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What Photography has in Common with an Empty Vase is a multifaceted body of work by Edgar Martinsdeveloped from a collaboration with GRAIN Projects and HMP Birmingham (the largest, category B prison in the Midlands).  The collaboration was based on engagement with the prison’s inmates and their families as well as a myriad of other local organisations and individuals. Using the social context of incarceration as a starting point, artist Edgar Martins explores the philosophical concept of absence, and addresses a broader consideration of the status of the photograph when questions of visibility, ethics, aesthetics and documentation intersect. By giving a voice to inmates and their families and addressing prison as a set of social relations  rather than a mere geographical entity, Martins’ work proposes to rethink and counter the sort of imagery normally associated with incarceration.

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This show will include especially commissioned works by Edgar Martins, following his recent series What Photography has in Common with an Empty, a project developed with Grain Projects, HMP Birmingham and its inmates and families.

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For the launch of the exhibition Edgar Martins will be hosting a talk with ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy.

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The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite and 00:00.00 were also awarded second-prize in the Architecture series.

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Death has a hundred hands and walks by a thousand ways. —T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral, 1935 Photo Oxford presents the UK premiere of Edgar Martins’ new work Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes. Produced in collaboration with the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Portugal, Martins’ work is borne out of a frustration with photography’s inability to show the nature of death, as opposed to what he describes as the media’s ‘glorification of the gory and the bizarre’. Contemporary depictions of death focus on spectacle, rather than attempt to create the space to encourage an understanding of its causes, contexts and consequences and Martin seeks to bring these to the fore. The physicality of death is inevitably horrible and often shocking, while its literal depiction in photography – of the dead body in particular – is intrusive. Subjects are powerless, unable to shield their faces or refuse. The challenge of the photograph then, and the photographer, is to communicate something meaningful about death and investigate its anthropological, social and historical contexts as well as its personal relevance. Through the use of new photography, appropriating previously unseen archive material – including historical photographs, confidential case and medical files, crime and suicide-scene evidence – installation and projections, Martin’s offers a poignant study that proposes to scrutinise, expose and hold in tension many of the contradictions and problems inherent in the depiction on death, as well as on language and semiotics. The artist deploys both documentary photography approaches and fiction and in turn, his series of photographs and text becomes a process of unveiling, rather than straightforward, factual accounts. Inspired by his own experience of traumatic death, Martins’ project focuses on violent death and, in particular, suicide. In doing so, he meditates on the often unforeseeable but always inevitable nature of mortality and, investigates its legacies through the depiction of material evidence - from extracts from suicide notes, to press photographs reporting family murders to photographic records of deceased persons’ belongings. This archive material is variously manipulated by Martins, yet forever haunted by the spectres of its victims or perpetrators. Martins photographs become like late nineteenth and early twentieth century spirit photographs, only without the absurd (but for the recipient, tangible and moving) double exposures of ghostly faces or ectoplasm. They move to the heart of the matter, exploring motivation and intent rather than venture into the shocking or grotesque. Each iteration of Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes is unique, responding to the space and location in which it is displayed. Presented in complex and suggestive sequences, the project is a visual journey towards the struggle of contemplating death, in search of people, places and images that have connection with us on the far side of time.  Curated by Tim Clark and Greg Hobson

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The State of Photography II will explore, debate and review how photographers and photography practice develops and responds in our current challenging times. How do we look at our world today and what does the world look like to photographers? THE STATE OF PHOTOGRAPHY II Friday 16th June 20179:30 am – 17:30 pmBirmingham City University, The Parkside Building, B4 7BE We invite acclaimed and outstanding photographers and artists who document the world around us to showcase their recent work. Each have different approaches to making their work which is issue based. They have been artist, story teller, observer, participant, explorer and poet. Their work has been made through collaboration, participation, community engagement, research and obstinacy. Some document communities and people they are familiar with others offer external perspectives on social issues and situations. Does one offer a better way to tell a story? Is it important to come from a community or do you become too involved? Is it more objective to come in from the outside? How do we insure the engagement is sincere and does not exploit? The documentary role of photography is changing, particularly as work is commissioned and made for gallery settings. Photography can impart the greatest truth of our times and sheds light on injustices, inequality and other aspects of our society. It has been and remains one of the strongest vehicles for change as photographers explore polities, gender, society, sexuality, diversity, economics and environment. It seems today – a time of political unrest, flux and crisis – more essential than ever to explore the role that photography can play. During the Symposium we will hear from the perspective of the photographer, curator and academic. They share our concerns about the present and offer a diverse range of practices, experiences and stories that document the state of humanity and the world today. The State of Photography Symposium aims to present new bodies of work, question and challenge ideas, as well as offering advice and talking about positive approaches to influence change, provoke, prompt and give a voice. We will hear from and celebrate those that create self-initiated projects and commissioned bodies of work and see a range of photographic practices that are at the cutting edge of photography now. Speakers include: Andrew Jackson Anthony Luvera Camilla Brown David Severn Edgar Martins John Hillman Kajal Nisha Patel Mahtab Hussain Michelle Sank Paul Herrmann (Redeye) Peta Murphy Burke (Arts Council England) Simon Constantine

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The event will consist of the screening of "The Prison in Twelve Landscapes" by Brett Story (2016), followed by a presentation on the ideas underpinning her work. In the afternoon Edgar Martins’ will give an overview of his photographic work and discuss his approach to developing and extending documentary practice.

