Great to see how sharp this photo of Stein and Gigi looks enlarged. Amazing that a small SX-70 Polaroid can be blown-up so big. Done for the exhibition "Amsterdam in the Flesh." My understanding is that ithat this enlarge is about to be sold and will soon be hanging permanently in one of Amsterdam's bars.
"Amsterdam In The Flesh" seems to have been a big success. A full page of photos in Het Parool, lots of social media, and even a sale with others potentially pending.
Here's a report of the opening from Taylor Ljubica, one of the curators of the exhibition: "It was a full house right from the start and until the very end. The craziest and most unexpected aspect of the night was that the mayor of Amsterdam and the crown princess of the Netherlands were doing a work trip on the Zeedijk and entered the bar (thus catching a glimpse of the exhibition)."
Photograph by Benjamin van der Veen
Always pleased to see that publications in the Netherlands have continued interest in the bar Polaroids that Bettie Ringma and I made in 1980. This spread publicizes the exhibition "Amsterdam In The Flesh" opening tomorrow night. It just a one-night popup exhibition with about 20 enlargements from the original Polaroids printed on archival paper. All are for sale.
Marc H. Miller & Bettie Ringma
16th of April,
Bar San Francisco, Zeedijk 40,
19:00–04:00
We’re right here: Bar San Francisco, or another just down the street - not even half a century ago. This is the scene set by this exhibition, which revisits the polaroid collection of Marc H. Miller and Bettie Ringma. The artist duo was the first to introduce Amsterdam’s nightlife crowd to instant photography back in the 1980s. Night after night, they strolled through the bars in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, the Nieuwmarkt and the Zeedijk, and for six guilders immortalised the gorgeous, sincere, tipsy, tacky, and diverse sights Amsterdam’s bar life had to offer.
In an era untouched by the sway of digitalisation, rigid regulations and gentrification, these scenes evoke a theatricality of expression that, in light of today, hints at a lost imagination. This exhibition, then, is as much an ode to Amsterdam’s bar culture, as it is an exploration - through the figure of the polaroid - of how gentrification unfolds. Not only in the physical city, but also within our minds, bodies, postures, and collective expressivity.
Come and see these enlarged polaroids and many more during Amsterdam! In the Flesh! In the Flash! on view for one night only.
Miller and Ringma "In The Flesh"
The Polaroid photographs that Bettie Ringma and I took in the bars of Amsterdam in 1980 will be part of the pop-up exhibition "In The Flesh" opening on Thursday, April 16, in Amsterdam.
The exhibition is about gentrification and takes place in Bar San Francisco on the Zeedijk, where we photographed 46 years ago. Back then, it was one of Amsterdam's most dangerous streets. Now the Zeedijk is the trendy new neighborhood. Bettie and my photographs are on the first floor; in the basement are photos by António Manso Preto, and a video by Yannesh Meijman showing bar life today.
The evening ushers in with an introductory talk by Réne Boer (Author of Smooth City), Leonor Jonker (Editor of Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980) and curators Emma Ajdari and Taylor Ljubica.
Join us for art, drinks, music, instant photography on the spot by Josh Croll, or simply: a trippy trip down memory lane!
Poster design by @cleotsw
#MarcHMiller #BettieRingma #LeonorFaberJonker #barsofamsterdam #polaroid #1980 #SellingPolaroidsintheBarsofAmsterdam #amsterdam #photography #stadsarchiefamsterdam #nightlife #polaroidportraits #AmsterdamRedLightdistrict #amsterdampolaroids #amsterdambars #amsterdamnightlife #lgbtq #dragqueen #beertime #beertography
Robin calls from The Underground nightclub, NYC, c. 1983.
I saved all my message machine tapes from the ‘80s and have been digitizing them. Here’s one from the batch.
#nostalgia #oldnewyork #80s #analog #voicemessage
Our 1980s Amsterdam polaroids are on view at Bar San Francisco, Zeedijk
In 1980, Marc H Miller and Bettie Ringma started photographing people in the bars of Amsterdam along the Zeedijk. These now famous photos, which are in the collection Stadsarchief Amsterdam, catalogued an era before cellphones and gentrification. They will be exhibited at Bar San Francisco, Zeedijk 40 on April 16th
In 1980 begonnen Marc H Miller en Bettie Ringma mensen te fotograferen in de bars van Amsterdam
langs de Zeedijk. Deze nu beroemde foto’s, die zich bevinden in de collectie Stadsarchief Amsterdam, catalogiseren een tijdperk vóór mobiele telefoons en gentrificatie. Ze zullen op 16 april worden tentoongesteld in Bar San Francisco, Zeedijk 40
#nostalgia #1980saesthetic #nightlife #polaroid
#rarephotos
Happy to relay that digital prints of the Polaroids that Bettie Ringma and I took in the bars of Amsterdam in 1980 will be part of an exhibition opening next month. More information below.
EXHIBITION OPENING:
16th of April,
Bar San Francisco, Zeedijk 40,
19:00–04:00
Does gentrification…
Make you bad in bed?
