Norbert Enker
photographer
laif Agency
Damme, Deutschland
EXHIBITIONS:
1986 Ruhrlandmuseum, Essen
1988 Aalto-theatre, Essen, diploma
1989 RWAG, Dortmund (S): „ALBANIA“
1989 Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen
1989 Espace van Gogh, Arles
1990 Monat der Photographie, Kleve
1997 Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Gera, (Aenne-Biermann-Preis)
1997 Internationale Fototage, Herten
1998 Laif-Galerie, Köln (S): "ALBANIA"
2001 Altonaer Museum, Hamburg: ): "ALBANIA"
2004 Goethe-Institut, Sofia: “Rasenzauber”, Positionen zeitgenössischer Fotografie
2005 Palazzo Venezia, Rom
2009 Goethe-Institute in Ankara, Athen, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Brasilia, Brüssel, Chennai, Cordoba,Curitiba, Dhaka, Genua, La Paz, London, Lyon, Helsinki, Madrid, Mexiko, Montreal, Porto Alegre, Rabat, Riga, Salvador de Bahia, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sao Paulo, Sarajewo, Seoul, Singapur, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Yaoundé, Zagreb, (S): “BORDERLINE CASE”
2009 Stiftung Brandenburger Tor/Max Liebermann Haus, Berlin: “BORDERLINE CASE”
2009 Aplanat-Galerie für Fotografie, Hamburg (S): “BORDERLINE CASE”
2011 Internationales Fotobuch Festival, shortlist Dummy Award, Kassel
2011 Kunstverein ‘Die Wassermühle Lohne e.V.’ (S): “STRUKTURELL”
2012 Goethe-Institut Genua, shortfilm:“GERMANY’s FAIRY TALE FORESTS“
2013 Goethe-Zentrum Windhoek/Namibia, Kurzfilm: “GERMANY’s FAIRY TALE FORESTS“
2013 Nuit de la Photographie, Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen
2013 und 2014 Kunstspur, Atelierhaus Alte Schule, Essen
2014 7. LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International, Kurzfilmwettbewerb
2014 Deutsches Märchenmuseum, Bad Oeynhausen (S)
2014 Goethe-Institut Rabat/Casablanca (S): “BORDERLINE CASE”
2014 Projektzeit, im Rahmen der bild.sprachen-Plattform für Fotografie “SURPRISE ME”
2015 Regierungspräsidium Kassel (S): “GERMANY’s FAIRY TALE FORESTS“
2004 - Fuji Euro Press Photo Award, 1989 - Kodak European Award
- Arts
- Corporate
- Editorial
- Portrait
Germany's Fairy Tale Forests
Norbert Enker
The forest was not only a source of inspiration romantic imagination, but also the birthplace of fairy tales - a world of princes and princesses, witches and wolves, plucky children, wicked stepmothers and talking
animals.
The fairy tales may seem like harmless children's stories, but make no mistake: They are full of violence and cruelty. A boy is fattened up to be slaughtered and cooked; a girl is eaten alive by a wild animal and a woman poisoning her step child. Most of the crimes described in fairy tales would today be a case for the FBI.
I went on the trail of fairy tales and on a photographic research in fairy tale forests but didn’t want to transfigure or idealise them, but appreciate what they were and still are for me and many little and those adults who were children themself at one stage: Places of childhood remembrances which wait for rediscovery or even revival.”
Borderline Case
Norbert Enker
– THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Denis Brudna, PHOTO NEWS 09/2009
... on December 25, 1989, photographer Norbert Enker went to Berlin. Like others, he also walked along the Wall, switched sides after the first breakthroughs and took photographs of scenes which are absolutely unique. Until March 1992, he visited Berlin quite often and took photos of the constantly changing border situation and of the small, everyday stories he observed. He has exposed over 250 rolls of film – documents and snapshots [along the Wall] – which have expanded into an opulent, historical archive.
Enker's pictures show no masses of people, but rather individuals engaged in crossing the sides with hesitation. Even on the formal side, the Wall is pre-sented in its stark beauty. Also, pictures of the Wall as a concrete object, as an asolutely absurd construction dissecting the middle of the city, or as seen in the green periphery of Berlin. A bulwark which was intended to protect, however, became a prison wall...