MAPS x ICMP x Creative Court: Parts Unknown
Photographers and artists from 13 different countries, studying at the
About this project
Under the guidance of ICMP and Creative Court, the students visited the ICMP headquarters, including its DNA laboratory that analyses samples from missing persons and family members, and held discussions with ICMP experts to inspire the development of their concepts. They then created individual pieces of art that revolve around the notion of missing and absence: What happens when someone never comes home? When they disappear without a trace?
Initiated before the pandemic times, their work gained a new resonance during the global lockdown. Combining topics such as isolation, grief, longing, and the need to be playful, the artists created Parts Unknown, with each artist’s interpretation of absence.
The stories range in topic from personal history to historical and political intersections of the past and present, to the interplay of absence and presence in photography.
Originally conceived as a book project, Parts Unknown was made into an online publication due to the COVID-19 emergency and was launched on the 15th of May 2020 with an interactive lecture on Zoom by the project's participants.
Participating photographers/artists:
Anders Birger (Denmark) - The Shadows
Atle Blekstad (Norway) - Goodbye Without Leaving
Thana Faroq (Yemen) - I don’t recognize me in the shadows
Jakob Ganslmeier (Germany) - Der falsche Herrenmensch // The fake masterrace
Kata Geibl (Hungary) - The Castle
Lena Holzer (Austria) - The Impossibility of Future
Federica Iozzo (Italy) - Every Feeling
Marta Iwanek (Canada/Ukraine/Poland) - Falling / Flying
Batuhan Keskiner (Turkey) - Toros
Xaver Könneker (Germany/Netherlands) - Kodak knows no dark days
Anastasia Mityukova (Switzerland) - Between the lines
Jana Romanova (Russia) - Building a Monument
Alexa Vachon (Canada) - It’s not him, mom
Guided by:
Oliver Chanarin, Henk Wildschut, Rabiaâ Benlahbib, Shailoh Phillips, Thomas Bragdon and Adam Broomberg.
Partners:
Creative Court
ICMP (International Commission on Missing Persons)
Website developed & designed by Yoiomi
Parts Unknown in FOAM magazine #57: In Limbo