In the video we are told to watch, Jim Goldberg disusses his work, Open See, which developed from his work photographing life in Greece with Magnum in the run up to the 2004 Athens Olympics. In the video, we see the Open See exhibition being mounted at The Photographers’ Gallery interspersed with images from the exhibition, which would go on to win the 2011 Deutsche Börse Prize, whilst Goldberg talks about the work.
Jim Goldberg’s website, opensee.org, is a bit of a mish mash. The site has six sections; Open See/Proof, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Tate, Deutsche Börse, objects and resources. Clikcing on the sections brings up small, passport sized images, images, videos and some information regarding migration but overall I found the site to be very disjointed and frustrating. My main issue with the site is there is no information explaining what the viewer is looking at and how the various sections are linked, I think the lack of context detracts from the work. The other issue I have with the site is that the images are presented in a way that makes it very difficult to engage with them. Clicking on the Open See/Proof section brings up a block of small images in four rows that slowly move across the screen from right to left. The images are too small to look at closely and there are a huge number of them. I appreciate this may be a metaphor referring to imigration, however, it does make it difficult for the viewer to engage with the work.
Clikcing on the Tate and Deutsche Börse sections bring up short videos which I assume interactive elements included with displays of the work at the Tate and The Photographers’ Gallery. Although these demonstrate a desire to engage with a differnt, possibly younger, audience, I’m not sure they add a great deal. Overall I found them slightly confusing and felt that some text to explain their purpose and how they fitted with the other photographs would have been useful.
Overall I think that the Open See website does not function well as a documentary project within the gallery space for the reasons mentioned above. The absence of context and poor presentation of the images results in the website being of limited value. In contrast, the Open See page on the Magnum website, whilst not a comprehensive overview of the work, does present the images in a much more impactful way and the accompanying questions and answers from Goldberg, explaining the backgound to the work, help contextualise it.
Header image: Larysa, 39 years old. Ukraine. 2006. © Jim Goldberg | Magnum Photos
Sources
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2011 (s.d.) At: https://www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org/en/support/photography-prize/2011.php (Accessed 10/06/2021).
Goldberg, J. (s.d.) Open See • Jim Goldberg • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos. At: https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/conflict/jim-goldberg-open-see/ (Accessed 10/06/2021).
Interview with Jim Goldberg (2011) Directed by Gallery, T.P. At: https://vimeo.com/22120588 (Accessed 10/06/2021).
OPEN SEE – JIM GOLDBERG (s.d.) At: http://www.opensee.org/wilhelmhack.html (Accessed 10/06/2021).
Documentary, Fact & Fiction 