Right in the turmoil of the Arab revolutions, Joerg Brueggemann, Tobias Kruse and Maurice Weiss ventured to North Africa. What they have seen, they now show in an exhibition at the Latitudes Festival in Spain.
Latitudes: Festival Internacional de Fotografía
"Tres países – tres miradas. Egipto, Túnez, Libia."
Exhibition: 21 February - 31 March
Casa Colon
Plaza del Punto, Huelva, Spain
The Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations presents Sibylle Bergemann's work to the whole world. In spring and summer the traveling exhibition "Photographien" will be shown in South East Asia. The next stop is Indonesia, followed by Malaysia and Thailand.
"Sibylle Bergemann Photographien"
Exhibition: 21 February - 5 March 2013
Bentara Budaya
Jakarta, Indonesia
With the end of the year 2012, our joint exhibition at the Haus der Kulturen Berlin terminated. We have been very happy about the great interest and thank the many visitors who went to see the exhibition in Berlin.
From May on, we show "On Borders" at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden, a little bigger and with a slightly different presentation. In the meantime, our catalog is still available, with all the series shown in the exhibition and additional texts.
"On Borders"
Opening: 16 May, 7 pm
Exhibition: 17 May - 11 August
Deutsches Hygiene-Museum
Lingnerplatz 1, Dresden
Tue - Sun 10 am - 6 pm
Next summer semester, Linn Schröder will be teaching photography at the HTW Berlin.
Harald Hauswald will lecture at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee. Under the theme of "terminal" he sends his students from the central square Alexanderplatz to the final stops in Berlin.
Work is one of the most determinant aspects of our everyday reality. An exhibition in Berlin explores how we use space while working, how men and women interact with each other and how varied work activities can be. Half of the selected photographers are OSTKREUZ members: Harald Hauswald, Werner Mahler, Ute Mahler and Frank Schinski. We invite you to the opening on Friday.
"ort/zeit/los"
Opening: 1 February 2013, 7 pm
Exhibition: 2 February - 16 March 2013
Kunstverein Tiergarten | Gallery Nord
Turmstrasse 75, Berlin
Tue- Sat 2 - 7 pm
We are currently looking for a trainee as
Specialist in media and information services in the field of picture agencies (m/f)
Start: Summer 2013
The training at OSTKREUZ agency of photographers includes the editing of image requests and advising clients in the selection process of images. Picture research and editorial assistance are also part of the training. Further you will also deal with the processing of receipts and its accounting and assist us in the project coordination.
Please send your applications from now on.
Requirements:
- German: mother tongue level; English: fluently spoken and written - Solid foundation of general knowledge in culture, politics and current affaires - Interest in photography
Please send us your applications as PDF to: mail(at)ostkreuz.de
We are just as proud of our catalog as we are of the exhibition. It is an autonomous work on the theme to which we have dedicated the last two years: borders.
Over several months we have selected images, which was quite difficult because of the many great pictures that our photographers had brought from their border excursions. Our graphic designer Jan Spading has created a very varied layout, tailored to each series. Fabian Dietrich of Dummy magazine wrote texts about the various topics of the series, plus there are lots of exciting articles by authors who have accompanied the photographers on their trips to the borders.
In the end, Sibylle Fendt and Pepa Hristova have monitored the printing a whole sleepless night long. They were so strict that the printer has temporarily run out of paper.
The pictures of our new joint exhibition "On Borders" can be seen from Friday on at the Haus der Kulturen, Berlin.
Until then, the first images of the exhibition are shown tonight on RBB Abendschau, 7.30 pm and tomorrow at 10.15 pm on RBB Stilbruch.
„On Borders“
Opening: 8 November 2012
Exhibition: 9 November 2012 - 30 December 2012
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berli
Three years after “Ostzeit“ and “The City. Becoming and Decaying” we devote our new joint exhibition to a theme which is closely linked to the history of our agency. OSTKREUZ was founded in 1990 shortly after the wall came down. Seven East German photographers, including Sibylle Bergemann, Harald Hauswald and Werner and Ute Mahler creted a group in order to move jointly from the East to all directions. They named themselves after a train station, which connects the east of Berlin with the rest of the city. Today the agency counts 18 photographers from different countries and different generations. They all participate in "On Borders" and show their unique perspective on the borders that run through the world today, two decades after the founding of the agency.
