World War Two Today – An evening with photographer Roger Cremers
Following the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe, the House of European History invites you to the museum for an event with award-winning Dutch photographer Roger Cremers.
Roger Cremers began photographing the European culture of remembrance of the World War Two in 2008. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, he captured tourists’ behaviour, a project for which he won the first prize at the World Press Photo awards in 2009. This project sparked a broader inquiry that became his long-term work World War Two Today, culminating in a book and exhibitions across Europe.
In the exhibition Presence of the Past. A European Album at the House of European History, Cremers’ photographs provide a vivid depiction of the tension between the dark chapters of the past and the way they are remembered or relived in the present.
As part of the Through the Lens Of museum series, Roger Cremers will talk about his work and the questions that drive him: how do we remember the past when eyewitnesses are gone? What role does photography play in commemoration? Participants will gain unique insights into his visual journey across Europe's memory marked by the war, and uncover the stories behind his most striking images.
The language of the event is English. Participation is free.
Entering the building can take time due to security checks, please plan accordingly your arrival.
Programme
- 18:15-19:00 – Slow Looking Session with a museum guide in the exhibition Presence of the Past: focus on a photograph by Roger Cremers.
- 19:00-19:45 – Talk by photographer Roger Cremers
- 19:45-20:30 – Q&A session with the audience
- Until 21:00 – Event participants can visit the exhibition Presence of the Past
Register
- Register to attend the 'slow looking session' and the talk at 18:15.
- Register to attend the talk at 19:00.
About the speaker
Roger Cremers (1972) is a World Press Photo award-winning photographer from the Netherlands, whose work has been published for more than two decades in leading Dutch newspapers and magazines. He started his career as a news photographer for NRC Handelsblad, one of the leading daily newspapers in the Netherlands. He later also specialised in portrait photography and documentary, for which he has been travelling to all the corners of the world. Roger comes from a family of coal miners. He was born in Bingelrade, a village in the south of the Netherlands once famous for its coal mining industry. The underground life in the mines would later become an important topic in his work. After his studies of aeronautical engineering Roger studied photography at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 1995. Since 1998 he has been working as a freelance photographer.
Banner image - Preparing for a Second World War, re-enactment event in Ursel, Belgium, 2011
