ANDREAS GURSKY - a film by Ralph Goertz

Production: IKS - Institute for Art Documentation
Length: 50 minutes, HD

Andreas Gursky is one of the most important international artists working with the medium of photography.

The filmmaker Ralph Goertz accompanied Andreas Gursky for eight years with his camera in his studio, taking photographs, in his class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, setting up his exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and at his first retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London.

The film traces Gursky's artistic process and provides deep insights into the work of this exceptional artist, from his beginnings in 1977 at the Folkwangschule in Essen, to his move to the Becher class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1980 and his first free artistic works. Since the 1980s, he has continuously developed his work from analogue to digital photography, creating his own visual world. Gursky and Goertz talking about his working methods, the artist's approach to the medium of photography and his often cited proximity to painting.

In an interview with Goertz in 2012, Beat Wismer, former director of the Museum Kunstpalast, spoke about the freedom of painting not having to adhere to reality, thus bringing Gursky's pictures from the 2011 "Bangkok" series closer to painting. The film explores this thesis and also traces the development of the medium of photography in the 2010s, when Gursky created works such as "Storage" (2014), "Review" (2015) and "Untitled XVIII-XXI" (2015-16). Gursky, who was aware of his proximity to painting, consciously reaffirms his commitment to photography in this film - and especially in his works of the last five years.

"It's very important to me that we're not talking about painting here,
but about photography." - Andreas Gursky

This documentary provides highlights such as unpublished Super8 shots from Gursky's childhood, private moments at Sven Väth's techno party at the Connect Festival and his explanations of hanging concepts.
In a conversation with Marion Ackermann (former director of the Kunstsammlung Northrhine-Westfalia) they talk about iconic works such as "Rhein" or "Amazon", but also about the importance of music for Gursky.

The filmmaker also talks to Beat Wismer, Ralph Rugoff, Monika Sprüth and Martin Parr, who are important fellows the artist, and presents their views on Gursky's work. The result is a very personal portrait that provides deep insights into his artistic work, away from the cult of the artist and the art market.

Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky initially studied at the Folkwangschule in Essen from 1977 to 1980 under Michael Schmidt, among others, before moving to the Düsseldorf Art Academy in the class of Bernd and Hilla Becher in 1980.

Ralph Goertz
The filmmaker and cultural manager Ralph Goertz founded the IKS - Institute for Art Documentation in 2009, which he expanded in 2022 to include its own photography department, IKS PHOTO, in 2022. His films have been shown at international film festivals in Dublin, Berlin, Poel, Calgary, Toronto, Florence and Krakow, among others.
In 2011 he received the Delphic Art Movie Award for his film "Robert Mapplethorpe - Shapes". His films can be found in the collections of the Getty Museum Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.

Today Goertz works internationally as a filmmaker and curator of photography. With over 500 documented artists and 95 documentary films, the IKS is considered the largest media archive of the visual arts in Europe.

contact:
Ralph Goertz
[email protected]
www.iks-medienarchiv.de