Joachim Koester. Patterns Shimmers Scenes

Værkerne i Joachim Koesters udstilling på SMK, Patterns, Shimmers, Scenes, kan alle forstås som rum-tid-rejser i generationer af bevidstheder, sådan som de har aflejret sig i vores geografiske landskaber og i ting, vi omgiver os med. De kan forstås som det, Joachim Koester med egne ord har kaldt et “indeks over usynlige ting.” Man kan betragte udstillingens værker, som det de er: gådefulde billeder af forladte steder med historier, der afslører utrolige fortider, men de kan også bruges til noget. Hvert enkelt værk kan ses som en manual eller teknik til, hvordan man selv kan udvide bevidstheden om de dybere aflejringer i ens sind og ens omgivelser og måske begynde at forstå de historiske kræfter, der afgør, hvilke begivenheder der huskes, og hvilke der lægges i graven. Bogens forord er skrevet af SMK’s direktør Mikkel Bogh og forlagsredaktør Cecilie Høgsbro Østergaard og efterfølges af museumsinspektør og seniorforsker Vibeke Vibolt Knudsens guide til Koesters fotografiske oeuvre.
Publikationen indeholder desuden otte tekster skrevet af Koester selv til udvalgte værker i udstillingen.

The works in Joachim Koester’s exhibition at SMK, Patterns, Shimmers, Scenes, can all be understood as space-time journeys through generations of consciousness, as they have settled in our landscapes and the things with which we surround ourselves. They can be understood as what Koester has in his own words called an “index of invisible things.” One can view the works in the exhibition for what they are: enigmatic images of deserted places, with histories that reveal incredible pasts; but they can also have a use. Every single work can be seen as a manual or a technique for expanding one’s own consciousness about the deeper deposits in one’s mind and one’s surroundings, and perhaps for beginning to understand the historical forces which determine which events are remembered, and which are laid to rest.
The foreword of the book is written by the director of the SMK, Mikkel Bogh, and editor in chief, Cecilie Høgsbro Østergaard, and is followed by a guide to Joachim Koester’s photographic work written by curator and senior researcher Vibeke Vibolt Knudsen.
The book also contains eight texts written by Koester himself for some selected works from the exhibition.