Martin Kollár (born 23 November 1971 in
Žilina) is a Slovak photographer and cinematographer.
Career
Kollár studied cinematography in the Film and Television faculty of the
Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.[1] In 2003 he joined
Agence VU,[2] (which he appears to have left in late 2013[n 1]). He worked on documentary and fiction films, including Autoportrait (director), Ball (producer) and as a cameraman for Velvet Terrorists, Cooking History, Across the Border: Five Views from Neighbours, 66 Seasons, Ladomirova Morytates and Legends, and the animated film In the Box.[3]
Slovakia 001, a survey of Slovakia in colour photographs, was prompted by a contest held by the Slovak
Institute for Public Affairs. Kollár avoided looking for the exceptional and instead concentrated on oddities seen in everyday life.[5][6] The photographs were exhibited and also published as a book.[7]
Television Anchors is a series showing television news reporters in incongruous situations. It was prompted by the sudden cancellation of an assignment to photograph
New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina: although
Canal Street had escaped most of the damage, it was the standard television backdrop thanks to its ease of access. Allowing more into the frame around the reporter than normally permitted by a television news broadcast presents a very different picture.[8]
In the series Nothing Special, begun around 2000, Kollár explored the environment of countries that had been in the
Warsaw bloc. He traveled nearly 13,500 km, "looking for moments that portrayed the chaotic and often humorous moments"; examining "clashing cultures, tradition versus modernity, and sometimes situations that are simply perplexing". The photographs were all unstaged.[9]
In order to participate in the project This Place, launched by
Frédéric Brenner, Kollár was expected to spend six months photographing in Israel. He based himself in Tel Aviv, and visited many sites made available thanks to much preparation and persuasion by his assistant, Talia Rosin.[10] He concentrated on Israel's future rather than its past or even present, and thus on sites of preparation or prevention. security- and surveillance-related sites and activities in Israel. The book has no captions, and the photographs go unexplained.[11] "Every image in this Slovakian photographer's depiction of Israel is a photograph of unintelligible secrets," commented
Alec Soth.[12] "At the end of [Field Trip] I'm more confused than I was at the beginning, making the book a wonderful example of photography's inability to be able to explain very much at all", wrote
Mark Power.[13] A New York Times review of an exhibition of This Place praised Kollár's "color pictures that hop from subject to subject but are on edge or surreal", saying that there was no need for captions as the images "engross and unsettle on their own".[14] It was named one of
LensCulture's favorite books of 2013.[15]
For the 15th in its series of European Eyes on Japan: Japan Today, in which photographers cover Japan
prefecture by prefecture, the
EU–Japan Fest Japan Committee invited Kollár and Olivier Metzger to photograph
Chiba. Kollár stayed in Japan for a month in spring 2013. The resulting work was exhibited in Arles as part of
Marseille-Provence 2013 and published in book form.[16][17]
Sean O'Hagan writes that "It is [a] state of impermanence that Martin Kollar sets out to explore in his latest book, Provisional Arrangement, which attempts to map out a psychogeography of uncertainty and stasis.[18][n 2] Brad Feuerhelm calls the book, with its "cinematically constructed images", "a work of soft genius".[19]
Awards
Les Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes (stipend), Luxembourg, June–September 1999.[5]
Stadt in Sicht. New Art from Bratislava,
Vienna Künstlerhaus, Vienna, May–July 2003. With 19 other artists.[40]
Check Slovakia!,
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, May–June 2004. With Erik Binder,
Cyril Blažo, Tomáš Agat Błoński, Pavlína Fichta Čierna, Bohdan Hostiňák, Ilona Németh, Milan Tittel, and Emőke Vargová.[41]
Exhibition of finalists for the Oskár Čepan prize.
