Why Fernand Huts teams up with rock photographer Anton Corbijn (Antwerp)
The Handelsbeurs is home to the exhibition ‘Ikonen’ by Anton Corbijn, who became world famous for his rock photos. In the margins of this, the Dutch photographer also shows ‘People’, a series of portraits of people who work at Katoen Natie. “We are also rock ‘n’ roll”, port entrepreneur Fernand Huts explained his surprising choice for Corbijn.
Frank Hermann
In the exhibition and the miniature book ‘The People’, Anton Corbijn portrays his typically unvarnished but ever-living manner of one hundred people who work in all possible functions of Katoen Natie in the port of Antwerp. It was a surprising assignment that he received from Katoen Natie boss Fernand Huts, but one that he gladly accepted as a challenge. The man who captured U2, Nick Cave and every possible rock star in iconic photos believes that every human being can have a presence in front of a camera.
Hannibal Books
Fernand Huts came into contact with Anton Corbijn through Gautier Platteau of Hannibal Books, who has already published five successful photo books about the star photographer. Huts, who also owns Hannibal, really liked the combination of rock ‘n’ roll and Katoen Natie. “We have become a big company, but in fact we remain a cozy house with a lot of play and rock ‘n’ roll. Like those music stars, we think out of the box.”
An underlying intention of the portrait series was to portray the diversity among the Katoen Natie staff. “With us, diversity is a daily reality, like in the rock world,” says Huts. “They are all world stars too. Who better to ask than Anton Corbijn to portray the rock stars of Katoen Natie.”
‘Katoen Natie: The People’ (free) and ‘Ikonen’ (online tickets 10 euros) will run until April 16 at the Handelsbeurs. A voluminous book by Hannibal was published about both exhibitions.