Lentz Collection

Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam from collectorspace on Vimeo.

First Seen (2008) is an installation constituent of a framed vintage album print, a book, and a magnifying glass. In this work, Matts Leiderstam uses a tropical scenery photograph, taken during United States Navy’s expedition in Panama in 1870–71, and combines this print with a book and his own text, questioning how the preconditions—biography, bibliography, and provenance—influence the act of seeing. Leiderstam pushes this question further by placing a magnifying glass on the book, to focus the viewer’s gaze on the photographer’s image reproduced here, previously (falsely) used as proof of the photograph’s authenticity. The artist plays with the creation and perception of the photograph by subverting the gazes of the photographer, his subject, and the viewer. In his practice, Leiderstam often uses the tools of an art historian investigating historical accounts and contexts of images to create bodily experiences for the viewers.

collectorspace brings First Seen from the Wilfried Lentz Collection based in Rotterdam. Together with Carla de Kovel, Wilfried Lentz started buying artworks in the late 1980s, at that time primarily acquiring photography. Lentz’s collecting practice has led him to be the first director of SKOR in 2000, an art institution that developed projects in relation to the public domain, and then open a gallery in Rotterdam in 2008, which has allowed him to form long-term collaborations with artists. Also one of the founders of C.o.C.A. (Collectors of Contemporary Art)—a foundation that supports new artistic production in the Netherlands—Lentz provides a reference point for how a collector could act as a producer, going beyond accumulating existing artworks. In his practice, he explores the ways to negotiate the roles of collector and gallerist, and dealing with potential conflicts of interest that may arise from merging these positions.

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Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956, Gothenburg) received his Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Malmö Art Academy, Lund University in 2006. He completed his MA at University of Gothenburg Valand Academy and BA at Konstfack College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa (2011); Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2010); Malmö Art Museum, Malmö (2010); and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf (2010). Leiderstam’s work has been exhibited in numerous group shows, such as Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty, The National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev (2016), the 8th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2014), Ciclorama, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013), Modernautställningen, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2011), and The End of Money, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2011), among others. Leiderstam is represented by Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam and Andrehn-Schiptienko Gallery, Stockholm. He lives and works in Stockholm.

Wilfried Lentz is a collector of contemporary art and founder of the gallery Wilfried Lentz in Rotterdam. Lentz was the founding director of SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Domain), and worked there between 2000–08. Lentz and Carla de Kovel collaborated with the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 2007 for Private / Public, an exhibition around the idea of landscape and photography, where works from their private collection and the Boijmans’s collection were exhibited together both in the museum and in their home that was temporarily open to the public. Lentz opened his gallery with an exhibition by Matts Leiderstam in 2008. His collection includes works with a shared interest in current cultural and social issues, with a wide range of media, including film, photography, performance, and installation.

Supported in part by Consulate General of Sweden, Istanbul.