Ugly in pictures?
Or just kind of… monotonous?
Taking seminal cues from Schulman’s The Gentrification of the Mind, the exhibition explores the entailments of a mind gentrified, navigating the ever-changing relation between body, spirit, and city. In particular, it reflects upon the deadening effects of capital through the loss of queer life, the increased dominance of a privatised urban middle class, and a preference for seamlessness and professionalised success above friction, eccentricity and community. Ultimately, the evening postures a homage to the city through critique, humor, romance, contradictions and quirks.
Works by Bettie Ringma, Marc Miller, António Manso Preto and Yannesh Meijman are spread over the two floors of Bar San Francisco — the very same bar that half a decade ago, served as one of the backdrops for a part of the exhibited collection of polaroids by Ringma and Miller.
The evening ushers in with an introductory talk by Réne Boer (Author of Smooth City), Leonor Jonker (Editor of Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980) and curators Emma Ajdari and Taylor Ljubica. RSVP via the link in our bio.
Join us for art, drinks, music, instant photography on the spot by Josh Croll, or simply: a trippy trip down memory lane! First Jenevertje on us! thanks to @wynand_fockink
A thousand times thanks to @sfamsterdam & @afk020 for making this night possible!
Poster design by @cleotsw
#MarcHMiller #BettieRingma #LeonorFaberJonker #barsofamsterdam #polaroid #1980 #SellingPolaroidsintheBarsofAmsterdam #amsterdam #photography #stadsarchiefamsterdam #nightlife #polaroidportraits #AmsterdamRedLightdistrict #amsterdampolaroids #amsterdambars #amsterdamnightlife #lgbtq #dragqueen #beertime #beertography
What’s Your Greatest Fear? Long Island Women Respond, and Other Works, 1972-81
An Artist Talk by Marc H Miller
WHEN: Saturday, February 21, 2:30pm
WHERE: Immersion Room, 7th Floor, NYU Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South
Free and open to the public. Non-NYU guests must RSVP for Bobst Library entry: [email protected]
In the early 1970s, artist Marc H. Miller turned away from the cold aridity of much conceptual practice and becoming more interested in people - their thoughts, behaviour, concealed lives. He began to recruit participants to whom he gave prompts - ‘What’s Your Greatest Fear?’, ‘Respond to the Word ‘Man’’, ‘How Much Money Are You Carrying?’ Their responses required them to write short answers, draw pictures, take photographs. He in turn shot photo portraits of them. In this rare presentation, Miller will reveal a time capsule of a lost New York, of the way people looked and thought and acted fifty years ago. Voyeurism is part of its enduring appeal - ‘Draw a Penis and Vagina’, a series that involved 100 participants of all ages; ‘Unforgettable Moments’ (in collaboration with art therapist Bettie Ringma), a collection of over 30 drawings and tape-recorded stories by people who had experienced wars, robberies, life-threatening fires.
MARC H. MILLER is an artist, curator, writer, publisher and archivist. He is the founding director of the art ephemera specialists Gallery 98. More information about his work can be found at 98bowery.com
THE COLLOQUIUM FOR UNPOPULAR CULTURE (est. 2007): falling and laughing...
Non-NYU guests must RSVP for Bobst Library entry: [email protected]
#marchmiller #conceptualart #arttherapy #participatoryart #artpsychology #projectivedrawing #1970sart #artisttalk #artandpsychology
What’s Your Greatest Fear? Long Island Women Respond, and Other Works, 1972-81
An Artist Talk by Marc H Miller
WHEN: Saturday, February 21, 2:30pm
WHERE: Immersion Room, 7th Floor, NYU Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South
Free and open to the public. Non-NYU guests must RSVP for Bobst Library entry: [email protected]
In the early 1970s, artist Marc H. Miller turned away from the cold aridity of much conceptual practice and becoming more interested in people - their thoughts, behaviour, concealed lives. He began to recruit participants to whom he gave prompts - ‘What’s Your Greatest Fear?’, ‘Respond to the Word ‘Man’’, ‘How Much Money Are You Carrying?’ Their responses required them to write short answers, draw pictures, take photographs. He in turn shot photo portraits of them. In this rare presentation, Miller will reveal a time capsule of a lost New York, of the way people looked and thought and acted fifty years ago. Voyeurism is part of its enduring appeal - ‘Draw a Penis and Vagina’, a series that involved 100 participants of all ages; ‘Unforgettable Moments’ (in collaboration with art therapist Bettie Ringma), a collection of over 30 drawings and tape-recorded stories by people who had experienced wars, robberies, life-threatening fires.
MARC H. MILLER is an artist, curator, writer, publisher and archivist. He is the founding director of the art ephemera specialists Gallery 98. More information about his work can be found at 98bowery.com
THE COLLOQUIUM FOR UNPOPULAR CULTURE (est. 2007): falling and laughing...
Non-NYU guests must RSVP for Bobst Library entry: [email protected]
#marchmiller #conceptualart #arttherapy #participatoryart #artpsychology #projectivedrawing #1970sart #artisttalk #artandpsychology
