HOLLAND FESTIVAL 

1999

Ivo Van Hove

Is the borderline experience in photography.  

Curated by Johan Swinnen.

The photo exhibition "Attack!" is part of the 52nd edition of the Holland Festival at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam. The work of the participating photographers moves at the cutting edge. The central theme is paroxysm, a word referring to the ferocity of borderline experiences and to ultimate attempts to break through one's own imposed frames of mind. Limburg curator Johan Swinnen managed to enlist some renowned international and Belgian photographers for this exhibition: including the Japanese Nobuyoshi Araki and Toshio Shibata, Americans Steve Hart and Duane Michals, Frenchman Jean Baudrillard, Belgians Bart Michielsen, Ben Hansen and Charif Benhelima and Dutch photographers Jo Brunenberg, Theo Derksen.

Johan Swinnen: "Together with Ivo van Hove, artistic director of the Holland Festival, I looked for a way to present these cross-border experiences. You don't live in extremes every day, yet you experience pain, pleasure, you name it. How do you consciously portray something like that? I spent a year seeking out different photographers and discussing with them the relationship between their work and the theme of the expo. In the end, we ended up with 22 photographers. The condition was that they should not be one-day wonders. Their photos must testify to a thorough and in-depth investigation of extremes."

During ATTACK! several lectures took place in De Balie. Among others by the well-known French sociologist / philosopher Jean Baudrillard who also works as an artist at ATTACK! participates. In addition to the images from the exhibition, a publication was published that contains essays by renowned authors such as Jean Baudrillard, Willem Elias, Pool Andries, John Berger, Anne Tucker and Edna O'Brian.