News

Together with the team at the Kunsthaus Dresden, we have curated a new group exhibition to be presented at the historic robotron cafeteria in Dresden: "What Do We Do? Images in Times of Crumbling Certainties." It features works by 25 members of the agency, including contemporary series and historical works, as well as site-specific, large-scale projections and video installations created specifically for the venue.

"Was tun wir?" explores the role and context of contemporary photography: What responsibilities do photographers bear today, and what kinds of images can make radical social transformations, (geo)political shifts in power, and ongoing ecological changes visible?

In times of crumbling certainties, the exhibition presents perspectives and images of endings and new beginnings, war, but also solidarity and cohesion, as well as fundamental upheavals in living conditions.

"Was tun wir"  will be the last exhibition to be shown in the still-unrenovated spaces of the cafeteria building before it undergoes extensive remodeling and renovation starting in 2027.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the European Cultural Foundation, and the Altstadt District Office. Additional thanks for their support also go to Hahnemühle and the Schloss Wiepersdorf Cultural Foundation.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a program of discussions featuring three thematic panels, as well as interactive guided tours led by OSTKREUZ photographers. The panelists, as well as any updated information about the events and guided tours, can be found on the Kunsthaus Dresden website.

We look forward to welcoming many of you to Dresden for the grand opening on August 28 at the robotron cafeteria in Dresden!

Press Conference: August 27, 2026, 11:00 a.m.

Opening: August 28, 2026, at 6:00 p.m., with the photographers in attendance, featuring opening remarks and an opening panel discussion

Panel Schedule (subject to change): Sat, Sept. 5, 5:00 p.m.: "Etwas verschiebt sich." Images of the Climate Crisis: Between Adaptation and Resistance.

Thu, Oct. 8, 6 p.m.: “Mauer Land.” Stories and People in an East German Collective 35 Years After Reunification: OSTKREUZ.

Sat, Nov. 7, 5 p.m.: “A Survival Paradox.” Images of War and Survival. 

Dates for interactive tours: Sun, Aug. 30 (Espen Eichhöfer & Heinrich Holtgreve); Sun, Sept. 27 (Annette Hauschild & Tobias Kruse); Sun, Oct. 11 (Jordis Antonia Schlösser & Heinrich Völkel); Sun, Nov. 8 (Tamara Eckhardt & Jörg Brüggemann), 3:00 p.m. each day

Duration: Aug. 29 through Nov. 8, 26

Location: robotron-Kantine, Lignerallee am Skatepark, 01069 Dresden

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Photo: ©Tobias Kruse/OSTKREUZ

What connects two people, two beings? Is it fate, chance, or an invisible force that brings them closer together?

The exhibition "Mysterium der Paare", curated by Dr.Nina Mika-Helfmeier, focuses on encounters between people: Sometimes they approach each other lovingly and tenderly; other times they argue, drift apart, or get annoyed with one another. Many of the photographs thrive on chance. Fleeting encounters, surprising eye contact, or seemingly meaningless gestures coalesce into images—some humorous, some whimsical—that tell stories.

Jordis Antonia Schlösser is represented in this exhibition with several photographs taken in locations including Cuba and Berlin. The exhibition features approximately 140 images by fifty photographers, including Elliott Erwitt, Richard Kalvar, Barbara Klemm, Inge Morath, and Martin Parr.

Opening: August 9, 2026, at 12:00 p.m., im Bürgersaal, Austr. 7, Monschau

Duration: August 10 through November 1, 2026

Location: Fotografie Forum der StädteRegion Aachen, 52156 Monschau

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Since mid-June, the Museum of Modern Art in Hayama, Japan, has been hosting the exhibition "Unprecedented: Women Photographers from the GDR," which features Sibylle Bergemann and Ute Mahler. The exhibition showcases a total of fifteen female photographers from East Germany whose work continues to influence the field to this day.

These women, who established careers as photographers in their country before the dissolution of the GDR in 1990 and created outstanding artistic works, embody a perspective that has often been overlooked in the examination of the history of German photography.

