Artist Statement
For a long time I have been drawn to cityscapes and the weaving of the very textures that make the urban fabric: walls, pavement, windows, artificial light… More recently, I decided to turn my lens toward the people living within those spaces. Subsequently, my attention shifted from defining the metropolis through its architecture to understanding the city as a container for poetic and melancholic isolation.
I first set out to photograph candid street portraits of people engaged in brief moments of introspection in the places where anonymous crowds naturally gather as part of a seemingly collective experience.
However, roaming the commercial streets and shopping areas, I could no longer find that inner gaze I was expecting. Instead I observed faces turned downward, their absent eyes now locked onto screens. In the city of the twenty-first century the commonly described urban solitude seems to be amplified by the constant urge to look for connection through the digital network.
Amid crowds rallied under the banner of consumerism I found a contemporary form of solitude, and ultimately the inevitable opacity of the other.
About Olivier Marceny
Olivier received a Masters in Photography in Paris, and a Masters in Film in New York. His eclectic interests have seen him work in the music industry, TV & commercials production, independent film, festivals, and documentaries, variously as photographer, cinematographer, editor, and director.
In 2014 he settled in Taipei, while working as cameraman and editor for “Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema” (光陰的故事-台灣新電影, Venice Film Festival 2014). Since then, he has directed a short drama, “Arterial / 活血”, recipient of the 2015 Kaohsiung film grant, while working predominantly as a professional architectural photographer, taking assignments for builders, developers, architects and interior designers in Taiwan and across the Asian region.
He has also begun developing several personal photo projects, in particular around themes of the cityscape and the individual in the urban environment. “The Forum” is the first he is making public.
Olivier Marceny: THE FORUM
Date│04.16.2022 – 05.22.2022
Opening│04.16 2022 @14:30
Artist’s Talk｜04.16, 2022 @15:00
Curated by│Edward, I-Chien CHIU (Tokyo University of the Arts, phD)
Location│1839 Contemporary Gallery
TEL│02-2778 8458
Open hours│Tue.-Sun. 11:00-19:00
Curator│Edward CHIU