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A new online photographic magazine sees the light of day! The 2nd year students of the Master’s program in documentary photography at AKV| St. Joost are launching Pickle Magazine. Less then five months away from graduating Marjolein Busstra, Bob Verbruggen, Thomas Kuijpers and Peter Tijhuis are developing this online magazine to give insight into their creative processes. The research phase of photography, when many decisions and editing choices are made, is rarely available for an audience. This process is, however, one of the most interesting and informative aspects of a work. In the months to come, Pickle Magazine will reveal all the twists and turns that are encountered. Please enjoy this first issue with an introduction by Miriam Bestebreurtje.

TRANSCRIPT

It takes a great leap of faith to start our master program in photography. You have to open yourself up to new ideas and insights, to collaborate with people very different from yourself, and you must be able to address your weak points so you can experience the growth for which you are aiming. Many of the students take time out from their careers to follow the program because they realize they have more learning to do. Some of the students find that at the end of their bachelor studies they have to continue their research to complete their development. It’s not an easy choice for any of them, that’s why there is always a point in their studies when they truly feel that they are in a pickle! This is also is true for the group of second year students who have started up this online magazine. When you’re not actually following the program yourself but organizing it as I am, you know from experience that they will find their way eventually. It is always a fascinating process and through Pickle Magazine we can now follow this group of students in the coming months and see how they are developing in their work. This years second year students may be the most diverse I have ever seen. Both in personality and in the use of the medium of photography and the moving image. They share a deep involvement with the world. For Thomas Kuijpers this means strong activism. Peter Tijhuis has a quiet analytical attitude towards the individual in an urban context. Marjolein Busstra involves herself in her subjects for a representation of cultural exclusion. Bob Verbruggen uses the medium of intervention to clarify political and social structures. Photography is at the heart of their artistic spectrum, but it is not always the outcome of their process. Their work involves the moving image, archival collections, written works and instal-lations. The upcoming months will show if they have grown enough to make sense of it all. I feel that starting this magazine is as courageous as starting the master pro-gram. Peter, Thomas, Marjolein and Bob are willing to share things that they are not yet sure about and they invite you to partake in their process. I look forward to following them on their path out of the pickle. Miriam Bestebreurtje Courseleader Master Photography AKV|StJoost

Thomas Kuijpers’ (1985) work deals with the broad theme of ‘truth’. In his eyes truth can’t be shown through any photo-graph, video or text.

For his final exam, Thomas is researching the way truth works with three different topics: UFO’s, Joran van der Sloot and the last victim of the WTC attacks. Doing so, he ponders, how is it that some institutions have an embargo on truth? And others do not? How is this version of the truth built and how does it get to lead a life of its own? Thomas is interested in the way truth is constructed. He is searching for moments when something that wasn’t previously considdered true becomes the truth - or vice versa. Trying to reveal these constructs, Thom is constantly questioning the value of the concept of truth on different topics.

On the next page you will see stills of the video on which he is currently working. It shows the ‘execution’ of Joran van der Sloot. Fusillading, as the project is called, is made using the media coverage on the internet in the days following Joran’s arrest.

Fusillading (Stills of a video in progress)

fu·sil·lade

–noun1.a simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms.

2.a general discharge or outpouring of anything: a fusillade of questions.

–verb (used with object)3.to attack or shoot by a fusillade.

In Dutch there is only one word for Bob’s theme, grenzen. In The English language there is a distinction between Borders and Boundaries. Borders are geographical, politi-cal and or statutory limits. Boundaries are a conceptual form of Borders and they are associated with psychology, the persoonli-jke grens in Dutch. Both limits are subject to change, some more than others. Thus it is possible that your Boundaries transcend na-tional borders and vice versa. In other words, sometimes you want the government, soci-ety, the other to do something that they don’t want to do and sometimes Society want you to do something that you do not want to do. This collision creates the public debate and sometimes conflict or on a larger scale, war. Bob is interested in these power struggles, the institutions involved, and the structures they maintain. Bob’s work explores the clash between Borders and Boundries through the media photography, film and text. He collects imagery from both high and low cultural ex-pressions. He indexates, redefines, and then use these “collages” as an instrument to indi-cate and intervene on the power struggles at hand.