Duration: through August 30, 2026

Location: Museum of Modern Art, Hayama

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Photo: ©Sibylle Bergemann/OSTKREUZ

Starting in early September, Galerie Pankow will present the solo exhibition "Ute Mahler – Derselbe Himmel – Modefotografie". The accompanying catalog of the same name will also be published in September by Hartmann Books  . Ute Mahler’s early artistic work is closely linked to "Sibylle" the magazine for fashion and culture. Women and their portrayal in society remain the focus of her photographic interest to this day. The exhibition features works on this theme created for "Sibylle" between 1975 and 1995, as well as the photo essay that appeared in the FAZ magazine in 2020.

Opening: September 1, 2026, 7:00 p.m., with the photographer in attendance

Duration: September 2 through November 1, 2026

Location: Galerie Pankow, Breite Strasse 8, 13187 Berlin

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Harald Hauswald has been invited to the 25th edition of the VENICE INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2026 in Venice. This international exhibition will take place at the prestigious 16th-century Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello. It presents an exclusive selection of international talent and fosters a dynamic dialogue between photography, painting, video art, sculpture, and performance art in the heart of Venice—coinciding with the 61st Venice Biennale.

Harald Hauswald will present a cross-section of his photographic work at the Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello as part of the fair.

Opening: September 18, 6:00 p.m.
Dates: September 19 through October 2, 2026
Location: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice

Further information:

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As part of the Weißensee Cultural Summer, Studio Weissensee—located in the Atelierhaus Streustrasse in Berlin-Weißensee—is presenting large-format iconic photographs by Harald Hauswald.

In addition, Marc Thümmler’s 2009 documentary film "Radfahrer" will be screened. The short film contrasts the photographer’s black-and-white images with voice-over excerpts from his Stasi file. The manipulative potential of cinematic montage encourages viewers to question their own viewing habits.

Opening: September 18, 2026, 7:00 p.m.

Midissage: September 25, 2026, 7:00 p.m., with the photographer in attendance

Duration: 19.9. bis 27.9.26

Location: Studio Weissensee, Atelierhaus Streustrasse 42, 13086 Berlin

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As part of the Hamburg Photo Triennial, Frappant Galerie is presenting the group exhibition “Ecotones.”

The exhibition is grounded in the first principle of ecology—that everything is interconnected: The artists featured in the exhibition explore new relationships between humans and nature that offer perspectives for reconnection and coexistence with the more-than-human world.

Anne Schönharting and Linn Schröder are presenting their collaborative work “Something is Shifting” as part of this exhibition. The starting point for this series was a search for connection and a conscious engagement with altered perception. Certainties are called into question.

Dates: through June 14, 2026

Location: Frappant Galerie, Hamburg

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With his project “Something Was Missing Within,” Elliott Kreyenberg won the Athens Photo Festival Dummy Award in 2024. Following the publication of the photo book of the same name by Witty Books, this work is now being exhibited in Athens for the first time.

In “Something Was Missing Within,” Kreyenberg explores the emotional impact of patriarchal images of masculinity. The photographs reveal inner states and examine how societal expectations of masculinity shape identity, relationships, and self-perception.

Duration: through July 26, 2026

Location: Benaki Museum, Athens

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The Stabi Kulturwerk is presenting the exhibition “In the Rhythm of the Metropolis: 100 Years of Photography and Journalism in Berlin,” curated by Miriam Zlobinski and Christina Stehr, in which OSTKREUZ is participating with selected works by Annette Hauschild, Jordis Antonia Schlösser, Maurice Weiss, and Sebastian Wells.

The exhibition demonstrates how closely images and reporting are intertwined—from the fundamental right to freedom of expression in the Weimar Republic, through censorship and propaganda under National Socialism, to the divided city and the distinct press landscapes of East and West Berlin. Topics such as politics, sports, city life, and crime reflect not only journalistic interests but also the social values and conflicts of their time.

“In the Rhythm of the Metropolis” showcases the diversity, dynamism, and history of Berlin press photography—a visual journey through a century of urban history. This broad scope illustrates how the visual language of press photography has evolved while remaining an enduring expression of urban life.

Opening: June 11, 2026, 6 p.m.

Dates: June 12 to December 20, 2026

Location: Stabi Kulturwerk, Berlin State Library

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Photo: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ

The Ahrenshoop Art Museum is presenting the exhibition “You Think We Were Different. Photographs from East and West from 1945 to 1989,” which also features works by OSTKREUZ co-founders Sibylle Bergemann, Harald Hauswald, Ute Mahler, and Werner Mahler. Ludwig Schirmer, Ute Mahler’s father, who also worked as a photographer during the GDR era, is also represented in the exhibition with his works.

