Went to DO NOT REFREEZE yesterday at the Cornerhouse. I'm not normally a big fan of the Cornerhouse, besides the bookshop and their beans on toast! But this is a fantastic show! without doubt the best one in Manchester for a while.. Featuring the photographs of Arno Fischer, Sibylle Bergemann, Helga Paris, Evelyn Richter, Maria Sewcz, Erasmus Schroeter, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Ulrich Wust, and Ursula Arnold, It is a fine display of gritty classic, black & white photographs in the tradition of Magnum. Taken during The Cold War (hence the title) mainly in the former East Germany they give a glimpse of life behind the Iron Curtain over a forty year period.
Displayed over all three of The Cornerhouses galleries and showing work from the 1950s right though to the 1990s this is certainly an attempt by the curator Matthew Shaul to bring the work of these gifted photographers to a wider audience, and so he should! The work is both diverse and powerful, it will be a while before I can get the images made by Gundula Schulze Eldowy out of my head. And that, like the work of the best of the Magnum photographers is how it should be. No gallery gimmicks such as roundabout's or Kylie's knickers just visuals that burn the back of your eyes and get your mind moving......
DO NOT REFREEZE can be seen until 17th June and you really should........
