Jean-Paul Deridder
Cinema
17.05. – 29.06.2014

Cinemas are a fundamental cultural asset for every region. Since the beginning of the 20th century, cinemas have become established art and cultural institutions and places of social gathering par excellence. After less than half a century of their heyday, however, more and more cinemas are now threatened with closure. Above all, the increasing spread of television from the 1950s onwards led to an existential crisis. The era of traditional projectionists also seems to be coming to an end due to digitalization.

In his series CINEMA, Belgian photo artist Jean-Paul Deridder (*1963) takes us behind the scenes of cinemas and addresses the history of cinema from the perspective of projectionists and cinema employees. Between 2002 and 2007, Jean-Paul Deridder visited cinemas in Belgium and the Rhineland, capturing projectionists at their projectors and the often traditional and empty cinema halls in atmospheric, thoughtful black-and-white shots with a large format camera. His photographic documentation of an almost bygone cinema culture shows the history of cinema from its heyday to the great “cinema demise”. For the exhibition in the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Deridder also went to the cinemas in the port city, giving us insights into the local history of the cinemas.

Jean-Paul Deridder studied at the Ecole de Recherches Graphiques in Brussels and took part in the postgraduate program of the Stichting Ateliers’63 in Haarlem. Since 2012, Deridder has been director of the Fondation A Stichting in Brussels, which is committed to the production and preservation of photographic images.

Curated by Klaus Becké.