Grand Hotel Parr at The PhotoBook Museum

In cooperation with The PhotoBookMuseum, Neues Museum Nuremberg presents the first major retrospective of photobooks by the British Magnum photographer Martin Parr.

Overview

Since the 1980s, Parr has been an unparalleled chronicler of the absurdities of our global consumer and leisure culture, translating them into a distinctive visual idiom. With an unerring eye and a keen sense of humour, his photobooks capture a bizarre world between ostentatious display and kitsch, four-star luxury and “all inclusive”, spanning all social classes and national peculiarities.

The exhibition is staged in a British grand hotel where visitors can peruse Parr’s fascinating photobooks. From the reception, a red carpet leads to the “Reading Lounge” with classics including The Last Resort (1986), Small World (1995) and Common Sense (1999). Parr’s book projects are presented on walls of fake wood panelling, but also in vitrines. In all their diversity and rich detail, these works helped to shape the history of photography. Themed sections like the “Billard Room”, the “Dining Room”, a “Fashion-Boutique” and a terrace of astroturf invite visitors to relax and browse. The visitors follow a parcours where they can stroll and chill, marvel, rummage and leaf through books. In keeping with Parr's motto: ‘The books have won.’