Ung i Randers/Youth in Randers 1978-1979

Later this week I will visit an exhibition in Øksnehallen in Copenhagen. An exhibition that has been set up by the two photographers Finn Larsen and Lars Johansson, wholived and worked in Randers, the sixth biggest city in Denmark, around 60.000 inhabitants.

This is also the home of Allan Berg, co-editor of filmkommentaren.dk and at that time festival organizer and filmmaker in works with the two mentioned Larsen and Johansson.

Here is their introduction to the exhibition, that I will review in Danish and English:

Back in 1978-79 the background was years of museum work. Although we were young, we had worked in many different ways. New and old, local and foreign. Learned and thought. Photography became the tool and the form, more and more. The tradition of documentary. The working title was Among young people in Randers. First contact was Landstrygerne. A moped club that eventually became a motorcycle club. It was in color – slides, were what they were called. 8B from Tirsdalens school was let into the museum. It became It’s about us. They did most of it themselves. Areas of the city were searched, mostly in the evening. Black/white and flash. When the asphalt sways. The title came along the way. Films were important at the museum. We can do that too. Images of youth 16 mm color, shot with heavy equipment. The meeting lasted two years. There has not really been anything similar more made in Denmark before or since. Reunion. This is a re-exhibit. A glance at a time and at a Randers that was contemporary for young people not so long ago. When you had to make plans to meet, you went out into the hallway where the phone was, picked up the receiver and dialed a number that you had memorized or written down in a little book. Otherwise you went around the corner to the grill bar, where your friends hung out. Or you met in the evening at the club under the church or at school.

It was seen for a while.