Prague Hotels - Prague Apartments

Exhibition of Erwin Olaf in Prague 2009

A Dutch photographer, Erwin Olaf (b. 1959), will be showing a selection of his photographs from five recent series at Langhans Gallery Prague, and one set from the beginning of the 1990s.
The exhibition ‘A Choreography of Emotions’ ( contains works from his latest series 'Fall', as well from series 'Blacks', 'Rain', 'Hope' and 'Grief' ) at Langhans Gallery Prague presents a selection of photographic series by the acclaimed Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, from 2004 to 2008. In addition, it includes Blacks, a series of black-and-white photographs from 1990. The exhibition is being held as part of the NethWorks.cz festival of contemporary Netherlands culture. Its curator is Jiří Ptáček.

Admission: Concessions (children, students) - 30 czk
Group rate (ten or more visitors together) - 20 czk
Seniors 70+ and ZTP card holders - free
The price of admission includes the use of the Reading-room

Adress: Langhans Galerie Praha, Vodičkova 37, Prague 1
see details on offical website of gallery
01 April 2009 till 07 June 2009, open daily (except Mondays) from 1 pm to 7 pm

The Life of Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf was born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in 1959. He initially wanted to become a journalist, and in the second half of the 1970s attended the School of Journalism in Utrecht. It was here that he became enthusiastic about photography and film. Beginning in 1980 he worked as an assistant photographer to André Ruigrok. In the course of the 1980s his own photographs began to be published in periodicals, and he begin to show his work at exhibitions. For his black-and-white series Chessmen (1988) he was given First Prize in the Young European Photographers competition and his photos were exhibited in the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Since the beginning of the 1990s he has also devoted himself to making music videos.
Olaf’s work with the Czech designer Bořek Šípek dates from 1991. Commissioned by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, he went to Slovakia to photograph Šípek’s design work in the setting of Gypsy villages.
Olaf exhibits his works regularly in private galleries all over the world. The year it was made, the series Royal Blood (1998) was shown as part of the Paris Photo fair. He has had solo exhibitions organized by institutions like the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1991), the Frankfurter Kunstverein (1995), the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1998), the Museum of Art, Łódź (2003), the Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (2005), and the Hague Museum of Photography, (2008). While the Prague exhibition is still running, an exhibition of Olaf’s works will open in the Institut Neerlandais, Paris.
Olaf’s art photography coexists with his commercial work. He is among the most sought-after photographers in advertising. Among the companies that have asked him to do their campaigns are Heineken, Diesel, Nicorette, and Lavazza. He has received several important prizes for his work, including the 1998 Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his work on a campaign for Diesel clothing.
A number of his photographic series are published in catalogues and books. A monograph of his recent photography series and films was published last year by Aperture, New York.

- some content taken from offical website