„On Borders“
Opening: 8 November 2012
Exhibition: 9 November 2012 - 30 December 2012
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
A woman flees her homeland for a distant country. Two enemy armies face each other across a fence. The World Court condemns a war criminal. A desert gives birth to a new nation. A people topple their country’s dictator. And in a back courtyard someone takes a shot of heroin.
In the new joint exhibition, our 18 photographers tell stories about borders. They explore what borders mean to people and how people shape their lives along them.
„On Borders“
Opening: 8 November 2012
Exhibition: 9 November 2012 - 30 December 2012
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
On Wednesday, October 17th, 2012, this year's FotoDoks will be opened with the vernissage of the exhibition "Achtung?! – Respect, Control, Change" in Munich.
OSTKREUZ photographer Dawin Meckel is going to take part in the exhibition with his series "Malawi – In Transition".
Jule Hillgärtner, a media scholar also trained in art education, who did her PhD on photographies and videos in embedded war reporting and who will hold a lecture performance on "Representing war from A to Z" at this year's Fotodoks, discusses Dawin Meckel's work in the catalogue accompanying the festival. Unfortunately the text is available only in German.
Vom Zeigen und Offenhalten. Zu Dawin Meckels Fotografien Malawi - In Transition
Auf der Wohlstands-Rangliste der Vereinten Nationen belegt Malawi den 171. Platz. Das ist bei insgesamt 187 Plätzen, die im Rahmen des Human Development Index zu vergeben sind, ziemlich weit hinten. Mit einem Pro-Kopf-Einkommen von weniger als 350 US-Dollar im Jahr gehört Malawi zu den ärmsten Ländern der Welt. Es gilt als ressourcenarm, infrastrukturell unterentwickelt sowie bildungsschwach und ist daher in extrem hohem Umfang auf ausländische Entwicklungshilfe angewiesen. Im Durchschnitt bringt eine Frau in Malawi sechs Kinder zur Welt, die Lebenserwartung liegt bei etwa 55 Jahren und von den rund 16 Millionen Menschen sind etwa eine Million an AIDS erkrankt.
All das zeichnet ein trübes Bild. Und zwar eines, das meine ohnehin äußerst vagen und unspezifischen Vorstellungen von Malawi, diesem zierlichen Zipfel Land im Südosten Afrikas, unwillkürlich bestätigt: Hier werden Körbe geflochten und Gefäße auf Köpfen getragen, wird getrommelt und im Kreis getanzt, hier schauen mich Kinder aus großen braunen Augen an, die von einem traurigen Glanz überzogen sind. So gängig diese Klischees sind, so sicher kann gelten, dass sie nicht ganz und gar stimmen, sondern eine allzu sehr vereinfachte Darstellung bedeuten, verkürzt auf das vermeintlich Charakteristische dieses von Schwierigkeiten belasteten Landes. Denn Fotografien, die unser Bild von Malawi im Besonderen und Entwicklungsländern im Allgemeinen bestimmen, stehen nicht selten im Kontext von Spendenaufrufen, welche es geradezu zwingend erscheinen lassen, das jeweilige Land als archaisches und die Menschen als Opfer darzustellen.
Dawin Meckel hat von seiner Reise nach Malawi im Frühjahr 2009 Aufnahmen mitgebracht, die nichts erklären, aber vieles zeigen. Zwar erlaubt die Serie Malawi in Transition, mit Motiven von Wellblechdächern auf improvisiert wirkenden Bauten oder von Frauen, die groß gemusterte Kleidung und ihre Kinder auf dem Rücken tragen, durchaus ein Wiedererkennen von schon häufig Gesehenem. Allerdings nie, ohne dem angeblich Bekannten, dem verbrauchten Bildklischee, etwas entgegenzusetzen – sowohl im einzelnen Foto als auch innerhalb der gesamten Abfolge. Einige Motive ließen sich ohne zusätzliche Information noch nicht einmal dem afrikanischen Kontinent zuordnen, sondern könnten vielerorts fotografiert worden sein: Sei es ein junger Mann, der sich mit Sonnenbrille auf dem Kopf und weißem Stöpsel im Ohr zwischen Gelände- und anderen Wagen auf dem Parkplatz vor einer Shopping Mall mit abgeklärtem Blick zur Kamera dreht; sei es die gepflegte Hotelanlage, wo Herren in noblen Anzügen ihre Geschäfte machen; oder seien es die Porträts zweier Studierenden in den Fluren ihrer Universität. Dass diese Fotografien ihren Entstehungsort weder lautstark zum Thema machen noch völlig verschweigen, darin liegt ihre Überzeugungskraft.
