Wolfram Hahn: Disenchanted
30 June - 26 July 2008

Starkwhite is pleased to present Disenchanted by Berlin-based artist Wolfram Hahn, from 30 June to 26 July 2008.

Hahn presents portraits of children, all between three and eleven, watching television, but as Daniel Klemm says: "The astounding part is less the fact that the child is watching television but rather how the photographer's act affects us as viewers. We are confronted with a child whose typical childlike appearance seems to have vanished. In his state of intense concentration, his physical inactivity and his withdrawn attitude towards his environment, he appears to have shed his childlike attributes - spontaneity, agility, naivety etc - and become much more like a young adult, who now concentrates on the visual messages in front of him with the utmost gravity." Klemm also says: "The medium of television is interpreted here as an instrument capable of accelerating isolation and curbing the capacity for social development...The children utilize the medium not as communication, not to foster the development of motor skills or intellectual abilities - all cornerstones of child development - but solely as a means of entertainment, of diversion."

This exhibition is part of the Talents programme developed by C/O Berlin Patrons e.V in partnership with Deutsche Börse Group that provides young photographers and art critics with a forum for their work. The exhibition, accompanied by a publication with an essay by art historian Daniel Klemm, will be seen in New Zealand at Starkwhite and Enjoy, Wellington courtesy of the Goethe Institut.

Wolfram Hahn attended the Art Academy in Schwaebisch Hall where he worked intensively with proportion and colour theory. He studied architecture at the TU Berlin and then moved to the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences where he has been studying Communication design and Photography since 2004.

Located in New Zealand on Auckland's Karangahape Road, Starkwhite presents a programme of artists' projects, solo shows, independently curated exhibitions and occasional forays into new music and other interdisciplinary practices. Starkwhite also represents artists from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific rim.

For further information on the exhibition, or images, please contact the gallery.

Starkwhite
510 Karangahape Road, Auckland, New Zealand
Tel. 64 9 3070703
Monday to Friday: 11.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 5.00pm
starkwhite@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.co.nz