I have been struggling with these big words over and over again and they just don’t feel right. In an abstract way they describe what my work is about and in a strange way they de-scribe a working method but it tells you nothing about my process. It tells you nothing about me and the fears and desires that drive me to do what I do.And that is why I chose to start my introduction with parts of this old work that I will show in the upcoming pages:

Tomorrow everything will be different. I started the master program with the ques-tion:” what is it that I do and why do I do what I do ?”. This question was accompanied by a big box of work that investigated my position as a photographer and the way that photography intervenes in the personal space of the object that it depicts. The box questioned topics like voyeurism, ethics and the notion of truth. I still use these questions i my new work yet on a different level. My work is transforming from private to the public as can be seen later on in the magazine when i discusse project Ararat.

Bob Verbruggen (1980).

Thesis/diary about Shame

Identity “I am peter Pan.” Marjolein Busstra

As a documentary photographer Marjolein wants to develop a new language for today’s sensation-oriented media environment. She works with uni-versal themes like; human rights, dislocation, and political and cultural exclusion. She encounters the different ways of telling a story and unravels identity structures and representations.

“Researching the structures of identities is an impor-tant part of my work.In my current work I want to expose what it means if you were part of an exodus as a child and you are referred to as Peter Pan the rest of your life”.

‘Operation Peter Pan’:‘Operation Peter Pan’ was an event during the six-ties, where more then 14.000 children were evacu-ated via an air bridge to the United States without their parents.

When Fidel Castro took over the regime from Dic-tator Batista approximately 14,000 Cuban children fled, helped by the Catholic Church and the gov-ernment of the United States, to America. The plan was that their parents would follow within a few weeks. Unfortunately, due to the extreme repres-sion of Fidel Castro’s regime this was made impos-sible.

Many of the children were adopted by Catho-lic families and it took years before parents and children were reunited. Because the flights were conducted by Panam Airlines the event was coined ‘Operation Peter Pan’ and the children are still referred to as ‘Peter Pans.’

“The story triggered my curiosity and I wanted to learn everything I could about this bittersweet Cuban fairy tale. “Who are these Peter Pans”

Campe Mate Cumba- The place where the Cuban Peter Pans were first brought to when they arrived to the U.S.

Gloria Piedra de la Portilla, was thirteen when she was put on a plane from Cuba to the U.S with twenty of her cousins. "I am a Peter Pan. But I find it hard to talk about it.”

“We slept on bunk beds in small houses. We stayed there with criminal young-sters and for them I was very scared. It took three years before I saw my parents again. The reunion lasted far longer than we thought. I am deeply sad when I think back to all those children who have never seen their parents again. “

Peter Pan is a character created by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). A witty boy who can fly and refuses to grow up. He spends his never-ending childhood on an island called Neverland.

Peter Llewelyn DaviesIs the ‘real’ Peter pan. Barrie pub-licly identified him as the inspira-tion for the character in his suc-cessful play Peter Pan. This public identification as “the original Peter Pan” plagued Davies throughout his life, which ended in suicide. (source: www. en.academic.ru)

Peter pan - Mr. E. Calvet, a successful bank manager. “Yes I am Pedro Pan, My parents were terrified that their children would be indoctrinated by a communist doc-trine. I’m very proud of my parents that they had the courage to put me on the plane when I was a child”

Where Dreams come true.

For this project Thomas indexed all the sex crimes related to the Disney parks in Orlando (Florida) and collected all the media coverage concerning the incidents. Every crime scene was photographed with a 3d camera, and the photo was combined with a ‘case-file’ which shows the media coverage in a chronological order. By looking through the file you can see the truth shifting with almost every mes-sage. It makes you wonder how these incidents are being constructed to make the headlines. What part is true and what part is created to make it ‘sell’?