The exhibition explores differences, overlaps, transitions, and connections between German biographies east and west of the former inner-German border, offering unexpected and whimsical insights into the lives of citizens of West Germany and the GDR. A pan-German kaleidoscope.
A catalog of the same name will be published by Kehrer Verlag to accompany the exhibition.

Opening: June 20, 2026, 6:30 p.m.

Dates: June 21 to September 20, 2026

Location: Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop

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Photo: Sibylle Bergemann/OSTKREUZ

Following its run in Potsdam, the exhibition “Das Weite suchen: Photography of the Late GDR and Early 1990s” will be on view at the Museum Utopie und Alltag in Eisenhüttenstadt starting in late June. Featuring photographs from 1983 to 1995, it invites visitors to explore the transformation of East Germany and discover new perspectives. Several series from the 1980s and 1990s by Annette Hauschild and Ute Mahler will be on display.

Through the five chapters—Youth, Work, Living Spaces, Body, and Violence—a society in upheaval comes into focus, whose changing conditions also shaped the work with the camera. The realities of life depicted reveal tensions and upheavals that today’s society must also grapple with. For current questions of freedom, identity, and social change are directly linked to the long decade of the “Wende.”

“Das Weite suchen” is an exhibition by the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History Research Potsdam (ZZF) and was curated by Dr. Isabel Enzenbach and Dr. Anja Tack.

Dates: June 28 to October 4, 2026

Location: Museum of Utopia and Everyday Life, Eisenhüttenstadt

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Photo: Ute Mahler/OSTKREUZ

The group exhibition “Lines of Relation,” organized by FREELENS & Hamburg Portfolio Review, is on view during the Rencontres d’Arles at the Fotohaus Arles in the Fondation Manuel Riviera-Ortiz (MRO). Six artistic perspectives explore the family as a social and emotional foundation—a space of intimacy, care, and belonging, but also of power, silence, and influence.

Tamara Eckhardt is represented in this exhibition with her work “4 Blocks.” This piece offers insights into the lives of children and young people in the Schalke-Nord district of Gelsenkirchen and is now being exhibited for the first time. “4 Blocks” was created with the support of the Emscher Bilder Förderpreis, which was awarded to Tamara Eckhardt in 2024.

Dates: July 6 to October 4, 2026

Location: Fondation Manuel Riviera-Ortiz, Arles

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We are delighted to announce that Jörg Brüggemann’s book *Tres Viajes* has been shortlisted in the “Authors’ Books” category for the Book Awards at the Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles. The book was designed by Lamm/Kirch and published in Germany by Hartmann Books; in France, it was published by “Atelier EXB.”

The publications selected for the shortlist will be on display throughout the festival at the “La Mécanique Générale” exhibition hall. The Book Awards jury will convene at the start of the festival and announce the winners of the three categories on the evening of July 7 at the Théâtre Antique. 

Date: July 7, 2026

Location: La Mécanique Générale and Théâtre Antique, Arles

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To kick off the 2027 Aachen City Region Photography Festival, Jordis Antonia Schlösser will lead a workshop at the Photography Forum in Monschau aimed at photographers who wish to apply for open calls, competitions, and calls for submissions. 

How can artistic work best be presented, and which works are suitable for the various calls for proposals and an accompanying concept? The workshop addresses these questions and serves as preparation for an application to the upcoming Aachen City Region Photography Festival in 2027. 

Jordis Antonia Schlösser has been a member of OSTKREUZ since 1997. In her award-winning work, which includes a World Press Photo Award and the Hansel-Mieth Prize, she primarily explores social issues and the transformation of living spaces. 

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. Registration at info@kuk-monschau.de is required.

Date: July 11, 2026, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Location: Fotografie-Forum, Monschau

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Sibylle Bergemann is featured in the exhibition “Passants parmi les pierres,” curated by Thomas Demand, at fjk3 – Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst in Vienna. The exhibition revolves around images that do not merely depict reality but simultaneously bring about the reality to which they refer: perception as a construction, memory as a montage, the image as a form of history. 

