Wundercamera: Savannah

Wundercamera: Savannah is a site-specific exhibition bringing together works of art produced by contemporary photographers exploring the world of museums—including museums of natural history, historic houses, and fine and decorative arts institutions. The works in Wundercamera: Savannah focus on different aspects of the museum and gallery culture as subject matter, all interpreted through the lenses of individual contemporary photographers. By presenting museum spaces as artistic subjects, Wundercamera: Savannah will urge individuals to see these spaces with new eyes, morphing visitors into part of the art, and capturing that transformative moment when art and viewer intersect.

Curated by German-born, London-based photographer Klaus Wehner (aka Museum Clausum), Wundercamera debuted at Pitzhanger Manor Gallery and House followed by the Manchester Metropolitan University’s Holden Gallery, both in 2014, and supported by the Arts Council England. Wundercamera: Savannah will extend the exhibition’s conversation through newly commissioned site-specific photos of Telfair Museums taken by Wehner to be incorporated into the installation. Wundercamera: Savannah is the recipient of a prestigious NEA: Art Works grant.

About Klaus Wehner and Museum Clausum:
Klaus Wehner is a visual artist whose work has focused on the museum for a number of years. He holds a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2012). The name, Museum Clausum, which translates as ‘enclosed’ or ‘sealed’ museum, is adopted from Sir Thomas Browne’s 17th Century pamphlet, ‘Musaeum Clausum’, an inventory of fantasized objects that form a fictional collection. This ironic treatise on the Early Modern novelty of assembling objects in the manner of a wunderkammer is hence a comment on the questionable artificiality of museum-type display, as old as the museum itself. One central aim of the Museum Clausum remains to produce temporary exhibitions that reflect on our relationship to objects and the importance of the role and function of museums for our culture and self-awareness. Museum Clausum exhibitions reflect on the culture of exhibiting by putting museums on display.

Exhibition overview from museum website