Serie of 8 Photos + Archives2010

Peter Tijhuis (1970) uses photography to research the position of the individual in a society that is in a constant state of change. This research is fueled by a strong need for Peter to understand social developments in our society. He has a background in so-cial sciences, has worked for a large commercial company, he has lived and worked in the United States for years and is now active as a documentary photographer in the Netherlands. It is fair to say that Peter himself is constantly looking for his own position in society which explains his motivation in his projects. The environment Peter refers to is the urban landscape since it is here that many social experiments take place and change often is initiated. Themes like homogenization of people and space, pri-vatisation of the public domain and the relation between people and their environment are central to his work.

Often, Peter’s projects are viewed in a historical context. To un-derstand the dynamics in a city he feels that you need to be aware of the history of that city. He uses this knowledge to learn about the present and think about the future. In order to comple-tely understand his subjects, Peter consistently uses an approach were he applies different media like his own photography, ar-chives, maps, interviews or family albums. He presents his fin-dings to inform, create a discussion or let the audience decide for themselves. It should, however, always offer new insights in the discours about the urban landscape and our position within.

A good example of this kind of research is the project that will be the subject of the coming issues of this magazine; De Zuidelijke Wandelweg. This old pastoral road used to be the southern bor-der of Amsterdam. Citizens would come here on Sundays to wan-der and forget about their hectic lives in the city. Currently, only a fraction of the road still exists, everything else has dissapeard be-cause of the city’s expansion. The fact that cities increase in size is not so surprising. However, when Peter tried to retrace the former route, he discovered that getting access to most parts of the old road is now impossible. He ran into walls, gates, closed doors and security guards. This once very public road now consists of many, very private areas. What does this mean for the position of the individual in the current and future urban landscape? And what other conclusions can be drawn when we follow this old road?

Next to the research driven project on ‘De Zuidelijke Wandelweg’, another project of Peter Tijhuis is featured in this first issue of Pickle Magazine. This earlier work portraits senior citizens in the United States that see themselves forced to get their daily exercise in the completely conditioned environment of the indoor shopping mall. The lack of thought given to city planning in the 70’s has created suburban layouts that completely cater to cars, offering literally no possibility for walking or biking. The ‘Mallwalkers’ have appropriated this semi-public space and are using it for a very private activity.

Alter Ego’s

At this moment Marjolein Busstra is working on a project called ‘Alter Egos’ in which she works with the no-tion of interchangeability of lives. She makes or collects portraits of women with lives she feel could have been hers, if not for a twist of fate. That’s why her work can be seen as an ego document.

Each woman represents a certain group, for example immigrants and animal rights activists. By putting herself literally among these women she wants to deal with prejudices and the practice of mass media

Tanja Nijmeijer.

We are the same age, we both lived in Groningen, we studied at the same university and we are both sensitive to social issues. But we didn’t both join the FARC. A twist of fate?

From the moment she joined the Farc, Tanja turned into a national possession. But what do we really know about her? I compare pictures from her and my life with each other. I play with the use of her image in the media and how her identity is con-structed.

Verbruggen is a fine artist that works with the media photography, film and text. He uses these instruments to disrupt borders and intervene in definitions of boundaries. By way of collecting he deconstructs border and boundary disputes and in doings so tries to formulate a response on these ruptures. Verbruggen works within the tension field between Politics, culture and the role that art and the artist play within these domains.

For his latest project he is producing an index of the images and narratives that depict the mountain Ararat. The mou-natin is seen as the last restingplace of Noach’ark. This natural barrier is situated near the closed border of Turkey and Armenia and her symbolism is used by both sides within their cultural and po-litical domain. Ararat marks the politi-cal rupture between both counties. Al-though situated on Turkish soil, both sides claim there truth about the mountain. Verbruggen disrupts these truths by rein-terpreting the index and combining both views into one. By placement of web cams on specific historical sites he wants to re-connect this shared history and in doing so he reconnects both sides of the mountain.

Note to reader:I changed my artist statement because of all the big words that I described on page 10

Reconnecting Ararat Bob Verbruggen

I Hope You wil joint me in this quest during the upcoming months.