Click. Boom. Amazing! – Setting Up the Exhibition

Sofitel Brussels Europe, Monday, March 30th 2015: I arrived in the hotel lobby with most of the photos; the large formats will be delivered later this morning. The space is beautiful, peaceful and luxurious and despite the fact that the set-up will prove to be rather frantic, I can’t wait to start. The idea of an exhibition took shape in my head about a year ago, but now, it’s actually a reality. So, to work!

The hotel lobby is separated into three separate zones. There’s a long wall divided into two parts with an alcove on either side. I decided to hang 23 photos in the alcoves and I opted for deep wooden frames, the glass being about 4 cm from the actual photo, evoking the volume created by the alcove itself. To the left are 9 water-themed pictures and to the right, 14 pictures reflecting the human condition. The frames are suspended from picture rails, which remains the most elegant way of presenting photos.

The main wall, above the alcoves, is also divided into two parts. I chose seven 60/60 cm (23/23 inches) pictures, layered between a sheet of Dibond and a protective laminate layer. On the left side, three splendid still-life works by Florian Bilges and off to the right, a wall dedicated to two Toronto photographers whom I greatly admire: Julia Nathanson and Matthew Wylie. We finished around noon and the result is awesome. No rest for the wicked though - there’s more to do!

The second section of the exhibition: 4 columns painted in matte black. They have been especially constructed for Click. Boom. Amazing! because I wanted to create a "walk-through" section. The 73 pictures presented here literally come from the four corners of the globe. The viewer will be guided through the space created by the columns. Two pictures will be hung on each side of the column and here I opted for simple metallic frames.

By this time, it’s already 14.00, so it’s time to head on up to the last part: the mezzanine. A huge mezzanine of 2 meters wide overlooks the lobby and this is where I decided to hang the 12 large format photos, measuring 90/90 cm (35/35 inches), mounted on aluminum.

It was a difficult choice because it’s rather hard to factor in the resolution of the pictures. A picture that has been resized in Oggl, for example, can’t be printed in this format, and there are additional factors to bear in mind. Many of you enquired about this and I will be publishing an interview with the manager of the photo lab, which will explain more about the challenges.

All the pictures have now been hung up and all that’s left is to present a few more on easels, among them the picture by Henk Goossens, which will be the first one you see as you walk into the exhibition, as well as the one by Lori Hillsberg, who is our first competition winner.

We finished off around 15.30. We spent about 6 hours unwrapping, nailing, sanding down, screwing, hanging, gluing and without even being aware of it, we’ve transformed the hotel lobby into what resembles a war zone. After we clean up our mess, I can finally see the exhibition in its full glory. I have to confess to feeling rather emotional about it all, but there’s no time to linger, as I still have to make the nametags to go beneath the pictures, as well as the barcodes, which can be scanned so that people are directed to the Hipstography site where they can find additional information about each piece.

The exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday March 31st and is free of charge and without interruption, until July 20th. One additional picture will be added to the collection, each month. If you want to participate, feel free to add the hashtags #SofitelBxlEur (Sofitel, Bxl for Brussels and Eur for Europe) and #hipstography to the pictures you submit. For those of you not able to visit Brussels, there will be a virtual tour of the exhibition, in the coming weeks. I think I might now head on over to Sofitel and actually take in the fruits of our labor.

This post is also available in: French

Related Posts

• 

  Combo #660 (Chou DelaPoste)
  Combo #660 (Chou DelaPoste)
• 

  ‘Photographic Musings During A Pandemic’ by Erik Lieber
  ‘Photographic Musings During A Pandemic’ by Erik Lieber
• 

  ‘My Hipstamatic Year’ by Lee Atwell
  ‘My Hipstamatic Year’ by Lee Atwell
• 

  Combo #659 (Mike Ryan)
  Combo #659 (Mike Ryan)

One Comment