Corporate (2019-ongoing)
When the media reports on economics, they usually show images of workers or operational personnel somewhere in the production chain. If white collar employees are depicted at all, it’s mostly though stereotypical stock photography. Men and women in suits, smiling wide and shaking hands, represent the dynamic character and diversity that the company wants to radiate.
Photographer Nick Hannes went to the head offices of a number of banks and financial companies in The Netherlands and Belgium to depict office life in a documentary way. He pays particular attention to the spatial aspect and contemporary office design. Taylorist offices with tight rows of desks are only known from films nowadays. The organic office islands of the 70s evolved under the impulse of digitization to modular systems and clean desk policy. Glass partitions stand for openness and transparency. The new workplace is social, flexible, comfortable and technological. There are informal meeting rooms for brainstorming, telephone capsules for more privacy, playrooms and intimately lit lounges for relaxation, and quiet places to concentrate. Office furniture is fashionable, homely and ergonomic. Company restaurants offer healthy meals and corporate mindfulness is on the rise. There is fitness, a prayer room and art on the wall. Well-being in the workplace is important in a time characterized by stress and burn-outs.
Hannes’s photographs are subtle observations of an astonished outsider who doesn’t want to criticize or be a mouthpiece. In a universe not exactly known for visual spectacle, he focuses on the relationship between man and his workplace. He searches for personal accents in a generic environment, meandering along the thin dividing line between banality and surprise, between humour and alienation.
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IMAGINING SCIENCE
This series was commissioned by the University of Groningen and Noorderlicht, based on the idea that science and art have much in common: an urge to explore the world around us and to make acquired knowledge tangible, to share it. Each year the RUG issues a photographic commission to create new work, which is inspired by university research whose subject is in keeping with the Noorderlicht theme in that year. In the long term, this captures a multifaceted picture of scientific life. ‘Corporate’ is the third edition in the commission cycle.
