Danish Cool: Keld Helmer-Petersen, Photography and the Photobook

The research based exhibition Keld Helmer-Petersen, Photography and the Photobook presents the ground-breaking work of late Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen (1920-2013). It offers an exclusive insight into his artistic experiments with the media of photography and photobooks.

Focusing on his last work - the photobook Black Light from 2014 - the exhibition is built around Helmer-Petersen’s photographic book publications, the original versions of which are today rare collector’s items. In the exhibition the photobooks are put into perspective by a small collection of Helmer-Petersen’s photographs, which are displayed as projections in a large format. Like the photobooks, these photographs, selected from five different photographic series, constitute a catalogue of Helmer Petersen’s artistic practice. The series illustrate different phases in Helmer-Petersen’s photographic oeuvre, and they comprise a number of recurring motifs in his photographs. The exhibition is explained in a text consisting of three short chapters, introducing the main themes of the exhibition.

The archival materials have not previously been assembled and showcased. It is also the first time Helmer-Petersen’s photographic book publications are exhibited in their entirety, and that his work is shown in China.

Helmer-Petersen’s photography is represented in collections and museums around the world, including Museum of Modern Art, New York and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. His work is available at The Rocket Gallery in London.