When you enter "Frei schwimmer," the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition currently at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (TOC), one of the first things you notice is that the photographs on display are attached to the walls with tape or paper clips.
After taking in a few of the images to gauge what kind of show you are seeing, you notice the lack of titles (they're printed in a handout). Then gradually the photographs themselves capture your attention despite the lack of formal display. The images start to assemble into a fluid series of arresting visual experiences.
The first photographer to ever win the Tate Gallery's prestigious Turner Prize (2000), Tillmans is doing something drastically different with photography. Born and raised in Germany, he started his career documenting the lives of his friends and the German club scene through the late '80s and '90s for the magazines i-D, Interview and index.
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