Die Serie, die Dawin Meckel in Lilongwe, der Hauptstadt Malawis, und Blantyre, dem Finanz- und Wirtschaftszentrum, fotografiert hat, verweigert sich dem simplen Einordnen. Stattdessen fordert sie alle, die sie betrachten, heraus, sich jedem einzelnen Bild ähnlich behutsam anzunähern, wie einst der Fotograf selbst es tat, um seinen Bilderwartungen und Wahrnehmungsgewohnheiten bewusst aus dem Weg zu gehen. Was daraus entsteht, ist die Gelegenheit sich zu wundern, sich überraschen zu lassen und offen zu sein für das, was in ein und demselben Augenblick auf zweierlei Ebenen stattfindet: zum einen im Betrachtungsprozess selbst, wenn frische Bilder sich allmählich über frühere legen, zum anderen in Bezug auf Malawi als Land, in dem eine Dynamik des Aufbruchs zu bemerken ist, eine Kraft und Hoffnung und Motivation, die in mancher Fotografie sichtbare Spuren hinterlassen hat.
Indem sich die Bilder und das, was sie zeigen, letztlich gerade nicht einordnen lassen, veranschaulichen sie den möglichen Umschwung in seiner spannendsten, weil noch nicht entschiedenen Phase: Ob es Malawi schafft, wie schon in den vergangenen zehn Jahren seine wirtschaftliche, bildungspolitische und infrastrukturelle Lage weiter voranzutreiben, ist wohl ungewiss, aber keineswegs unmöglich. Vielleicht hängt es nicht zuletzt davon ab, wie aufmerksam diese Entwicklungen von außen betrachtet werden – und sei es auf Fotografien, die, weil sie nicht kategorisieren und vereinfachen, sondern vielmehr flirren und schwanken, Ahnungen zulassen und unsere Sicht auf die Dinge ausweiten.
FotoDoks 2012: 17. Oktober - 21. Oktober 2012
"ACHTUNG?! – RESPECT, CONTROL, CHANGE"
Vernissage & Festivaleröffnung: 17. Oktober 2012, 19.00 Uhr
Ausstellung: 17. Oktober - 25. November 2012
Werkstattgespräch mit den ausstellenden Fotografen: 20. Oktober 2012, 14.00 Uhr
Münchner Stadtmuseum
St.-Jakobs-Platz 1, 80331 München
Di - So: 10.00 - 18.00 Uhr
www.maximiliansforum.de
Lecture Performance: "Krieg darstellen von A bis Z" mit Jule Hillgärtner
20. Oktober 2012, 19.00 Uhr
MaximiliansForum
www.maximiliansforum.de
Commissioned by the Goethe Institute, OSTKREUZ photographer Dawin Meckel traveled through Malawi in spring 2009. The resulting series "Malawi in Transition" will be shown at the FotoDoks 2012 in Munich from 17 october on.
The festival for contemporary documentary photography, which is being held for the fifth time, is one of the most important in the German-speaking area. This year it is devoted to "Attention?! - Respect, Control, Change". In the exhibition and the framework programme, it deals with significant questions in contemporary documentary photography: What is the photographer's responsibility versus his medium and his protagonists? Which issues deserve attention? Who controls the image? How does the image control the world? Who gives attention to whom? What are the developments we need to be careful with?
Amongst the fourteen photographers who have been invited alongside Dawin Meckel to participate in the group exhibition are Simon Norfork and Simon Roberts from this year FotoDoks host country Great Britain.
Besides the exhibition, the centerpiece of the festival, lectures, discussions, guides and tours are also on the programme.
FotoDoks 2012: 17 October - 21 October 2012
"Attention?! - Respect, Control, Change"
Vernissage & Festival Opening: 17 October 2012, 7.00 pm
Exhibition: 17 October - 25 November 2012
Workshop talk with the exhibiting photographers: 20 October 2012, 2.00 pm
Munich City Museum
St.-Jakobs-Platz 1, 80331 Munich
Tue - Sun: 10.00 am - 6.00 pm
www.stadtmuseum-online.de
When you see an exhibition hanging on the walls you often have no conception of long it has been silently prepared. Over two years we have been busy with our new joint project and in November it is finally time: The exhibition opens at the Haus der Kulturen in Berlin and the catalog is published at Hatje Cantz.
