Crime photography show stirs hot debate

The Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne inaugurates "The Scene of the Crime", an exhibition dedicated to the macabre. Although the pictures taken by Swiss forensics photographer Rudolphe Reiss almost a century ago were meant as scientific documentation, they are strangely esthetic. It is this fine divide between art and voyeurism that is fueling a hot debate that will no doubt continue until the exhibition ends on 25 October 2009. “The Scene of the Crime” at the world-famous Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne is an exhibition that is not for the light-hearted. The pictures from the onset are gruesome and they only get worse. This is the daily fare of crime squads and profilers that modern-day television loves to glamorize. Except that in this case, reality cannot be zapped.
The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Elysée and the forensics institute of Lausanne University, which was originally founded by Reiss and where several thousands of his photographic plates are stored. It has taken the curator, Daniel Girardin and the Vice-director of the Institute, Christophe Champon, four years to carefully select 120 images from the 4,600 that were scanned.
The pictures on display, in large black and white prints that are sometimes of startling beauty, include murders, various forms of suicide and death accidents of men and women of different ages, most of them belonging to farm hands, chamber maids and ruffians. This exhibition clearly wants us to believe, as Reiss did, that crime is a companion to the underclass.
“I admit that I am not completely comfortable to be showing some of these photographs,” says Champon. “But on the other hand we cannot hide reality.” Although he deals with death as a matter of course, Champon shows a touching regard for the dead.
“Our intention is not to shock, but to show the existential condition of the human race” says Girardin. “The pictures document not the crimes, but the scenes where they took place,” he adds, reminding us that the forensics photographs of that time were often the only way to identify victims (no dental records, no identity cards, no DNA samples).
But photography must also have an esthetic component and in the case of Reiss, explains Girardin, there is a sense of the theatrical as well. He is convinced that Reiss’s photographs deserve to be shown in a museum.
Coming just a year after another show that he also curated on the theme of images that provoke “Controverse” (the title of the show), Girardin is being accused of sensationalism and, as one art critic put it, keeping an eye on the box office. (Just for the record, “Controverse” is now being seen by crowds in Paris and will then go to Brussels.)
“I don't think that's true!” Girardin answered during a lively debate at the museum “What interests me are pictures that are strong, not always pleasant to view, but that really strike a chord. We could have filled the museum with truly unbearable pictures but we didn’t.”
In the view of one of the debate’s participants, the pictures are unbearable enough. The problem said Alexandre Feser, a judge, who is also president of the la Côte Tribunal, is that the acts of violence are presented gratuitously, with no context or story. The fact that they are real makes them even more “brutal”. He fears that a show like the one at the Elysée only contributes to trivializing violence, which he feels is a trend that must be combated.
“The fact that we are asking ourselves all these questions is a good thing” said Girardin “There is, after all, a timelessness to horror that cannot be ignored.”
The debate panel, composed of the above-mentioned participants, another lawyer and a theatre director, was moderated by the Thierry Meyer, who as chief editor of the 24 Heures newspaper, must also steer the course between information and titillation. “Are we not torn between fascination and repulsion?” he asked.
“Fascination is the last thing we want people to feel” warned Chambon.
MUSEUM’S WARNING:
 
“SOME OF THE IMAGES WHICH ARE PRESENTED MAY SHOCK. THE MUSÉE DE L’ELYSÉE SUGGESTS THAT SENSITIVE PEOPLE AND CHILDREN UNDER 14 SHOULD NOT VISIT THE EXHIBITION.”
Musée de l'Elysée
18, avenue de l'Elysée
1014 Lausanne - Switzerland
T +41 21 316 99 11

The Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne inaugurates "The Scene of the Crime", an exhibition dedicated to the macabre. Although the pictures taken by Swiss forensics photographer Rudolphe Reiss almost a century ago were meant as scientific documentation, they are strangely esthetic. It is this fine divide between art and voyeurism that is fueling a hot debate that will no doubt continue until the exhibition ends on 25 October 2009. “The Scene of the Crime” at the world-famous Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne is an exhibition that is not for the light-hearted. The pictures from the onset are gruesome and they only get worse. This is the daily fare of crime squads and profilers that modern-day television loves to glamorize. Except that in this case, reality cannot be zapped.
The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Elysée and the forensics institute of Lausanne University, which was originally founded by Reiss and where several thousands of his photographic plates are stored. It has taken the curator, Daniel Girardin and the Vice-director of the Institute, Christophe Champon, four years to carefully select 120 images from the 4,600 that were scanned.
The pictures on display, in large black and white prints that are sometimes of startling beauty, include murders, various forms of suicide and death accidents of men and women of different ages, most of them belonging to farm hands, chamber maids and ruffians. This exhibition clearly wants us to believe, as Reiss did, that crime is a companion to the underclass.
“I admit that I am not completely comfortable to be showing some of these photographs,” says Champon. “But on the other hand we cannot hide reality.” Although he deals with death as a matter of course, Champon shows a touching regard for the dead.
“Our intention is not to shock, but to show the existential condition of the human race” says Girardin. “The pictures document not the crimes, but the scenes where they took place,” he adds, reminding us that the forensics photographs of that time were often the only way to identify victims (no dental records, no identity cards, no DNA samples).
But photography must also have an esthetic component and in the case of Reiss, explains Girardin, there is a sense of the theatrical as well. He is convinced that Reiss’s photographs deserve to be shown in a museum.
Coming just a year after another show that he also curated on the theme of images that provoke “Controverse” (the title of the show), Girardin is being accused of sensationalism and, as one art critic put it, keeping an eye on the box office. (Just for the record, “Controverse” is now being seen by crowds in Paris and will then go to Brussels.)
“I don't think that's true!” Girardin answered during a lively debate at the museum “What interests me are pictures that are strong, not always pleasant to view, but that really strike a chord. We could have filled the museum with truly unbearable pictures but we didn’t.”
In the view of one of the debate’s participants, the pictures are unbearable enough. The problem said Alexandre Feser, a judge, who is also president of the la Côte Tribunal, is that the acts of violence are presented gratuitously, with no context or story. The fact that they are real makes them even more “brutal”. He fears that a show like the one at the Elysée only contributes to trivializing violence, which he feels is a trend that must be combated.
“The fact that we are asking ourselves all these questions is a good thing” said Girardin “There is, after all, a timelessness to horror that cannot be ignored.”
The debate panel, composed of the above-mentioned participants, another lawyer and a theatre director, was moderated by the Thierry Meyer, who as chief editor of the 24 Heures newspaper, must also steer the course between information and titillation. “Are we not torn between fascination and repulsion?” he asked.
“Fascination is the last thing we want people to feel” warned Chambon.
MUSEUM’S WARNING:
 
“SOME OF THE IMAGES WHICH ARE PRESENTED MAY SHOCK. THE MUSÉE DE L’ELYSÉE SUGGESTS THAT SENSITIVE PEOPLE AND CHILDREN UNDER 14 SHOULD NOT VISIT THE EXHIBITION.”
Musée de l'Elysée
18, avenue de l'Elysée
1014 Lausanne - Switzerland
T +41 21 316 99 11

Open Tuesday to Sunday : 11:00 to 18:00.