The exhibition brings together 27 works spanning photography, film, and sculpture. They all navigate the space between reportage and reconstruction, between the observed moment and the staged image, between historical events and their representation. The works share aspects of compositional structure, spatial arrangement, and, in many cases, the seemingly casual, almost unnoticed presence of the camera. Figures frequently appear against architectural backdrops, often turned away from the camera. They suggest a relationship to the spaces surrounding them, which, upon closer inspection, however, proves to be more of a conjecture than a confirmed connection. 

Duration: through September 20, 2026

Ort: fjk3 – Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Wien

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Ute Mahler is represented in the collection exhibition “Two Germanies circa 1980” at the Museum Ludwig with portrait photographs. The exhibition presents a selection of photographs from East and West Germany created around 1980. Works by a total of seven photographers offer insights into the social and everyday realities of both German states, which were shaped by different political and economic systems.

Other photographers represented in the exhibition include Derek Bennett, Christiane Eisler, Karl Kugel, Henry Maitek, Evelyn Richter, and Erasmus Schröter.

Duration: April 18 to October 11, 2026

Location: Photography Collection, Museum Ludwig, Cologne

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The Galerie Peter Sillem in Frankfurt, in cooperation with Galerie Springer Berlin, presents Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler’s first work created under joint authorship, “Mona Lisas of the suburbs” (2008–2010), in a solo exhibition.

Starting from Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait, the Mahlers encountered young women in the suburbs of Reykjavik, Liverpool, Minsk, Berlin, and Florence who were searching for identity, belonging, and their place in the world. In a deliberately reduced, classical visual language, the black-and-white portraits capture a moment in between—a state in which everything still seems possible.

Opening: April 24, 2026, 6 pm, with Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler

Duration: April 25 to June 6, 2026

Location: Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt

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The Goethe-Institut Lissabon presents “Lisbon ’87/88 – City Photographs by Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler” as an open-air exhibition at Praça dos Restauradores in the center of the Portuguese capital.

In 1987 and 1988, Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler, together with the author Wolfgang Kil, made two trips to Lisbon to photograph and describe the city and its people for a travel book project by the Leipzig-based Brockhaus publishing house. For the photographers, who were already well known in the GDR at the time, it was a rare opportunity to glimpse life beyond the Iron Curtain. Two years later, the Berlin Wall fell, the GDR was dissolved, and the book project faded into obscurity. The photographs and contact sheets were only rediscovered in 2021 and published a year later by Hartmann Books.

The portrait of Lisbon captured by the Mahlers almost 40 years ago reveals a society in transition—a perspective that resonates anew today.

Opening: May 4, 2026, 6 pm, with Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler

Duration: May 4 to May 29, 2026

Location: Praça dos Restauradores, Lisbon

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The special exhibition “in between. You, life and mortality” at the Museum für Sepulkralkultur in Kassel is continuously evolving and provides space for a range of artistic positions.

From early May, within this context, Sibylle Fendt’s work “Before the Time Comes” will be presented in a solo exhibition dedicated to people who will die at home in the foreseeable future, or who are considered beyond medical treatment. Over a period of eighteen months, Sibylle Fendt met seventeen individuals and accompanied the final phase of their lives with her camera—people who have chosen to die at home, in familiar surroundings and in the presence of familiar faces.

Dying is a (taboo) subject that everyone must confront at some point. With this work, Sibylle Fendt reveals a stage of life that many people prefer to avoid for as long as possible. Her socially engaged photography touches a sensitive nerve—but does there have to be a wound at all?

The book of the same title was published in 2025 by Kehrer Verlag.

Opening: May 6, 2026, 7 pm

Duration: May 7 to November 1, 2026

Location: Museum für Sepulkralkultur, Kassel

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Together with the Ukrainian Decolonial Glossary, the Pochen Biennale, and Solomiya Magazin, Sebastian Wells co-organized the program for the panel “From Firewalls to Trench Warfare / Breaking the Deadlock.” The panel is part of this year’s Pochen Symposium “Community of Heirs?”

The symposium consists of an alternative city tour through Chemnitz, a workshop, and a panel discussion featuring Roman Horbyk (Zurich), Dariia Kuzmych (Kyiv), and Piotr Kocyba (Leipzig). It addresses the growing political deadlock across Europe. By bringing together perspectives from contexts such as the Russian-Ukrainian war and German politics, the discussion considers deadlock as a space for critical reflection.

Date: May 10, 2026, 5:30–7 pm

Location: Momentum, Am Rathaus 8, Chemnitz

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