Peter Piller Archives

German artist Peter Piller gives photographs from newspapers and archives a second lease of life. What is perceived as boring or monotonous at first glance proves to be a treasure trove that contains undiscovered relationships and exciting meanings. Piller, whose work is being shown in the Netherlands for the first time, exposes the absurdity of normality.

Opening: November 18, 2005, 4.30 - 5.30 p.m., with a lecture by Peter Piller

Peter Piller collects images that are familiar to everyone. He finds them in the filing cabinets of regional newspapers or in the archives of a company that sells aerial photos of houses. Freed of their original purpose they initially seem to be devoid of meaning. When the artist rearranges them and classifies them in series they at first reveal the clichés of commercial photography, but then also bring new meanings and unusual relationships to light. What appeared to be a detail, somewhere on the edge of a photo, could be the start of a narrative. A caption like ‘bone of contention’ or ‘the house of the culprit’ draws together dozens of shots in a mysterious way.