Wundercamera: Savannah

Wundercamera: Savannah is a site-specific exhibition bringing together works of art produced by contemporary photographers exploring the world of museums—including museums of natural history, historic houses, and fine and decorative arts institutions. The works in Wundercamera: Savannah focus on different aspects of the museum and gallery culture as subject matter, all interpreted through the lenses of individual contemporary photographers. By presenting museum spaces as artistic subjects, Wundercamera: Savannah will urge individuals to see these spaces with new eyes, morphing visitors into part of the art, and capturing that transformative moment when art and viewer intersect.

Curated by German-born, London-based photographer Klaus Wehner (aka Museum Clausum), Wundercamera debuted at Pitzhanger Manor Gallery and House followed by the Manchester Metropolitan University’s Holden Gallery, both in 2014, and supported by the Arts Council England. Wundercamera: Savannah will extend the exhibition’s conversation through newly commissioned site-specific photos of Telfair Museums taken by Wehner to be incorporated into the installation. Wundercamera: Savannah is the recipient of a prestigious NEA: Art Works grant.

About Klaus Wehner and Museum Clausum:
Klaus Wehner is a visual artist whose work has focused on the museum for a number of years. He holds a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2012). The name, Museum Clausum, which translates as ‘enclosed’ or ‘sealed’ museum, is adopted from Sir Thomas Browne’s 17th Century pamphlet, ‘Musaeum Clausum’, an inventory of fantasized objects that form a fictional collection. This ironic treatise on the Early Modern novelty of assembling objects in the manner of a wunderkammer is hence a comment on the questionable artificiality of museum-type display, as old as the museum itself. One central aim of the Museum Clausum remains to produce temporary exhibitions that reflect on our relationship to objects and the importance of the role and function of museums for our culture and self-awareness. Museum Clausum exhibitions reflect on the culture of exhibiting by putting museums on display.

RELATED PROGRAMS / Jepson Center

Wundercamera Opening Lecture and Reception
Thursday, February 16, 6pm
Members free / non-members $5
REGISTER HERE  »

Join London-based artist and curator Klaus Wehner for an illuminating discussion of Wundercamera: Savannah. Using mediums of photography and video, Wehner’s work has focused on museums for a number of years, exploring our dynamic relationships to art objects and the power of museums to inform our awareness and culture. Under the pseudonym Museum Clausum—which translates to “enclosed” or “sealed” museum, adopted from Sir Thomas Browne’s 17th-century pamphlet Musaeum Clausum, which presented a fictional collection of fantasized objects—Wehner’s exhibitions often reflect on the questionable artificiality of museum exhibits, as well as on the culture of exhibiting, by putting museums themselves on display. Wehner holds a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths, University of London and has exhibited internationally.

Free Family Day
Saturday, April 22, 1–4pm

Come celebrate our museum by taking time to explore Telfair’s sites and the role the museum plays in our community, while also creating a mini museum of your own. Take lots of pictures, or strike a pose from one of our selected works and have your picture taken! Sponsored by the City of Savannah’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Georgia Power Foundation, Inc.

Wundercamera
installation view
Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2014
Photo: K Wehner