Mirbach Palace gallery, Bratislava, May–August 2004. With Mário Chromý, Svätopluk Mikyta and Boris Sirka.[42]
Leica Oskar Barnack Preis 2004, Leica Galerie Solms,
Solms, January 2005. With Peter Granser and
Alex Majoli.[46]
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2004, Leica Ginza Salon,
Ginza, Tokyo, September–October 2005. With Peter Granser and Alex Majoli.[47]
Un/Mill à 2.8: Rip Hopkins, Martin Kollar et Tiane Doan Na Champassak,
Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, November 2006. Work by Kollár, Rip Hopkins, and Tiane Doan Na Champassak.[48]
Slovakia: Through the lens of documentary photographers, Photography Gallery Prospekto, Vilnius. December 2006 – January 2007. With Andrej Bán, Pavol Breier, Alan Hyža, Martin Marenčin, Jozef Ondzik, Jaro Sýkora.[49]
European Eyes on Japan / Japan Today vol. 15,
Marseille-Provence 2013, Voies Off Gallery, Arles, September–October 2013. Photographs by Kollár and Olivier Metzger of
Chiba prefecture.[16][17]
Prix Elysée 2014,
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, January–May 2015. Photographs by Kollár and Anoush Abrar,
Mari Bastashevski, Philippe Chancel, Annabel Elgar, Agnès Geoffray, Marco Poloni, Kourtney Roy.[52][53]
From Room to Roam. Albumarte, Rome (Fotografia – International Festival of Rome). October–December 2015. Photographs of the Ukraine, with
Lucia Nimcová [
Wikidata].[58][59]
5 October = 5. október, 2016 (writer, director, cinematographer)[73]
Books
Books by Kollár
Slovensko 001: Obrazová správa o stave krajiny = Slovakia 001: A Pictorial Report on the State of the Country. Bratislava:
Institute for Public Affairs, 2001.
ISBN978-80-88935-25-4. With text in Slovak and English.
Nothing Special. Colour photographs of Europe (mostly Slovakia and the Czech Republic) from 2001 to 2004, each captioned with the place and year; text by
Katarína Kerekešová [
Wikidata] and
Peter Kerekeš [
Wikidata].
Field Trip. London:
Mack, 2013.
ISBN978-1-907946-48-6. Collection of uncaptioned colour photographs of Israel, made as part of This Place, with a short afterword by Kollár in English.[n 6]
Provisional Arrangement. London: Mack, 2016.
ISBN978-1-910164-50-1. Colour photographs, without captions. Texts in English by Lydia Dorner,
Tatyana Franck and Pascal Hufschmid, and Michel Parmigiani.[n 8] "This book is published in the context of the Prix Elysée".
Päivi Eronen, ed. Ihmisiä itärajoilla = People in the Eastern Border Country. Imatra: Imatran kaupunki, 2003.
ISBN978-951-977222-6. Photographs by András Fekete,
Dagmar Hochová [
Wikidata], Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov,
Jaakko Heikkilä [
Wikidata], Kati Koivikko, Kollár,
Lucia Nimcová [
Wikidata], Marja Pirilä,
Pekka Turunen [
Wikidata], Sanni Seppo,
Veli Granö [
Wikidata]; Krisztina Erdei;
Dana Kyndrová [
Wikidata];
Jindřich Štreit. Accompanying the exhibitions at Imatran valokuvataiteen biennaali 2003 = Imatra Biennale of Photographic Art 2003, June–August 2003; Suomalaista valokuvataidetta = Contemporary Photography in Finland, Dom fotografie Poprad, Slovakia, October–December 2003.
À l'Est de l'Ouest = East of the West. 16°24′: Europe de l'Est 2005. Paris: Unistrat Coface, 2005.
OCLC470037284. Photographs by Kollár, text (in French and English) by Guy-Pierre Chomette.
Y'a de la joie. [Paris]: Union Financière de France, 2009. Four booklets, one by each of four photographers (Kollár, Claudine Doury, Denis Darzacq and Bertrand Desprez) in a slipcase. Kollár's booklet is of photographs he took along the French coast in 2009.
Sylt: Im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Fotografie. Ostfildern bei Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz, 2012.
