Feb 12, 2013 | Clippings, Exhibitions, Portraits
I am very pleased to announce that I was given the John Kobal New Work Award in affiliation with the
2012 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portraiture Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London this November. It was quite a whirlwind of an evening, and I must say I was completely honored to be awarded amongst all the great work that also hangs in the 2012 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portraiture Prize exhibition. I can’t encourage people enough to go visit and see for themselves. It will be hanging in the National Portrait Gallery until February 17, 2013. The portrait of Ai Weiwei was originally
commissioned for Foreign Policy’s 2011 edition of the Top 100 Global Thinkers issue. It has since gone on to appear on the cover of the Telegraph’s Seven Magazine as well as in other media outlets. Check out the installation shots below. It stands right at the entrance of the exhibition. Critics seem to
dig it so far. Lastly, here is the text from the accompanying catalog:
“Matthew Niederhauser’s fascination with China was forged during his high-school studies in Mandarin, and the American photographer now lives in Beijing, where he documents aspects of Chinese life for a range of publications including The New Yorker and Time. Artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, the subject of Niederhauser’s entry, has crossed those lines on many occasions. At the time the portrait was taken, as a commission for Foreign Policy magazine, Ai was being held under virtual house arrest and forbidden to leave China following his three-month detention a year earlier. Wanting to capture Ai with one of the many cats that hang around his compound, Niederhauser persuaded him to pose with a ginger stray, its colouring setting off the teal-blue gates of the studio. ‘There was a tense moment when I didn’t think the cat was going to cooperate, but it finally glanced back, allowing me to get a few frames with everything melding together.’
All selected photographers under the age of 30 were eligible for the first John Kobal New Work Award. The winning photographer receives a cash prize of £4,000 and a commission from the Gallery to photograph a sitter connected with the UK film industry. The Award was judged by Simon Crocker, Chairman of the John Kobal Foundation, and writer and journalist Liz Jobey, a Trustee of the John Kobal Foundation.”
Feb 1, 2012 | Exhibitions, Music
I am getting onto a plane for Australia in a few hours. This is my first time heading down under – very excited. This Friday evening Carriageworks, a huge art and cultural center in Sydney, is going to present a program on my Sound Kapital project. I am giving a short talk around 6PM followed by a performance at 8PM by three amazing bands from Beijing: Nova Heart, AV Okubo/AV大久保, and Xiao He/小河. An extended selection of my work documenting the underground music scene in Beijing will also be projected during the concert. It should be an awesome evening all around. Check out the links to Carriageworks above for ticket information and videos below for previews of the bands.
Oct 26, 2011 | Exhibitions
I was very fortunate to be approached by fellow MFA student, and established artist, Mathias Kessler to participate in a group show celebrating the opening of ME Contemporary‘s new and expanded space in Copenhagen. He was looking to pair up his Cueva de Charles Brewer photographs with some of my own for the exhibition. After some consideration it became apparent that my Happy Magic Water Park series would work particularly well, not just because of its artificial cave nature, but also because it reacts well with the beautiful orange hues of Mathias’ prints. Here is what the gallery had to say:
“Mathias Kessler has, in recent years, been using his camera to record nature from remote areas the average person rarely reaches. By relating to modern man’s domination over nature, the artist portrays areas that in the media are doomed to be infinitesimal: the icebergs, and areas where no man, certainly not modern, have actually been and where nature in its own right is far superior. In one such instance, lie these giant caves whose only access is from Mount Tepui’s vertical hillside. As a counterpart to these enormous, almost mythical caves, Kessler has invited photographer Matthew Niederhauser, whose recent projects investigate modern China, to exhibit photos of the Happy Magic Water Cube, Beijing Water Cube Water Park. The meeting between the artificially staged water park with its eerie blue color and Kessler´s earth-colored cave photos creates a new reality that in an interesting and unintentional manner serves to reinforce their own story.”
I really wish I could be out there to see the exhibit. Apparently one of our sets already sold. If you are anywhere near Copenhagen please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks again to Mathias for including me as well. Hopefully it will be the first of more collaborations.
Jun 14, 2011 | Exhibitions
This Wednesday, Phillips de Pury & Company will host a silent photography auction in New York City to benefit UNICEF, one of the leading international organizations working for children’s rights, their survival, development and protection. Most of the selected images were taken in regions of the world where UNICEF is active, and I personally donated a few from Tibet and Uzbekistan for the auction block. The top image of the abandoned Guge Kingdom was taken in 2007 during a traverse of Tibet. One of the most renowned kingdoms existing within Tibet, Guge was a major hub for Buddhist interchange between India and Tibet and boasts some of the most important Buddhist frescoes in the region. All of this came to a dramatic end, though, after a conquering Ladakhi army slaughtered most of the inhabitants in 1630, leaving the great fortresses city to crumble into the mountainside. The bottom two images were taken a few months later in Bukhara, one of the great ancient Silk Road cities strung across Uzbekistan. Once home to Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the last emir of the Manghit dynasty and the last direct descendant of Genghis Khan to serve as a national ruler, Bukhara straddles both the past and present with its UNESCO World Heritage city center and the surrounding ramshackle adobe housing peppered with satellite dishes. Truly an amazing place. Tickets should still be available so check out the website for more information.
Nov 8, 2009 | Exhibitions, Music
After three years of photographing and months of preparation, my first monograph, Sound Kapital, finally launched at the powerHouse Arena in New York this past Thursday. Hundreds of people showed up and the prints looked wonderful in the large space. The guests of honor, though, were the Chinese bands who flew in from Beijing to kick off their first USA tour. I could not have been more honored to get P.K. 14, Carsick Cars, and Xiao He to play short sets at the opening. These performers provided a great deal of inspiration to commit to the Sound Kapital portrait series. They are easily making some of the best music coming out of China. You can see some video of their performance thanks to Punkcast.
