Street Photography 1917-2017 /Krass Clement

1991, Moscow, the failed coup d´état, extensively described in literature and films. I am right now reading the documentary novel ”Secondhand Time. The Last of the Soviets” by Svetlana Aleksijevitj, where she brings together conversations she has had with Russians over a period of 20 years. The life in Soviet Union including reactions to what happened in 1991. In films ”The Event” by Sergei Loznitsa comes to my mind, filmed in St. Petersburg. Eminent use of archive material.

Danish photographer Krass Clement was there, in Moscow, where he did not take pictures of Jeltsin in front of the parliament in Moscow or other post-coup events – he went to attend the funeral of three of the victims of the riots. In Krasnaja Pesnja Park. At the exhibition ”Street Photography” five of his photos are presented, see one of them above.

They stand like statues, lined up, two men, two women, they are touched by the situation, are they relatives to the deceased, are they present because they were, like many, for the coup that the so-called junta wanted to happen to save Soviet Union – we are not told, Clement does not want to inform, he aims at conveying a moment in the lives of four people, a serious moment, a moment of grief, a moment ”where noone talked”, my translated title of ”Hvor Ingen Talte”, the photo book, Clement published from Moscow. He – as written on his website, link below – wants ”to capture a state of mind”.

Krass Clement, educated at The Danish Film School, published his first book in 1968. Photos from his last book ”Impasse Hotel Syria” are on display at David’s Samling in Copenhagen.

http://krassclement.com/introduction.html

Gadefotografi 1917-2017, Øksnehallen, København. 28. juni – 1. august, Daily 10.00 – 20.00, friday and saturday 10.00 – 22.00.

www.dgi-byen.dk/oeksnehallen/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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