ISBN978-3-7757-3364-9. Photographs of
Sylt by Julia Baier,
Peter Bialobrzeski, Jörg Brüggemann, Denis Brudna, Tine Casper, Christian Diehl, Christoph Engel, Hans Hansen, Volker Hinz, Britta Isenrath, Martin Kollár, Ingar Krauss,
Martin Liebscher [
Wikidata],
Robert Lebeck, Julia Maria Max, Dita Pepe, Christian Popkes,
Martin Pudenz [
Wikidata], Anja Schaffner, Evzen Sobek, Grit Schwerdtfeger, Susanne Schleyer/Michael J. Stephan,
Thomas Wrede; text in German.
Anna Shpakova and Andreǐ Zuev. The Russian Moment: 20 Leading World Photographers' Expedition to Russia, July 2013. Moscow: RIA Novosti, 2013.
ISBN978-5-90583049-5. Kollár contributes a section, "Stuntmen".
日本に向けられたヨーロッパ人の眼 ジャパン トゥディ = European Eyes on Japan: Japan Today. Vol. 15, Martin Kollar, Olivier Metzger. Tokyo:
EU–Japan Fest Japan Committee, 2013. Photographs by Kollár and Olivier Metzger of
Chiba prefecture; text (in Japanese and English) by Mayumi Asakura.
OCLC941208655
Sam Stourdzé and Pascal Hufschmid, Prix Elysée 2014: Livre des nominés = Nominees' Book. Lausanne: Musée de l'Elysée, 2014.
ISBN978-2-88350-106-5. With photographs by Anoush Abrar,
Mari Bastashevski, Philippe Chancel, Annabel Elgar, Agnès Geoffray, Kollár, Marco Poloni, Kourtney Roy.
^Kollár appears in VU's list of photographers as archived by the
Wayback Machineon 11 August 2013; he is absent from it as archived
on 21 December 2013. (His profile and photograph selection as of 11 August 2013 are archived
here.)
Martin Kollár (born 23 November 1971 in
Žilina) is a Slovak photographer and cinematographer.
Career
Kollár studied cinematography in the Film and Television faculty of the
Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.[1] In 2003 he joined
Agence VU,[2] (which he appears to have left in late 2013[n 1]). He worked on documentary and fiction films, including Autoportrait (director), Ball (producer) and as a cameraman for Velvet Terrorists, Cooking History, Across the Border: Five Views from Neighbours, 66 Seasons, Ladomirova Morytates and Legends, and the animated film In the Box.[3]
Slovakia 001, a survey of Slovakia in colour photographs, was prompted by a contest held by the Slovak
Institute for Public Affairs. Kollár avoided looking for the exceptional and instead concentrated on oddities seen in everyday life.[5][6] The photographs were exhibited and also published as a book.[7]
Television Anchors is a series showing television news reporters in incongruous situations. It was prompted by the sudden cancellation of an assignment to photograph
New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina: although
Canal Street had escaped most of the damage, it was the standard television backdrop thanks to its ease of access. Allowing more into the frame around the reporter than normally permitted by a television news broadcast presents a very different picture.[8]
In the series Nothing Special, begun around 2000, Kollár explored the environment of countries that had been in the
Warsaw bloc. He traveled nearly 13,500 km, "looking for moments that portrayed the chaotic and often humorous moments"; examining "clashing cultures, tradition versus modernity, and sometimes situations that are simply perplexing". The photographs were all unstaged.[9]
In order to participate in the project This Place, launched by
Frédéric Brenner, Kollár was expected to spend six months photographing in Israel. He based himself in Tel Aviv, and visited many sites made available thanks to much preparation and persuasion by his assistant, Talia Rosin.[10] He concentrated on Israel's future rather than its past or even present, and thus on sites of preparation or prevention. security- and surveillance-related sites and activities in Israel. The book has no captions, and the photographs go unexplained.[11] "Every image in this Slovakian photographer's depiction of Israel is a photograph of unintelligible secrets," commented
