Delphine Bedel

– Suzanne Gloria Lyall, missing since March 2 1998 in Albany (NY), at the age of 19 -
Out of the Blue is a conceptual work with a tragic underlying narrative — the disappearance of the teenager. The project tends to question our relationship towards absence and loss and the need of physicality in the process of acceptance and closure. The book combines materials from different sources, such as family archives, reproductions of police and psychic files as well as photographs by Virginie Rebetez. This two year project is also a reflection on the medium of photography. The status of each image is constantly shifting, offering new meaning and context to this open case. Through the work, Suzanne is never clearly shown. The only clear portraits of her are the three "aged-progressed composites" made by a forensic artist Virginie commissioned, which show Suzanne's possible features at the age of 37 (2015… (mer)

All that is solid melts into air, Notes on Tourism is a reflection on the work of artist and writer Delphine Bedel. From amusement parks and monuments, to camping and beach resorts, her photographs and writings document sites of tourism in diverse contexts. She brings into question the visual representation of leisure, architecture, and cultural artefacts.

This book explores three complex and controversial tourist destinations and cultural heritages whose identity, use, and meaning have shifted radically over time: a giant Lenin statue buried in a forest of Berlin, the monumental Nazi holiday resort in Prora, and the nearby landscape of the Chalk Cliffs on Rügen as painted by Caspar David Friedrich, all located in Germany. As one of today’s largest world industries, tourism and leisure influence our way of life and reflect upon shifting cultural, economic, social, and historical realities. The process of constructing meaning and interpretation through images takes center stage in the experience of tourism.

What is the relationship between architecture and identity? Who owns the past? What is the Romantic imagination of nature in relation to tourism today? Using her photographic research as a starting point, Delphine Bedel invited writers from diverse disciplines to contribute to the book, resulting in original and unexpected historical and critical perspectives on the relations between visual culture, tourism, and memory politics.… (mer)