Flatland Gallery is a Dutch contemporary art gallery founded in 1983 by Martin Rogge. The gallery is internationally acclaimed (especially) in the field of contemporary photography. Situated in Utrecht, the gallery opened in September 2012 a large gallery space in the heart of Amsterdam, in a beautiful – bricks - gallery complex around the corner of Vijzelgracht and located near Foam, the Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum. In 2007 Flatland Gallery opened an office and viewing space in Paris, on the edge of the Marais and the artistic Oberkampf area, adding an additional 300 square meters to its exhibition space. Flatland Paris is located in the gallery of Gallery Magda Danysz, a contemporary and highly credited Parisian gallery whose focus is digital, urban and visual art.
ARTISTS
Flatland Gallery acts worldwide as the principal dealer for established artists like Erwin Olaf, Ruud van Empel and Carolein Smit as well as for emerging artists such as Rob Hornstra, Jaap Scheeren and Florian van Roekel. Flatland also represents exclusively, but in close association with other galleries, Jocelyn Lee (Pace/Mac Gill Gallery New York), Johan Grimonprez (Sean Kelly Gallery, New York), Rob Johannesma (Gallery Paul Andriesse) and Christina Garcia Rodero (Magnum Photos, Paris). Flatland regularly invites other artists to work with the gallery such as Alec Soth and Martin Parr. Recently the gallery is very proud to represent the astounding sculptural artist Hans van Bentem.
The gallery is characterized by an on-going dynamism. One of the main drives is to bring artists to the fore of the international art scene. This means that the gallery represents at any given time different artists in their different stages of careers. Also, photography has always been one of the pillars of the gallery. The gallery has always shown the different genres of photography next to each other, from documentary, fashion to art photography, pursuing the latest developments in contemporary photography.
EARLY HIGHLIGHTS OF FLATLAND GALLERY
A few of the memorable highlights of Flatland Gallery include one of the first exhibitions of Marlene Dumas, in 1984, The artist as a young girl (simultanously with one of her first museum shows Ons land licht lager dan de zee at Centraal Museum, Utrecht). Another highlight is one of the first exhibitions of photographer Erwin Olaf, in 1987, who has been with the gallery ever since. In 1988 Olaf emerged on the international art scene when his series Chessmen which was awarded the first prize in the Young European Photographer competition. Many museum solo and group shows followed. Olaf, whose compositions and use of light vouch for his talent, was commissioned by Louis Vuitton, in 2010 to create a portrait series for the permanent collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, a series that was also exhibited in the museum. His series ‘Dusk’ and ‘Dawn’ were shown in 2010 in the Hermitage Amsterdam and in New York. The Aperture Foundation in New York published the large monograph ‘Erwin Olaf’ and will publish a second book in 2014. Another highly renowned name today in the field of photography is Desiree Dolron whose work Flatland Gallery showed at the first edition of Paris Photo in 1997 and for who Flatland organized in conjunction with the Groninger Museum in 1998 her first solo exhibition behind the eye. More early exhibitions at Flatland Gallery include shows for leading artists like Erik Andriesse, Rob Birza, F. Franciscus, Ronald Ophuis and Wim Izaks (to whom the Wim Izaks Award is allocated). After their show in 2000 at Flatland Gallery, the gallery is very proud and happy to have Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek teamed up again with Flatland in 2011.
Since the early eighties Flatland Gallery experimented with the convergence of art with film, music, video and multimedia installations. As one of the first galleries in the Netherlands Flatland brought in 1997 the club and art scene together at the KunstRai (nowadays Art Amsterdam) with the installation The White Room, Part II, by pioneer of veejay-ing, the artist Micha Klein and photographer Danielle Kwaaitaal (who recently joined the gallery again in 2011 after she was succesfully represented by Torch Gallery, Amsterdam). Amongst other renowned multimedia artists brought by Flatland are Dutch pioneer of video art Lydia Schouten and the voyeuristic multi media work of A.P. Komen & Karen Murphy. Flatland Gallery also showed the work of video artist Rob Johannesma in the gallery and on international fairs; in 2001 Johannesma’s work was chosen in a group show Post-Nature at the Venice Biennale of Video, in Palazzo Ca’ Zenobio. From 1997 Flatland Gallery has participated in the annual festival Impakt for idiosyncratic and innovative media art in Utrecht, for example with life size video-installations by Johan Grimonprez and glass-video by Leighton Pierce. During Festival a/d Werf, the music, theatre and visual arts festival for young artists Flatland participated in 1998 in a group exhibition Altered States with the international acclaimed artist Ugo Rondinone. Other exhibitions include Jordi Colomer (video) and Henrietta Lehtonen (installation).
