represented:
BILDHALLE Amsterdam
Hazenstraat 15
1016 SM Amsterdam
+41 78 624 30 00
BILDHALLE Zurich
Stauffacherquai 56
8004 Zurich
Switzerland
CONTACT
+41 44 552 09 18
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DANZIGER GALLERY
980 Madison Avenue Suite 305
New York, New York 10075
USA
CONTACT
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for further inquiries please contact:
+31 (0)6 4900 6805
Searching for Mu (2017, ongoing)
The idea of Mu goes beyond having to choose. In translation its meaning comes close to ‘does not have’. Searching for Mu — taking shape in photographs, film clips, sound and folded paper — is tantamount to a quest. I have journeyed nearly as far away from home as possible, nevertheless, a journey outward equally means an exploration of our inner selves. A journey inward searching for acceptance that life comes to an end, yet at the same time knowing that life is circular, starting over time and again.
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Synopsis
The photographic work of Paul Cupido (b. 1972, Terschelling, the Netherlands) revolves around the principle of mu: a philosophical concept that could be translated as ‘does not have’, but is equally open to countless interpretations. Mu can be considered a void, albeit one that holds potential.
Cupido’s ongoing photographic and cinematic experiment ‘Searching for Mu’ is at once a personal and universal odyssey of our fleeting existence in relation to the profound emotional experiences of love, time, and death. Instead of presuming to be documents, his photographs point to transcendent reflections of the soul and of the intermingling of the microscopic and macroscopic.
Artist Statement
I aim to engage with the world with wide-open senses. My work is about the magic moments of life as well as its inconveniences. I want to take pictures, while forgetting about the process of photography, until I’m saturated with an existential sense of life. Every step I take begins with the notion of ‘mono no aware’: the transience of everything, the gentle melancholy of things, being sensitive to ephemera.
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EDUCATION (selection)
2018-2019 Le Masterklass with Klavdij Sluban, Paris (FR)
2013-2017 Fotoacademie, Amsterdam (cum laude) (NL)
2016 Magnum Tokyo Workshop with Antoine d’Agata (JP)
2016 LFI Hamburg Worskhop with Jacob Aue Sobol (DE)
RESIDENCIES
2017 Docking Station / Belfast Photo Festival (UK)
ARTIST BOOKS
2019 Continuum — 224 visible / 88 hidden pages, 305 x 215 mm, 300 copies
2017 Searching for Mu — 106 pages, 200 x 260 mm, 200 copies
2016 Suave — zine, 120 x 180 mm, 10 copies
BOOKS
2020 Mukayu — 120 pages, 245 x 160 mm, 500 copies
2019 Amazônia — 132 pages, 200 x 320 mm, 750 copies
2019 Ephémère — 88 pages, 230 x 345 mm, 800 copies
NOMINATIONS & PRIZES (selection)
2020 LensCulture, Favorite Photobooks of 2019 — Selected by Anaïs Lopez (NL)
2020 BJP — Notable Photobooks of 2019 (UK)
2019 Jury Top Selection, GESTE Paris (FR)
2018 Finalist Discovery Awards, Encontros da Imagem (PT)
2017 Window Of Wonder, Tipi Bookshop (BE)
2017 New Dutch Talent (NL)
2017 Hariban Juror’s Choice Award — Selected by RongRong & Inri (JP)
2017 Artist Residence Winner Belfast Photo Festival (UK)
COLLECTIONS
Foam First Editions (NL)
International Center of Photography, New York City (US)
Danziger Collection (US)
Van Lanschot Art collection (NL)
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES (selection)
2020 Fisheye Photo Review 2020-21 (FR)
2019 Senses — 32 pages, 155 x 212 mm, 200 copies
2018 Encontros da Imagem (PT)
2018 Haute Photographie (NL)
2017 Benrido HARIBAN AWARD (JP)
2017 REVEAL — Fotoacademie graduation catalogue (NL)
TALKS & LECTURES
2020 Autonome Fotografie, lezing MAMDT Academy Maastricht (NL)
2019 Paris Photo, The Eyes — Artist Talk (FR)
PUBLICATIONS & INTERVIEWS (selection)
2020 LensCulture, Favorite Photobooks of 2019 (NL)
2019 Het Parool (NL)
2019 Éphémère interview by Alex Blanco for GUP (NL)
2018 New Dawn Paper (NL)
2018 GUP New Photography Talent 2018 / editorial front cover (NL)
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