Alec Soth.[12] "At the end of [Field Trip] I'm more confused than I was at the beginning, making the book a wonderful example of photography's inability to be able to explain very much at all", wrote
Mark Power.[13] A New York Times review of an exhibition of This Place praised Kollár's "color pictures that hop from subject to subject but are on edge or surreal", saying that there was no need for captions as the images "engross and unsettle on their own".[14] It was named one of
LensCulture's favorite books of 2013.[15]
For the 15th in its series of European Eyes on Japan: Japan Today, in which photographers cover Japan
prefecture by prefecture, the
EU–Japan Fest Japan Committee invited Kollár and Olivier Metzger to photograph
Chiba. Kollár stayed in Japan for a month in spring 2013. The resulting work was exhibited in Arles as part of
Marseille-Provence 2013 and published in book form.[16][17]
Sean O'Hagan writes that "It is [a] state of impermanence that Martin Kollar sets out to explore in his latest book, Provisional Arrangement, which attempts to map out a psychogeography of uncertainty and stasis.[18][n 2] Brad Feuerhelm calls the book, with its "cinematically constructed images", "a work of soft genius".[19]
Awards
Les Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes (stipend), Luxembourg, June–September 1999.[5]
Stadt in Sicht. New Art from Bratislava,
Vienna Künstlerhaus, Vienna, May–July 2003. With 19 other artists.[40]
Check Slovakia!,
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, May–June 2004. With Erik Binder,
Cyril Blažo, Tomáš Agat Błoński, Pavlína Fichta Čierna, Bohdan Hostiňák, Ilona Németh, Milan Tittel, and Emőke Vargová.[41]
Exhibition of finalists for the Oskár Čepan prize.
Mirbach Palace gallery, Bratislava, May–August 2004. With Mário Chromý, Svätopluk Mikyta and Boris Sirka.[42]
Leica Oskar Barnack Preis 2004, Leica Galerie Solms,
Solms, January 2005. With Peter Granser and
Alex Majoli.[46]
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2004, Leica Ginza Salon,
Ginza, Tokyo, September–October 2005. With Peter Granser and Alex Majoli.[47]
Un/Mill à 2.8: Rip Hopkins, Martin Kollar et Tiane Doan Na Champassak,
Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, November 2006. Work by Kollár, Rip Hopkins, and Tiane Doan Na Champassak.[48]
Slovakia: Through the lens of documentary photographers, Photography Gallery Prospekto, Vilnius. December 2006 – January 2007. With Andrej Bán, Pavol Breier, Alan Hyža, Martin Marenčin, Jozef Ondzik, Jaro Sýkora.[49]
European Eyes on Japan / Japan Today vol. 15,
Marseille-Provence 2013, Voies Off Gallery, Arles, September–October 2013. Photographs by Kollár and Olivier Metzger of
Chiba prefecture.[16][17]
Prix Elysée 2014,
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, January–May 2015. Photographs by Kollár and Anoush Abrar,
Mari Bastashevski, Philippe Chancel, Annabel Elgar, Agnès Geoffray, Marco Poloni, Kourtney Roy.[52][53]
From Room to Roam. Albumarte, Rome (Fotografia – International Festival of Rome). October–December 2015. Photographs of the Ukraine, with
Lucia Nimcová [
Wikidata].[58][59]
5 October = 5. október, 2016 (writer, director, cinematographer)[73]
Books
Books by Kollár
Slovensko 001: Obrazová správa o stave krajiny = Slovakia 001: A Pictorial Report on the State of the Country. Bratislava:
Institute for Public Affairs, 2001.
ISBN978-80-88935-25-4. With text in Slovak and English.
Nothing Special. Colour photographs of Europe (mostly Slovakia and the Czech Republic) from 2001 to 2004, each captioned with the place and year; text by
Katarína Kerekešová [
Wikidata] and
Peter Kerekeš [
Wikidata].
