Press release | Amsterdam, 8 June
2012
Foam 3h: Rico & Michael
Double Extension Beauty Tubes
29 June - 26 August
Rico Scagliola (1985, Switzerland) and Michael Meier (1982,
Switzerland) have taken pictures and have filmed teenagers for more
than two years, creating their archive of photographs and videos of
today's Facebook generation.
Images from this archive have been combined into an installation
called Double Extension Beauty Tubes. More than a thousand
pictures are being presented in a dark space on ten iPads. The
order of the images is intuitive and in a stream of consciousness
mode. Metal heads, vampires, platinum blonds in high fashion
outfits pose self-consciously in front of Rico & Michael's
camera. The rhythm in which the images are presented greatly
influences the experience of the installation. Sometimes you see
the same teenager ten times in a row, then you see ten different
but fast-changing images. Sometimes the presentation slows down,
sometimes the images actually stop for a moment. Using soft-focus
and theatrical lighting, the photographs are balanced between
eighties aesthetics and glam kitsch. The rhythm, the quantity of
photographs and the pulsing beat of the music all conjure up an
experience of contemporary youth cultures such as Emo (emotional
hardcore), gothic, heavy metal and punk.
The youth of today grows up with the picture-worlds of the
Internet. Platforms of self-presentation such as Myspace and
Facebook are a normal part of their lives. It is natural for them
to learn at a very young age how to present themselves in pictures.
Also they are used to adopt alter egos and to play with their
(sexual) identities. Each and every day they decide yet again who
they want to be and what role they want to play. Rico & Michael
use young people's visual sophistication, fantasies and skilled
self-presentation. The duo adapt their 'in-your-face'-natured view
on photography, documenting the construction of their pictured
identity. The result is an intriguing project on youth and pop
culture.
Rico & Michael live and work in Zürich. They studied
photography at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste from 2006 to 2010
and began collaborating as a duo in 2008. Since then Rico &
Michael have worked on their archive of photographs and videos of
today's Facebook generation, commercial commissions and projects
for magazines. In 2011 Patrick Frey Editions published their 480
pages book Neue Menschen. This summer Double Extension Beauty
Tubes will also be on show in Museum Winterthur in
Switzerland.
This exhibition has been made possible by Van Bijlevelt
Stichting and the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund.
Double Extension Beauty Tubes
by Rico Scagliola and Michael Meier can be seen from 29
June to 26 August 2012 at Foam. Open daily 10 am - 6 pm, Thurs/Fri
10 am - 9 pm. Tickets: € 8,50
Note to editors: For information
and visual material please contact the communications department,
e-mail foam[at]foam.org or phone +31 (0)20 5516500.
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiroLoterij, De Brauw Blackstone
Westbroek, Delta Lloyd and the VandenEnde Foundation.
Foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
phone: + 31 (0)20 5516500
www.foam.org