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS OF FLATLAND GALLERY
One of today’s new rising stars of the international art scene represented since 2005 by Flatland Gallery is Ruud van Empel. Beginning 2009 four solo-exhibitions of Van Empel are held in New York, Tokyo, Düsseldorf and Paris. Van Empel participated in numerous group exhibitions including, in 2008/09, the prestigious exhibition Diana and Actaeon, The Forbidden glimpse of the naked body at the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, curated by Beat Wismer, Sandra Badelt and Mattijs Visser. Other group exhibitions were held at MoPA-Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine; Chelsea Art Museum, New York. In 2011 a major solo exhibition is held at the Groninger Museum; this show will travel to MoPA-Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego (2012) and FoMu, Fotomuseum Antwerp, Belgium (2013). Just prior to this, Ruud van Empel is invited with Rem Koolhaas / OMA and Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin to represent contemporary Holland for ‘The Year of Holland in Brazil’, in Sao Paulo.
In 2007 scupturist Carolein Smit joined Flatland Gallery. Recently she received a request from the prestigious Manufacture National de Céramique de Sèvres in France for whom she is creating a ‘Madeleine’. Solo exhibitions include The artmuseum of Bornholm, Denmark; Artotek Cologne, Germany; Museum Keramion, Frechen, Germany. A retrospective was held at the Kunsthal Rotterdam beginning 2010. In 2011 a sculpture was included in the prestigious and wonderfull Olbricht Collection, from which a selection will be exhibited in 'Memories of the Future', in the Maison Rouge in Paris.
Also in 2007, three years after he graduated cum laude at the school of fine art in Utrecht, documentary photographer Rob Hornstra started working with Flatland. His serie 101 billionairs, about the decay of Eastern European societies, was one of the highlights of foto festival Naarden 2009. In 2009 he was nominated for the ‘Prix de Rome’, the most prestigious art prize given by an international jury in the Netherlands. This was followed in 2010 by the Honorable mention Magnum Expression Award, the Canon Award (Zilveren Camera) 2010 and the New York Photo Book Award, 2010, USA. Since 2009 Hornstra started The sochi project - an independant journalistic account on the dramatic changes the harsh area around Sochi in Russia is undergoing due to the effects of the upcoming Olympic Games. Together with journalist Arnold van Bruggen this project has resulted in a stream of series of unique photographs that are light to look at, clean in description but simultaneously very informative.
In 2010 it was young artist Jaap Scheeren who joined the gallery. His carefree and humoristic approach to his work enhances the authentic character of his series, without relinquishing the underlying seriousness or sincerity of his intentions. In 2011 he won the Bouw en Beeld Award that resulted in a museum show in the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen. In the same year, a bit later, Florian van Roekel, joined Flatland Gallery as well. This year he was nominated by Martin Parr for the International Center of Photography Infinity Award for his series How Terry likes his coffee. The book turned out to be an international hit. In his new and only second series PLAYGROUND Van Roekel demonstrates on a micro-social scale the interaction between man and woman as a game by focussing on the apparent unimportant moments they share.
LATEST NEWS
New with the gallery is Pieter Henket who may well be one of today's hottest celebrity and fashionart photographers. His images, an encounter between his eyes and the eyes of his characters, form a (celebrity-worshipping) narrative, comprehensible and dead-on hip. Henket photographed Lady Gaga’s cover album Fame in 2008 and made an Interrogation series with portraits of William Hurt, Sir Ben Kingsley and Larry Bishop, amongst others. In September 2011 the top notch of the Dutch cinema posed for him for the Dutch Interrogation series. A museum show is planned for 2012; a documentary is on its way for national television.
