The Parisian artist JR works with portrait photos which he puts up on walls, bridge pillars or gates. Through the special aesthetics of his photos and the sometimes gigantic formats in which he brings the faces to the city, he directly challenges advertisement posters and gigantic banners in a visual way. JR spent a whole week in Wuppertal portraiting people without them knowing it. He decided to exhibit these pictures at one of the most central places in Wuppertal - the teleferic. He worked with different kinds of formats and material - with posters, stickers and gigantic banners and in that way gave the city a new face. JR’s portraits along the teleferic polarised the people of Wuppertal and initiated extensive media coverage and public discussion.
Project description:
I took photos of the daily life reality of the people in the Schwebebahn and I pasted them along the train line illegally in large format. The people discovered black and white large format photos all over the line with their faces and recognised themselves or their relatives.
What’s the idea behind your project?
The idea is to use the advertising codes to show peoples’ daily life without any artificiality. I wanted them to discover the whole thing in the morning without knowing if it’s legal or illegal. … The fact that it’s a small city makes the project much stronger. The main idea is the "starification" of regular people and how they react to it. There is also the idea that 'you are under surveillance’ but that’s not the main focus.
How have you developed your project?
I came to Wuppertal 3 times, first to observe, then I came for 10 days to take photos every day in the Schwebebahn. I know the line by heart now, I saw the same people many times during that week, that’s something that rarely happens in big cities. The selection was really hard because I wanted simple photos of the people, I mainly chose photos where they are in the back of the train at the window, as if they’re in a bubble and I was outside of it observing them. In some photos, people are looking into the camera lens - so they know that they are under surveillance, like on a regular video camera, but they keep on looking passively. The places where I posted the photos are very important. The fact that the photos are really big and not touchable makes it look like advertising, the people lose their bearings because they are not used to this kind of installation. I also placed stickers and smaller posters to show that it was an invasion around them, that it was everywhere and that they couldn’t control it.
Why did you decide to be part of the project?
I wanted to do something that I couldn’t do on my own - like using new form of exhibiting in the streets: hanging large-format photos. Being part of something strong, something that has never happen before, together with the strongest artist of today’s scene was decisive for me.
What was special about the project?
The "professionel" organisation of something completely illegal … brings it to another level.
What do you think of Wuppertal as a location for this kind of exhibition?
This industrial city is perfect for working in the streets and for photographing. The train line is so original. This place is like out of fashion but benefits from national advertising campaigns of brands like C&A or H&M. When you look at those ads and at then at the people, you have a really strong contrast.
How much was your project affected by Wuppertal?
I think it shows in the look of the people, mainly sad. Maybe the weather plays a role there. … Then the installation, the idea of hanging the banners and working with new material for street activism was really affected by the architecture.
Do you think the frame of OUTSIDES can be a role model for further projects?
OUTSIDES is done and is big … what’s next ?
