in the mid-1990s with Emilio
Quaroni, son of the well-known Italian architect and urban planner
Ludovico Quaroni. After her contact with Emilio deteriorated,
Noordkamp discovered in 2001 that Emilio had murdered his own
mother in the same year. The violent story of Emilio and the
matricide stayed with Noordkamp - for years she thought about doing
something with it. The form of the project remained vague for a
long time, until two paths unexpectedly converged. In 2009,
Noordkamp visited Sicily for her photo project Cinecittà ,
and there she encountered the modernistic La Chiesa Madre.
This extraordinary, white spherical church turned out to be a
design by none other than Ludovico Quaroni, Emilio's father.
Noordkamp's fascination for Italian modernist architecture
and her short romance with Emilio came together by chance. The
church, located in the town of Gibellina which was devastated by an
earthquake in 1968, provided the link to unite all involved: the
ex-lover, the father who was also the architect of the church, the
matricide and of course Noordkamp herself.
In the exhibition, the story slowly unfolds as small details become
highlighted. Noordkamp's first short film will be shown: La
madre, il figlio e l'architetto. In it, the filmmaker explores
the rounded forms and use of materials in this extraordinary
architecture. The church provides the visual background for the
drama that has played out in the Quaroni family, accompanied by a
voice-over written by Maria Barnas, telling Emilio's story.
Noordkamp's aim in this film is mainly to show how the
architectural perception of a building is coloured by an event that
happened fifteen years ago.
Photos that Noordkamp made of the town of Gibellina and the church
are also on display. Archive material of the laying of the church's
cornerstone and design drawings of La Chiesa Madre will be
exhibited as well. Noordkamp's work is characterized by a great
love of simplicity, emptiness, form and aesthetics, radiating a
feeling of loneliness, alienation and melancholy.
Petra Noordkamp graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in
2000, with a major in photography. She has had exhibitions in
places such as W139 in Amsterdam and the Gele Rijder in Arnhem; in
2005 her work was also shown on billboards in Amsterdam. Her work
has been published in magazines such as The Purple Journal,
Club Donny and Mister Motley. In addition to her
personal projects, Noordkamp also works on assignment for
publications including Volkskrant Magazine, Avenue,
Rails and NRC Focus.
La Madre by Petra Noordkamp can be seen at Foam from 29
June - 2 September 2012. Open daily from 10am - 6pm,
Thursday/Friday from 10am - 9pm. Admission: € 8.50
Note to editors: For more information
and visual material, please contact Foam's communications
department, either by e-mail: foam[at]foam.org or phone: +31 (0)20
551 6500.
Foam is supported by the BankGiroLoterij, De Brauw Blackstone
Westbroek, Delta Lloyd and the VandenEnde Foundation.
Foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
+ 31 20 551 6500
www.foam.org