Why so many playlists on FROM? And why are they all so different?
Each edition on FROM is preceded by a lot of personal exchange. Photographers want to know what FROM is about and who MKT is: Do they want to be part of FROM? Is their photographic work in the right place there?
On the other hand, I (MKT) ask myself who the person behind the photography is. What draws them to their sujet? What led them to create the images the way I see them? What is their attitude towards the world, their work, and also towards my initiative?
FROM stands for images with backbone and mindfulness. It would be easy to project these values onto many motifs. That's why it's important not only to get to know the images but also the creators, and only then decide with whom FROM can and wants to work — because the work cannot be separated from its creator.
I strive to unite a wide spectrum of visuals and themes on FROM. I’m not aiming for a FROM-look because I believe that each story, along with the person who created it, should speak its own language on FROM. As diverse and authentic as possible. Dialects and grammatical slips, very welcome.
It’s not about a look or style. Taste is something you learn. In the best case, they reflect your innerness, but they can also become limiting. Even rigid: in that case, it's what we call “stiffness.” As soon as personal taste is no longer reflected upon, and therefore can't be further developed, we have a content problem. (right?)
And so, we often try — together and sometimes MKT solo — to create Spotify sets or music recommendations on NTS that reflect the current edition on FROM.
During the preparation of the edition Documenting Loss by Melina Mörsdorf, it became clear that we are deeply connected. That we share a common stance toward the world and share values. But it also became clear that we complement rather than resemble each other within our limited tastes. However, we did find a shared musical common ground in our back-and-forth on Spotify: dripping riffs, rich soundscapes in minor chords, and a tendency towards pathos... maybe because we were teenagers in the 1990s. 🤘 Enjoy
