Pompidou Metz opens an unprecedented exhibition dedicated to paparazzi photography

METZ.- Centre Pompidou-Metz dedicates an unprecedented exhibition to the phenomenon and aesthetic of paparazzi photography through more than 600 works (photography, painting, video, sculpture, installation, etc.).

Covering fifty years of celebrities caught in the lens, Paparazzi! Photographers, stars and artists considers the paparazzo at work by examining the complex and fascinating ties that form between photographer and photographed, going on to reveal the paparazzi influence on fashion photography.

By associating some of the genre’s leading names, including Ron Galella, Pascal Rostain and Bruno Mouron, Tazio Secchiaroli, with reflections on this modern-day myth by Richard Avedon, Raymond Depardon, William Klein, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol, Paparazzi! Photographers, stars and artists sets out to define the paparazzi aesthetic.

The exhibition is divided into three parts: Photographers, Stars and Artists.

A man looks at a picture by French-Italian Jean Pigozzi representing British singer Mick Jagger and Austrian-born US actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes, on the French Riviera, displayed at the exhibition “Paparazzi ! photographes, stars et artistes” at the Pompidou Museum, in Metz, eastern France, on February 20, 2014. The event will run from February 26 to June 9,2014. AFP PHOTO / JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN.

RED CARPET (INTRODUCTION)
The visitor steps into the exhibition space to be immediately confronted with paparazzi flashes from an installation by Malachi Farrell, titled Interview (Paparazzi). Photographs showing a pack of paparazzi “hunting their prey” create a mise en abyme that plunges the visitor into a new role as a star, while giving them a taste of the pressure celebrities are under.

PHOTOGRAPHERS
A profession
The profession of paparazzo is more complex than it seems. Paparazzi must be ingenious, mounting what are often delicate, high-risk operations. They each have their tricks of the trade and tales to tell which together form the grand story of “paparazzism”.

In a series of interviews with paparazzi, a presentation of their tools (including spy cameras, long lenses and disguises), photographs by Francis Apesteguy, Olivier Mirguet, Jessica Dimmock and Christophe Beauregard, and an excerpt from Raymond Depardon’s Reporters film, this section goes behind-the-scenes of the paparazzi.

Myths
The figure of the paparazzo was invented by Federico Fellini in 1960. The name is a contraction of “pappataci” (mosquitoes) and “ragazzi” (ruffians). The paparazzo is portrayed as a post-modern anti-hero. Since La Dolce Vita, he has become one of the mythical figures of popular culture.

Excerpts from films by Dario Argento, Federico Fellini, Brian De Palma, Louis Malle and Andrzej Zulawski, from the 1930s to the present, reveal the public’s perception of the paparazzo as a solitary figure, often down on his luck. Devoid of morals or scruples, and therefore hard to love, he is the double negative of the war correspondent.