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Works from the Novo Banco collection, including Candida Hofer, Edgar Martins, Elger Esser, Gregpry Crewdson, Julião Sarmento, Matt Mullican, Richard Misrach, William Eggleston, Wolfganf Tilmans.

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This exhibition will also be showcased at Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, & Museu da Electricidade (Lisbon), as well as Centro de Arte José de Guimarães (Portugal).

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Conceived around the simple premise of 'slowing down time',  this project undertakes an examination and articulation of the world of flux and flow that we live in, a world defined, haunted and consumed by mobility and transience. Symptomatically titled 0:00.00, this series was produced with long exposures of 5 - 45mins. Photographing with prolonged exposures in a fast moving environment represented a significant challenge, thus requiring a great deal of coordination and support from BMW. All the images were therefore produced during scheduled and enforced production breaks. 0:00.00 represents the final phase of an overarching project which has engaged with environments as varied as airports (When Light Casts no Shadow 2008), hydropwer plants (The Time Machine, 2012) and space facilities (The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite, 2014) and whose main goal has been to examine and re-evaluate our relationship with technology and industry and its impact on our social and cultural consciousness. To place an advanced order, please contact The Moth House.

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This exhibition will include images from the series This is not a House, A Metaphysical Survery of British Dwellings and The Rate of Convergence of Two Opposing System Trajectories

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For the first time in the worldwide tour of this work, Edgar Martins' exhibition will include a mixed media layout, with photographs and other artworks  displayed alongside original ESA technological hardware as well as personal, space-flown possessions of ESA astronauts.

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Edgar Martins contributes a guest post to super-collider.com .

Produced between 2012 and 2014 with the European Space Agency, this project represents the most comprehensive survey ever assembled about a modern day scientific and space exploration organisation.The projects engages with ESA and its partners’ programs , whilst also reflecting on the new politics of space exploration as well as the impact of this kind of technological application on our social consciousness. If you would like to acquire this book, please click here. Orders will be shipped at the end of April.

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The showrooms are set over four floors of a classical townhouse, which was built as the London palace for the Bishop of Ely in 1772 and remained the Episcopal residence until 1909. The Bishop employed Robert Taylor to draw up the designs for the building, a renowned neo-classical architect famed for the figure of ‘the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, amongst other designs. Ely House, with its historical importance and exceptional interiors, is the ideal setting for this unique collaboration.

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Private-view of Why not live for Art scheduled to take place at Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Japan. This exhibition will feature a selection of works from Asian private collections, including images from the series A Metaphysical Survey of British Dwellings.

Talk at Publishing Week Symposium, Diffusion Festival, Chapter House, Cardiff, 11:45am. Event chair: Christiane Monarchi

Private-view of Landmark: the Fields of Photography (group show) @ Sommerset House, London. This exhibition will feature images from the series The Accidental Theorist & When Light Casts no Shadow.

Private-view of This is not a House @ The Gallery of Photography, Dublin. This touring exhibition is sponsored by The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) & Instituto Camões.

Private-view of Intersections: Art & Science (group show) @ The Weizmann Institute, Rehovot (Israel). Thos exhibition will feature works from the series The Time Machine.

Private view of Square Up, Esposizione di fotografia contemporanea (group show) @ Atelier dell'Arco Amoroso, Ancona, Piazza del Plebiscito, Acona (Italy). Exhibition curated by: Daniele De Luigi and promoted by Associazione white.fish.tank. This exhibition will run until the 30th November 2012.

Filming for documentary titled Entre Imagens, scheduled to be launched in 2014. For a trailer of the documentary, please click here. Entre Images is a project by Pedro Macedo & Sérgio Mah and it consists of a documentary series about 13 renowned Portuguese visual artists who work with Photography. Episode 2 is dedicated to my practice.

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Private view of 'Camp Out: Finding Home in an Unstable World' (group show) @ Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, USA. This exhibition will run until the 30th Sepetmber 2012 and will feature works from the series This is not a House.

Private-view of This is not a House @ The Wapping Project Bankside (London). This exhibition is sponsored by The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) & Instituto Camões.

Private-view of Arte Portuguesa do Século XX 1960 - 2010 (group show) @ Museu do Chiado, Lisbon. This exhibition will run until 17th June 2012 and will feature images from the series The Accidental Theorist.

Work featured in Sotheby's Guide to Collecting Photography, published by Thames & Hudson & edited by Jocelyn Phillips. To purchase title, click here.

To view a video about the exhibition please <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtqHB00gsRc">click here</a>.

Private view of Da Cartografia do Poder aos Itinerários do Saber (group show) @ Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra - a FCTUC & Museu Nacional - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro co-production. This exhibition will also be presented at Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.

Private-view of The Time Machine @ Wapping project Bankside. A monograph by the same title will be launched at the gallery in January 2012.

Launch of new monograph entitled This is not a House, published by Dewi Lewis. A related limited-edition title with a print run of 150 copies will be launched at the same time. This book will include an 8x10" C-type print.

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Private-view of About a Minute (group show) @ The Gopher Hole (London). About a Minute is the inaugural exhibition at The Gopher Hole, a new project space in Hoxton founded by aberrant architect Beatrice Galilee.

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