European Month of Photography Berlin

   16 October – 16 November 2014

 

 


 

 

 

Martin-Gropius-Bau // MEMORY LAB: THE SENTIMENTAL TURN

How do photographers and artists today represent historical events, defining cultural characteristics and the changes they undergo, and social relations? How is memory formulated, and how do we resist forgetting? Over the past two decades, a type of photography has established itself that openly rejects the long-prevailing principles of documentary photography and photojournalism.  read more...


 

Polnisches Institut // STOCZNIA / SHIPYARD - Michał Szlaga

The Gdańsk Shipyard was the birthplace of the Solidarność labour union. Founded in 1980, it would give rise to the democratic movement in Poland and contribute to the fall of the Eastern Bloc. Since then, many of the shipyard’s historic buildings have given way to the mise-en-scène of a new, post-communist East; currently, a luxury shopping centre is being built there. Michał Szlaga began documenting the gradual transformation of this significant site fourteen years ago.  read more...


 

DAS VERBORGENE MUSEUM // MONIQUE JACOT – REPORTS AND DAYDREAMS

In Switzerland, Monique Jacot is viewed as a reporter, a realist, and a rebel, which sums up the artistically and politically committed photographer rather aptly. Born in Neuchâtel, Jacot started with freelance contract work for international magazines such as Die Woche, Du, Annabelle, Réalités, and Vogue following her training at the École des Arts et Métiers in Vevey (1953–56), run by Gertrude Fehr.  read more...


 

Laura Mars // PEWOS REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR YOUTH - Peter Woelck

Peter Woelck (1948–2010) studied photography at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. Following graduation, he worked as a photographer for cultural offices, newspapers, publishers, television, and various larger companies in East Germany. Parallel to the commissioned works, he also made many independent pieces in the areas of social reporting and architectural photography. read more...


 

Stiftung Starke // STASI – SECRET ROOMS - Daniel & Geo Fuchs

Fifteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, artists Daniel & Geo Fuchs traveled through eastern Germany to visit places that were used by the Stasi, the East German Ministry of State Security.
Their pictures offer insight into Stasi mechanisms and the amalgamation of architecture, power, and powerlessness. Photographs of blank surveillance monitors in a control room and a long wing with a seemingly endless row of interrogation rooms in Hohenschönhausen depict the system’s desolation and coldness. read more...


25Books // ESCAPE - Danila Tkachenko


'Man does not need society at all, it’s society that needs man. Society is an invention that offers protection and secures survival. But unlike the herd animal, man must live alone – in nature among animals and plants.' – Andrey Tarkovsky

 These are strong words that the young Russian photographer Danila Tkachenko uses to introduce his picture series Escape; most people all over the world live in communities with others and adapt to the demands society makes on its members in work and family life. Yet many suffer under the constraints – they either break, or they drop out. read more...


Ostkreuzschule // EXHIBIT OF THE OSTKREUZ SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY’S 8TH GRADUATING CLASS

The Ostkreuz School of Photography is part of the photographers’ agency Ostkreuz, one of Germany’s most important internationally renowned photography agencies. After three and a half years of studying, the eighth graduating class of the Ostkreuz School presents their degree projects in a group exhibition.
Twenty-eight students have negotiated the fraught terrain between social documentary and fine art over the past year, each in their own personal way. read more...


Ethnologisches Museum // PHONOGRAPHIC TONES – PHOTOGRAPHIC MOMENTS - Otto Stiehl

Founded in 1915, the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission documented the language and music of foreign soldiers held captive in German POW camps. With approximately one thousand original wax cylinders, Berlin’s Phonograph Archive in the Ethnological Museum is the most comprehensive of the historical collections. The sound documents consist exclusively of musical recordings. read more...


 

Botschaft von Luxemburg // POST-WAR PICTURES OF A WAR THAT DID NOT TAKE PLACE - Carine Krecké, Elisabeth Krecké

Carine and Elisabeth Krecké visited abandoned military installations located on the northern coast of Galicia (Spain). The batteries, bunkers, and anti-aircraft bases were operational during a large part of the 20th century, including the Franco era. After demilitarization in the late 1980s, when Spain joined the European community, these vestiges of utopian warfare and surveillance were rapidly forgotten, denied, plundered, and covered by graffiti and dense brushwood. read more...


C/O Berlin // WILL MCBRIDE. I WAS IN LOVE WITH THIS CITY.

Proof that computer games are not just for young people, the »digital laties«, members of the Seniors Computer Club, are on hand for the Long Night at the Computer Games Museum. They will present the best online games that offer challenging fun for all ages and invite all visitors to join in. You can try your hand at plenty of games in the museum and in a special exhibition (re)discover various generations of motorbike games. read more..


6TH EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY BERLIN (MDF BERLIN)

The European Month of Photography Berlin is the largest German festival for photography. Since 2004, it has been taking place every two years in Berlin, presenting a wide range of exhibitions and events on historic and contemporary photography. The festival is organized by Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH in collaboration with museums, cultural institutions, galleries, embassies, project spaces, and photography schools in Berlin and Potsdam.

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the MdF Berlin has an impressive record to its name: 2 million visitors, 500 exhibitions by as many partner institutions, 30,000 photographic works shown, and 2,000 participating photographers.

THEME: “UPHEAVALS AND UTOPIAS. THE OTHER EUROPE”

Over the last hundred years, Europe as we know it has been in a state of continuous change. Over and over again, a series of caesurae including the two world wars, the global economic crisis of 1929, the founding of the two German states, and the peaceful revolution of 1989 have left their mark. What do we mean by Europe today, as opposed to the past? War, freedom, exultation, protest, standstill, crisis, the discovery of new and old cultures, equal rights, tolerance, identity, intimacy, faith, sexuality, fashion, and the everyday are some of the aspects shaping public life in Europe that are brought to bear in the festival. Europe is frequently defined according to its borders. This poses a variety of questions concerning, for instance, the ways in which extreme or gradual changes and rejections are experienced; how utopias impact our idea of the future; what perspectives are currently emerging; and how the other and the foreign enrich our lives and culture. The 6th European Month of Photography Berlin embarks on a journey of discovery, responding to these questions with historical and contemporary exhibitions.

 

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