Henket is a great admirer of Erwin Olaf who will receive the Johannes Vermeer Award 2011 - the state prize for the arts - for the high quality of his entire oeuvre.
PUBLISHING HOUSE “FLATLAND OF THE RECORD”
Additionally Flatland holds its own publishing-house. Artist books that have been produced and designed by graphic designers Gebroerders Silvestri from the Netherlands include: Parental Advisory: New Revelations, Jans Muskee; Hope/ Rain, Erwin Olaf; Barbara Broekman. Leading designer Swip Stolk designed the artists books Il faut cultiver notre jardin, Hennie van der Vegt; The calling of F. Franciscus, for F. Franciscus and the artistbook Mary Waters. Besides artist books, Flatland publishes three times a year The Flatland Journal with contributions from art critics of Le Monde and The New York Times. The circulation is exclusive but nonetheless covers a broad, influential spectrum of readership around the world.
FLATLAND FOUNDATION
In 2007 Martin Rogge started a foundation to create a vibrant photography collection of museum quality. To achieve this objective the choices made by the Flatland Foundation are based upon the originality, authenticity, artistic appeal and quality of the work of artist photographers. The collection consists of Erwin Olaf, Damien Hirst, Ruud van Empel, Sam Taylor-Wood, Carla van de Puttelaar, Nazif Topçuoğlu, Desiree Dolron, Misha de Ridder, Sally Mann, Frank van der Salm, Hans op de Beeck, Hellen van Meene, The Sanchez Brothers, Keith Carter, Hellen van Meene, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Nan Goldin, Rob Hornstra, Mark Seliger, Thomas Struth, Miles Aldridge and Zhang Xiaogang.
MARTIN ROGGE
Owner/director Martin Rogge comes from a musical family, his grandmother and father played the piano professionally and his uncle played the violin in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. At the age of nine he started studying the violin. Before he started the gallery at the age of 28 in 1983, Martin played the violin, saxophone and keyboards as a professional musician in an orchestra and an ensemble as well as in a rock band, a jazz band and a folk band. Martin Rogge is a member of the jury of the Sony World Photography Awards and since 2009 jury member of the Black and White Spider Awards.
STAFF
Flatland is very proud of its experienced and exceptional staff. Willem de Poorter is the managing director of the gallery and responsible for the daily operations. Willem worked for Flatland between 2007 and 2011 as director sales and art fairs, after which he worked for two years in the United States. Before, Willem worked for the Mondriaan Stichting and was an intern at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. He holds a MA degree in art management and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration. Responsible for communication/press and editorial is Fiona van Schendel. After her MA degree in history she worked as a historian at the International Institute for Social History, where she published her book on plantations in the Dutch East Indies. Before she joined Flatland, she worked as a journalist for high-end lifestyle magazines. Lindsey Baur owns a bachelor of arts degree. She is of invaluable importance to the gallery, being responsible for production, transport and finance. Gwendolyn Vincent received her MA degree in American Studies from the University of Utrecht, and completed her internships at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. At Flatland Gallery she is responsible for sales, artists and museum enquiries. Neeltje Kleijn holds a bachelor of design degree from graduating in photography. She works at the gallery as communication assistant. Micheline Snijders is sales assistant at the gallery while she is finishing her Ma Art History and Ma Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship at the Erasmus University.
The gallery also works with external professionals, such as Constance Gounod, who assisted at Paris Photo. Constance previously worked for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and the Hayward in London and today is Deputy Editor, Saatchi Online at Saatchi Gallery in London. David Muehlfeld was responsible for the design of the new Flatland Journal. From thousends of applicants for the Design 21/Unesco design competition, Muehlfeld received twice (in 2007 and 2009) the honorable mention. Paul Bonnike, who heads his own agency in executive recruitment, and Luis Oliveira, represent the gallery in South America, predominantly in São Paulo.
MEMBERSHIP
Flatland Gallery is member of The Dutch Gallery Association (NGA), KKR (special loan agreement for art buyers) of The Mondriaan Foundation.
Flatland the movie