Never just looking

 

September 4 – October 17, 2010

 

 

Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of “just looking.” (Victor Burgin, Thinking Photography)

 

A journalistic photo is always more than the "indifferent" viewed picture of reality: it is a subjective message that claims to be realistic and aesthetic at the same time. Since the mid 20th century the strict demarcation between documentary photography and artistic photography has become more permeable. The photographers are increasingly developing personal style and their own pictoral language. This photography makes use of media reflexive elements and is therefore able to position itself in the context of contemporary art.

 

And yet: the primary intention of documentary photographers is still to show the world as it is. Tracing the truth of the "decisive moment" in individual works is the task of this exhibition, as is laying open conceptual strategies, and, in the juxtaposition of genre classics and lesser-known authors, carving out unexpected connections.

 

Featured photographers are Elliott Erwitt, Herbert List, Jim Goldberg, Antoine D’Agata, Leonard Freed, Abbas, Bruce Gilden, Lise Sarfati, and Paolo Pellegrin. The exhibition was organized in cooperation with Magnum photo agency in Paris and Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln.

 

 

 

 

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