Iwan Baan, an internationally acclaimed photographer of architectural subjects, went to Prague for the first time ever during the summer of 2017 and took photographs there. Seven days with a camera in hand, covering ground on foot, riding a bike, and filming from above in a helicopter. Along the Vltava River, through the urban core, the surrounding countryside, and the countryside. His piece, which was originally envisioned as a fictitious urban pilgrimage, is currently being exhibited at the Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning (CAMP). Iwan Baan’s Prague Diary is an exhibition that paints a vision of the city that is gritty, sometimes neglected, and worlds apart from the glossy photographs that are seen in travel brochures.
Iwan Baan, an internationally acclaimed photographer of architectural subjects, went to Prague for the first time ever during the summer of 2017 and took photographs there. Seven days with a camera in hand, covering ground on foot, riding a bike, and filming from above in a helicopter. Along the Vltava River, through the urban core, the surrounding countryside, and the countryside. Now, he exhibits his work, which depicts the city as unrefined, often in a neglected state, and worlds far from the glossy photographs that are found in tourist guides. At CAMP, the show named Iwan Baan: Prague Diary will be on display until the 20th of August.
The exhibition is conceived of as an imaginary urban pilgrimage, and it is permeated by four different thematic levels. These levels are: initial encounter with the city; the center of the city; the periphery of the city; and natural landscape. The guest is welcome to go wherever their curiosity takes them and explore all of the nooks and crannies. A large-format projection of Baan’s aerial pictures is displayed in the exhibition hall; as a result, visitors to the exhibition have the extraordinary opportunity to view Prague from unexpected perspectives and in unexpected settings. The exposition displays practically all of Iwan Baan’s images that he took in Prague on the wall that is located on the other side of the exhibition hall. Unprocessed, unaltered, and at random. The visitor is able to gain insight into the creative process of the photographer Iwan Baan by listening to an audio commentary provided by Iwan Baan himself. This allows the visitor a view “behind the scenes” of the photographer’s work.
“I always try to get to know each new city in a very intuitive way. I try to let go of different expectations and draw inspiration directly from the place itself and the encounters that happen here. It’s good to visit landmarks and think about why that particular place is important to people, but at the same time you also need to turn your gaze in the other direction and observe what’s happening where people actually live. I would say that this kind of interaction is perhaps even more important in capturing the story of the city, ” according to Baan
“Iwan Baan does not limit his photographs of Prague merely to notorious and sought-after locations but focuses also on the neglected ones. He also maps important brownfields such as the Žižkov Freight Station or the Vltavská metro area and captures them in their raw state. Baan focuses on buildings near the river, industrial buildings, transport infrastructure, islands, the landscape, and the busy and quiet life around it. From the contradictions he creates a mosaic which he has used to put together an urban portrait that visitors can see at the exhibition in CAMP,” in the words of Ondrej Boha, the Director of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development.
“Prague is of course significantly defined by its landscape – especially by the shape of the flowing river on whose banks the city was gradually built. It is interesting that even though you cannot see the river from many places, you constantly feel its presence in the city. It is in aerial photographs that this interrelationship between the city and the river comes out very well. For me as a photographer, these moments are very valuable because they give me what I am looking for – the connection of details to the whole”, shares Baan.
“The historical architecture of Prague reminds me a lot of big metropolises like London or Paris. But what’s different here is a certain contrast between that grandiose urbanism with its grandiose architecture and the sort of very pleasant relaxedness of the rest of the city“, adds Iwan Baan talking about Prague.
Project location: Prague, Czech Republic
Exhibition location: CAMP, Vyšehradská 2075/51, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Photography by Iwan Baan, for more of Iwan’s work log on to www.iwan.com
