Nick Hannes - The Financial Zone
About this activity.
The Financial Zone is a visual research into the financial world and its corporate culture. Hannes shows situations behind the scenes of a number of financial institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium. Nick Hannes created the photo series as an autonomous commission, given by the State University of Groningen and Noorderlicht.
When the media reports on economics, they usually show images of workers or operational personnel somewhere in the production chain. If white collar employees are depicted at all, it’s mostly though stereotypical stock photography. Men and women in suits, smiling wide and shaking hands, represent the dynamic character and diversity that the company wants to radiate. We rarely see them in real action.
Photographer Nick Hannes went to the head offices of a number of banks and financial companies in The Netherlands and Belgium to depict office life in a documentary way, with office employees, those in charge and the echelon in-between playing the lead.
Modular systems and clean desk policy are their environment. The new workplace is social and flexible, fashionable and homely, ergonomic and technological. Company restaurants offer healthy meals and corporate mindfulness is on the rise. There is fitness, a prayer room and art on the wall. Well-being in the workplace is important in a time characterized by stress and burn-outs.
Hannes’s photographs are subtle observations of an astonished outsider. In a universe not exactly known for visual spectacle, he focuses on the relationship between man and his workplace. He searches for personal accents in a generic environment, meandering along the thin dividing line between banality and surprise, between humour and alienation.
This photo series was commissioned by the University of Groningen and Noorderlicht as part of the cycle Imagining Science. Hannes was in dialogue with several researchers at the university. The cycle is based on the idea that science and art have much in common: an urge to explore the world around us and to make acquired knowledge tangible, to share it. These commissions are inspired by university research whose subject is in keeping with the Noorderlicht theme in that year. In the long term, this captures a multifaceted picture of scientific life.
Thanks to all the companies that have cooperated: Aegon (The Hague), Argenta (Antwerp), Baloise (Antwerp), Bank J. Van Breda (Antwerp), Belfius (Brussels), KPMG (Zaventem), PwC (Amsterdam), Rabobank (Utrecht).
The Financial Zone opens on Saturday 30th April, 2pm (doors open 1:30pm) in Kunstpunt Groningen. With a welcome by Kees van der Meiden, director Noorderlicht and opening by professor of Financial Ethics, Boudewijn de Bruin. It is not necessary to sign up.
Noorderlicht. Studio | Festival | On Tour.
Noorderlicht is een veelzijdig en internationaal podium, oorspronkelijk alleen voor documentaire fotografie, maar inmiddels voor elke fotograaf die een goed verhaal te vertellen heeft. Met een scherp oog voor ontwikkelingen, maar wars van trends en hypes, besteden we aandacht aan de fotografie van de wereld en de wereld van fotografie. Dit doen we door het organiseren van een jaarlijkse fotomanifestatie, het programmeren van exposities in onze fotogalerie, het uitschrijven van foto-opdrachten en het organiseren van debatten, lezingen en masterclasses. Noorderlicht verzorgt een educatief programma en geeft daarnaast bijzondere catalogi en fotoboeken uit. Onze tentoonstellingen zijn wereldwijd te zien geweest, in onder andere de Verenigde Staten, Syrië, Australië en Indonesië. Door de eigenzinnige, scherpe programmering en bijzondere uitgaven heeft Noorderlicht internationaal een reputatie opgebouwd als een instelling die engagement weet te koppelen aan visuele schoonheid. Noorderlicht-producties zijn verbeeldingsvol en meeslepend, enthousiast en kritisch, persoonlijk en geëngageerd.
Location.
Kunstpunt Groningen
Trompsingel 27A
9724 DA Groningen
tel 050 3182227
www.noorderlicht.com