Field Trip. London:
Mack, 2013.
ISBN978-1-907946-48-6. Collection of uncaptioned colour photographs of Israel, made as part of This Place, with a short afterword by Kollár in English.[n 6]
Provisional Arrangement. London: Mack, 2016.
ISBN978-1-910164-50-1. Colour photographs, without captions. Texts in English by Lydia Dorner,
Tatyana Franck and Pascal Hufschmid, and Michel Parmigiani.[n 8] "This book is published in the context of the Prix Elysée".
Päivi Eronen, ed. Ihmisiä itärajoilla = People in the Eastern Border Country. Imatra: Imatran kaupunki, 2003.
ISBN978-951-977222-6. Photographs by András Fekete,
Dagmar Hochová [
Wikidata], Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov,
Jaakko Heikkilä [
Wikidata], Kati Koivikko, Kollár,
Lucia Nimcová [
Wikidata], Marja Pirilä,
Pekka Turunen [
Wikidata], Sanni Seppo,
Veli Granö [
Wikidata]; Krisztina Erdei;
Dana Kyndrová [
Wikidata];
Jindřich Štreit. Accompanying the exhibitions at Imatran valokuvataiteen biennaali 2003 = Imatra Biennale of Photographic Art 2003, June–August 2003; Suomalaista valokuvataidetta = Contemporary Photography in Finland, Dom fotografie Poprad, Slovakia, October–December 2003.
À l'Est de l'Ouest = East of the West. 16°24′: Europe de l'Est 2005. Paris: Unistrat Coface, 2005.
OCLC470037284. Photographs by Kollár, text (in French and English) by Guy-Pierre Chomette.
Y'a de la joie. [Paris]: Union Financière de France, 2009. Four booklets, one by each of four photographers (Kollár, Claudine Doury, Denis Darzacq and Bertrand Desprez) in a slipcase. Kollár's booklet is of photographs he took along the French coast in 2009.
Sylt: Im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Fotografie. Ostfildern bei Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz, 2012.
ISBN978-3-7757-3364-9. Photographs of
Sylt by Julia Baier,
Peter Bialobrzeski, Jörg Brüggemann, Denis Brudna, Tine Casper, Christian Diehl, Christoph Engel, Hans Hansen, Volker Hinz, Britta Isenrath, Martin Kollár, Ingar Krauss,
Martin Liebscher [
Wikidata],
Robert Lebeck, Julia Maria Max, Dita Pepe, Christian Popkes,
Martin Pudenz [
Wikidata], Anja Schaffner, Evzen Sobek, Grit Schwerdtfeger, Susanne Schleyer/Michael J. Stephan,
Thomas Wrede; text in German.
Anna Shpakova and Andreǐ Zuev. The Russian Moment: 20 Leading World Photographers' Expedition to Russia, July 2013. Moscow: RIA Novosti, 2013.
ISBN978-5-90583049-5. Kollár contributes a section, "Stuntmen".
日本に向けられたヨーロッパ人の眼 ジャパン トゥディ = European Eyes on Japan: Japan Today. Vol. 15, Martin Kollar, Olivier Metzger. Tokyo:
EU–Japan Fest Japan Committee, 2013. Photographs by Kollár and Olivier Metzger of
Chiba prefecture; text (in Japanese and English) by Mayumi Asakura.
OCLC941208655
Sam Stourdzé and Pascal Hufschmid, Prix Elysée 2014: Livre des nominés = Nominees' Book. Lausanne: Musée de l'Elysée, 2014.
ISBN978-2-88350-106-5. With photographs by Anoush Abrar,
Mari Bastashevski, Philippe Chancel, Annabel Elgar, Agnès Geoffray, Kollár, Marco Poloni, Kourtney Roy.
^Kollár appears in VU's list of photographers as archived by the
Wayback Machineon 11 August 2013; he is absent from it as archived
on 21 December 2013. (His profile and photograph selection as of 11 August 2013 are archived
here.)