Defying Distance
Past display archive
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
13 April 2005
NPG P1103
John Causebrook
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
5 February 2005
NPG P1108
14 June - 25 September 2005
Room 40
Free
Supported by Deloitte
Telecommunications have a profound impact on the way we live and think. Telephones and computers converged in the mid 1980s to create an industry that has become one of the most important forces shaping society in the first half of the 21st century. Ideas and information are now communicated at unprecedented speed. Time and distance have been virtually eliminated; almost everyone is accessible at any time in any place. As costs continue to fall entry to the network is available to individuals and small companies as well as global corporations.
This series of portraits profiles the range of initiatives, and the visionary drive that have contributed to the development of the telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom. Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have photographed some of the key figures who have played a significant part in the recent history of telecommunications including corporate stars, entrepreneurs, 'backroom boys,' academics, and regulators.
The landscape photographs showing beacons reflect the history of communicating across distance. Beacons are the antecedents of telecommunication. Hilltops have been used for keeping watch and sending signals by fire since prehistoric times. Sending warnings to alert the defence by lighting a relay of hilltop fires was faster than sending messengers on horseback.
Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin grew up in South Africa and are currently based in London. Their partnership began in the late 1990s in Italy where they edited and contributed to Benetton's Colors magazine. Since then their photographs have been widely exhibited, including shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum (2003), The Photographers' Gallery (2004) and the Hasselblad Centre (2000) in Sweden. They have published three books: Trust (2001), Ghetto (2003) and Mr Mkhize's Portrait (2004).
This commission has been made possible by Deloitte, the National Portrait Gallery's Contemporary Photography Displays Partner .
Patricia Hope Hewitt
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
8 March 2005
NPG P1114
Dame Frances Anne Cairncross
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
17 February 2005
NPG P1105
James Golob
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
1 March 2005
NPG P1112
Related portraits
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee (NPG P1103)
- Sir Bryan Victor Carsberg (NPG P1106)
- Peter Dawe (NPG P1109)
- Sir Charles William Dunstone (NPG P1110)
- James Golob (NPG P1112)
- Patricia Hope Hewitt (NPG P1114)
- Stephen Charles Littlechild (NPG P1116)
- David Ross (NPG P1117)
- David Rowe (NPG P1118)
- Arun Sarin (NPG P1119)
- Dame Frances Anne Cairncross (NPG P1105)
- Sir Christopher Charles Gent (NPG P1111)
- Hans Snook (NPG P1120)
- Sir Ernest Thomas ('Ernie') Harrison (NPG P1113)
- Ken Hydon (NPG P1115)
- John Causebrook (NPG P1108)
- Stephen Andrew Carter (NPG P1107)
- Sir (Francis) Christopher Buchan Bland (NPG P1104)
Related sitters
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee
- Sir (Francis) Christopher Buchan Bland
- Dame Frances Anne Cairncross
- Sir Bryan Victor Carsberg
- Stephen Andrew Carter
- John Causebrook
- Peter Dawe
- Sir Charles William Dunstone
- Sir Christopher Charles Gent
- James Golob
- Sir Ernest Thomas ('Ernie') Harrison
- Patricia Hope Hewitt
- Kenneth John ('Ken') Hydon
- Stephen Charles Littlechild
- David Ross
- David Rowe
- Arun Sarin
- Hans Snook