THE YOUTH CODE! is a group show  at Christophe Guye Galerie  that was conceived by Swiss curator Nathalie Herschdorfer, a former curator of the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, featuring emerging and established international photography artists alike.

Circling the theme of youth – the idealisation thereof as well as the difficulties it bares – and the omnipresent images of youth and youth culture created by adults and adolescents alike, THE YOUTH CODE! investigates this prominent phenomenon. 

A presentation that brings together the work of various internationally known photography artists dealing with a variety of related issues revolving around the three central themes of youths as a social group, adolescence as a particularly tormented stage, and the self-presentation emblematic of the digital image and Internet culture. Conceived as a travelling museum exhibition scheduled to begin its tour in 2014, THE YOUTH CODE! shown at the gallery will be an exclusive preview thereof, uniquely combining the works of Anoush Abrar (*1976, Switzerland/Iran), Jun Ahn (*1981, Korea), Mike Brodie (*1985, USA), Denis Darzacq (*1961, France), Lucas Foglia (*1983, USA), Martine Fougeron (*1954, France/USA), Bill Henson (*1955, Australia), Ina Jang (*1982, Korea), Margo Ovcharenko (*1989, Russia), Guillaume Simoneau (*1978, Canada), and Sascha Weidner (*1976, Germany).

Jun Ahn (Self Portrait)

Jun Ahn was born 1981 in South Korea and to study in the US, where she graduated from USC with a degree in art history in 2006, followed by two years of postgraduate study of photography at the Pratt Institute. While at the Pratt, she had her first work displayed as part of group gallery exhibitions, and began work on the Self-Portrait project, which to date is her most prominent series of photographs which she regards as “a performance without an audience”, an end of youth of sorts, and a coming to terms with the future.

In 2009 and 2010 she was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship at New York’s Parsons The New School for Design, and in 2011 received both the Dean's and a departmental scholarship. During this time her work received its first major exhibitions, including a joint exhibition with Kazue Taguchi at PS 122 in New York. Furthermore, Ahn has been selected as one of BJP’s 20 Photographers To Watch in 2013. Parsons awarded her a Master of Fine Arts with honours in January 2012, following which she enrolled in a PhD program in photography at Hongik University in Seoul.

Check out www.christopheguye.com for information on the other artists and upcoming exhibitions.