In the meantime, our photographers have gone around the world, in search of borders, that are important today. They were present when a new state was created in the desert, they have visited a city of walls and crossed an island that lies in two countries. They have ventured to a place that catches those who can not fall lower and where the world was once over, they found a young forest. In different places, in their past and on their own bodies, they have explored various visible and invisible boundaries.
More about "On Borders" in the coming weeks on our blog.
„Über Grenzen“
Opening: 8 November 2012
Exhibition: 9 November 2012 - 30 December 2012
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
Joerg Bruegemann's Metalheads are probably still revovering from Wacken festival, now they can alreday be seen in an exhibition in Cologne.
"Kill Your Darlings"
Opening: 31 August 2012, 8.30 pm
Exhibition: 1 September - 30 September
neues kunstforum
Alteburger Wall 1, 50678 Köln
Thu - Sun 3pm -6pm
http://www.neues-kunstforum.com/
The crooked house in Wernigerode has been standing since the 14th Century, but only since spring it hosts a photography museum. Tobias Kruse is thus one of the first artists who exhibits there. As of early August, he shows his series Into the Sun, for which he ventured to Lloret de Mar in the midst of a mob of partying teenagers.
"Into the Sun"
Opening: 4 August, 7.00 pm
Exhibition: 5 August - 31 October
MUSEUM SCHIEFES HAUS
Klintgasse 5, 38855 Wernigerode
Tue - Sun 11.00 - 5.00 pm
Once a year, heavy metal fans from all over the world gather at the festival in Wacken, North Germany. Maybe this time they will see a few familiar faces in the Metalheads exhibition at the Art Tent. For this project, Joerg Brueggemann photographed metal fans around the globe. Of course also in Wacken.
"Metalheads"
Exhibition: 1 - 4 August
Wacken Open Air
OSTKREUZ and the theatre are linked by a long history. Our founding members celebrated in GDR times with Heiner Mueller, Sibylle Bergemann accompanied the Ramba Ramba ensemble for years and with the actors portraits in our archive we could fill a couple of exhibits.
Julian Roeder and Heinrich Voelkel continue this tradition and take photos for the State Theatre in Mainz. The play time book with their pictures hast just won the renowned red
Sylt in Berlin. For the beginning of summer, the Willy-Brandt-Haus exhibits pictures of the mythical North Sea island. Robert Lebeck shows Sylt in the 60s, Peter Bialobrzeski merges several coast photos into one, and Joerg Brueggemann focuses on the people who work, while all others are basking in the sun: the lifeguards.
"Sylt - im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Fotografie"
Exhibition: 6 July - 26 August 2012
Opening: 5 July 2012, 7.00 pm
Willy-Brandt-Haus
Wilhelmstraße 140 / Stresemannstraße 28, Berlin
Tue-Sun, 12.00 - 6.00 pm
www.willy-brandt-haus.de
ulian Roeder has won the Lead Awards silver medal in the category documentary photography. OSTKREUZ photographers Sibylle Bergemann, Tobias Kruse and Frank Schinski have also been awarded. They are all represented in the Lead Awards exhibition at the Hamburg Deichtorhallen. "Visual Leader 2012"
Exhibition: 21 June - 26 August 2012 Deichtorhallen Hamburg - Haus der Photographie
Deichtorstraße 1 - 2, 20095 Hamburg
Tue- Sun 11.00 - 18.00 Uhr
Our group project Ostzeit (eastern time) shows everyday life in the GDR - the housing in the P2 prefab buildings, the first of May parades, the cohesion in a Thuringian village. Now the exhibition goes to Poland, a country that has experienced its own "Ostzeit".
"GDR. Stories From a Country which is no More"
Opening: 21 June, 6.00 pm
Exhibition: 22 June - 2 September
MCK
International Cultural Centre
Rynek Glówny 25, 31-008 Krakow
Tue - Sat 11.00 - 6.00 pm, Sun 11.00 am - 5.00 pm
http://www.mck.krakow.pl/page/next-exhibitions