Karl Maria Udo Remmes (born 2 July 1954 in
Tübingen,
West Germany – 25 November 2014 in
Köln[1]) was a German photographer and physician. He has become known especially for his work in backstage photography specializing in opera, ballet and musicals. The leading idea of Remmes' photographic work is not the documentation – he wants to capture the moments when the hard work of acting transmutes into art.[2]
Remmes' first photo exhibition "Operaria" at the University of Düsseldorf[5] presents a portrait of backstage operations of the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Remmes worked at various European opera and ballet theatres such as the
Teatro Regio of
Turin, the
Graz Opera, the
English National Opera in London, the
Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland and at the
Chang'an Grand Theatre in Beijing, China.[6]
In 2002, the Theatre Museum Düsseldorf established the "Remmes Collection". Remmes was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Photographic Society (FRPS), Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine. He represented the City of Düsseldorf at the
World Exhibition EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, showing his work in an exhibition on the interface between theater work and theatrical stage art in Liu Haisu Art Museum Shanghai[7]
Photographic style
Remmes ' photographic style is based on
pictorialism. His "Intrinsic Photography" (Remmes about his work) is contrary to the
New Objectivity of the Düsseldorf School of Photography founded by
Bernd and Hilla Becher. He captures multiple dimensions of theater reality by including diverse temporal, spatial, contextual and reality layers in one image. His pictures tell stories of the theatre machinery. He shows the backgrounds and unwritten laws, the union of scientific and superstitious components behind the scenes.[8]
Remmes writes small notes and poems with light to show different realities: the world outside and the artificial world on stage, when actors and singers swap from one world to the other.[9]
He represents modern theatre photography but he's not interested in personality cult or in documentation of the action on stage.[10] He uses unusual prospects, i.e. bird's eye view.[11] The photographs carry emotion in a different way, by blurred and strong contrasted sujets.[12] Remmes manages to bring the sensitive balance between theatrical work and art to perceptibility.[13]
Exhibitions
2000 Operaria, Universitäts- u. Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf[14]
2005 Operaria III, Landesärztekammer Hannover, Germany. Augenblicke der Kunst, Goethe-Institut Beijing, China. He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
2006 Portraits der Schauspielerin Gudrun Landgrebe, Galerie Petra Lange, Berlin, Germany
2009 BlickWechsel oder Die Kunst des Zuschauens, Theatermuseum Düsseldorf,
Royal Photographic Society, Ink Play – Play Ink, Theatermuseum Düsseldorf, Liu Haisu Museum Shanghai. Die Kunst des Zuschauens (The Art of Viewing), Park-Theater Iserlohn, Royal Photographic Society
2010 Zuschauerkunst, Theatermuseum Düsseldorf. Moments of Art III, Liu Haisu Art Museum[16] Shanghai in the framework of
Expo 2010 Shanghai representing the City of Düsseldorf
TheGlobalArtFederation (Hrsg), Karl Maria Udo Remmes – Round and About The Magic City – Miami, Stephanie Jancke Verlag, Cologne 2014,
ISBN978-3-945335-01-7