On the weekend, I caught the last day of the Shoot! Existential Photography exhibition at the Photographers Gallery in central London.
It was an interesting idea for an exhibition, which traced the history of a curious fairground attraction that first appeared at the end of World War I.
Known as the ‘photographic shooting gallery’, it rewarded sharp shooting punters who hit the target with a snapshot of him or herself in the act of shooting.
The exhibition traces the history of this sideshow, and includes sixty images of a particularly dedicated contestant, Ria van Dijk, who took portraits of herself from 1936 onwards.
Less impressive to me was the work by the artist Rudolf Steiner, who produced images created by literally shooting a bullet into his camera.
A photographic shooting gallery had been set up giving sharp-eyed shooters the opportunity to take their own portraits.
Stairs. Lots of them. Any visit to the Photographers Gallery these days involves a lot of trooping up and down the things.
Boy, do I miss the old Great Newport Street gallery in Leicester Square and its lovely, friendly cafe.
I preferred it when all the exhibitions were free too (although modestly priced at £2, any kind of admission price takes away from the inviting ‘open-house’ pop-in feel of the gallery to me)
In the middle floor gallery.
I rather liked this arrangement of electronic gizmos and emergency devices in the gallery.
More info:
Photographer’s Gallery
Monday – Saturday 10.00 – 18.00
Thursday 10.00 – 20.00
Sunday 11.30 – 18.00
Location:
16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW
Journey Planner or Street Map
Related posts:
