Nan Goldin is one of the most high-profile artists of our time. Her view of the joys and sorrows of human life through the lens of her camera is legendary. Her photos of herself and her friends are snapshots of intimacy and coupling, the quotidian and wild parties. She makes social issues visible and negotiable, even far beyond the art world. In the largest gallery of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Nan Goldin returns to the origins of her artistic practice with the exhibition This Will Not End Well. As a filmmaker, she presents slideshows consisting of thousands of photos in six unique buildings, supported by music, voice-overs, and archive material.
Although Goldin's photography is best known, her artist practice began around 1980 presenting eclectic slideshows of hundreds of photographs to live audiences in clubs and underground movie theaters. She updated her slideshows every time, edited them again and again and used multiple projectors. These ever-changing slideshows formed the foundation of her artistic practice. Over the past forty years, she has produced a variety of slideshows — from portraits of her friends to stories of traumatic family events. She continuously adds new elements to her works, including moving images, musical compositions and archive material. At the Stedelijk she returns to her origins and presents slide slows in six rooms, consisting of thousands of photos, music, voice-overs and archive material.
