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Together with Amnesty International and the Ukrainian human rights activist and photographer Oleksandra Bienert, OSTKREUZ has developed a photo exhibition that provides insights into the everyday lives of people in Ukraine, which has been marked by war for two years, and asks: What is life like for people in Ukraine in the midst of this ongoing Russian war of aggression? How do people organize their everyday lives despite the great dangers? How do they try to preserve hope and a bit of normality?
The OSTKREUZ photographers Emile Ducke, Johanna-Maria Fritz and Sebastian Wells, who works together with the Ukrainian photographer Vsevolod Kazarin, have been to Ukraine several times independently of each other. Their images are complemented by facts that Amnesty International has researched on the ground in recent years, including the most serious human rights violations and war crimes.

The exhibition is on display in the foyer of the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Center of the Humboldt University Library in Berlin and is freely accessible during opening hours.

Opening: 22.2.24, 17:30 to 18:30

Duration: 23.2. to 22.3.24

Further information here.

Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler's works are characterized by a humanistic view of the world, they are committed to realism and at the same time characterized by strong subjective moments.
In the exhibition "An seltsamen Tagen über Flüsse in die Städte und Dörfer bis ans Ende der Welt", the Kunsthalle Erfurt is showing a selection from the series of works the Mahlers have produced together since 2008, including the comprehensive work entitled "An den Strömen", for which they have been photographing since 2019. 
"A Village", a group of works comprising four series created over a period of 70 years in Berka, Thuringia, forms another focal point of the exhibition. Ludwig Schirmer worked as a miller in the 1950s, and in his free time he photographed his village of Berka, the people, the celebrations and everyday life. His pictures were only discovered in his estate in 2001. Werner Mahler made Berka the subject of his diploma thesis in the 1970s. Twenty years later, he was commissioned by Stern magazine to do a report on the village. Ute Mahler, the daughter of Ludwig Schirmer, was born in Berka. She photographed the place of her childhood in 2021/2022. 

Opening: 2.3.24, 6 pm

Duration: 3.3. until 26.5.24 

Further information here.

The photographic book and exhibition project "A Village" illustrates
aspects of time and change. The focus is on the village of Berka in
Thuringia, which was photographed by two generations of one family over a period of 70 years: Ludwig Schirmer (1950-1960), Werner Mahler (1977/78 and 1998) and Ute Mahler (2021/22). The book presentation also provides a preview of the exhibition planned for spring 2025 at the Akademie der Künste as part of the European Month of Photography (EMOP).

The book "Ein Dorf" is published by Hartmann Books with texts by Jenny Erpenbeck, Anja Maier, Steffen Mau and Gary Van Zante. It was designed by Lamm & Kirch, Berlin/Leipzig.

In Berlin, the publication will be presented for the first time at the Akademie der Künste am Pariser Platz with a discussion with Ute Mahler, Jenny Erpenbeck and Steffen Mau, moderated by curator Maren Lübbke-Tidow.

Book presentation: 5.3.24, 7 pm

Admission: 6 €, reduced 4 €

Further information here.

The filmmakers Sabine Michel and Dörte Grimm have collaborated with OSTKREUZ photographer Ina Schoenenburg for their joint book "Es ist einmal. East German grandparents and their grandchildren in conversation", together with OSTKREUZ photographer Ina Schoenenburg. Together they are presenting the book at the "Literatur LIVE" event at the Pfefferberg Theater.

To this day, many East German families do not speak openly about life in the GDR. In these conversations between grandparents and their grandchildren born after 1982, which were written for this book, not only do the most diverse imprints and value systems collide, but also literally the future and the past. These stirring encounters are exemplary of how a dialog between the generations can be set in motion, and at the same time help us to understand current political developments in East Germany differently and better.

Book presentation: 7.3.24, 10 a.m.

Further information here.

With his photo project "Typ / Traube / Tross", which will be shown in the project space at Haus am Kleistpark in Schöneberg, OSTKREUZ photographer Sebastian Wells visually examines why young people support nationalism, here exemplified in Flanders.
In portraits of uniformed members of a nationalist student fraternity, in an examination of illustrated books from the Nazi era and the collective memory of passers-by, he analyzes the identity construct of right-wing extremists and their ideas of community. Sebastian Wells sees his role as that of an archaeologist, as his images create a visual environment in which the past inseparably intersects with the present. 

Opening: 14.3.24, 7 pm

Duration: 15.3. to 19.5.24

Further information here.

Together with a team of artists from Ukraine and Germany, Sebastian Wells has co-designed the third issue of the English-language magazine Solomiya, which is dedicated to the Ukrainian art and culture scene. The magazine also features an extensive piece about Ukrainians in Berlin, for which Wells photographed and wrote. Sebastian Wells edits the magazine together with Ivanna Kozachenko, Andrii Ushytskyi and Vsevolod Kazarin, while Peter Bünnagel and Anne-Lene Proff from the Scrollan collective are responsible for the art direction. The magazine will be published in March 2024 by SHIFT BOOKS and is supported by the Klaus-Stemmler-Stiftung. 

You can pre-order an issue of the magazine here.

The ARTE program "Twist" talks to artists about the role and potential of friendship. A connection that is based on voluntariness, "untamed", without a legal framework. What does friendship mean? Support, anchor, inspiration or simply love? Is friendship underestimated by society? And what does it mean to work together with a friend? How do we deal with feelings of competition? 
These questions are also on the minds of OSTKREUZ photographers Tobias Kruse and Jörg Brüggemann, who have explored their friendship in a photo project. What role do their East-West biographies play in this? And how much contrast can friendship withstand? 

Watch the complete program here.

We are pleased to announce that Espen Eichhöfer was recently selected for the Norwegian Journal of Photography artist program of the Norwegian Fritt Ord Foundation. This enables him to work on his new project "OsloShow", which explores the country's oil and gas-based wealth and its impact on the youth of Norway today. The results of the artist program, which also involves nine Norwegian photographers, will be presented in a group exhibition in Oslo in 2025.

Further information here.

Our co-founders Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler were awarded the 2023 Culture Prize of the German Photographic Society (DGPh) last Saturday!

In his speech at the award ceremony in Potsdam's Museum Barberini, DGPh Chairman Michael Biedowicz said that Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler were "two outstanding German photographers who, in the GDR era as well as today, realize their own and unadapted view of the world in different, intensive photo projects".

The Culture Prize is awarded annually as the highest award of the German Photographic Society. According to the DGPh's foundation charter, the Culture Prize honors "...significant achievements made with the help of photography, especially in the artistic, humanitarian, charitable, social, technical, educational or scientific fields."

We are very pleased and congratulate on this special award!

Photo: Tobias Kruse

The Robert Morat Galerie on Linienstrasse in Berlin-Mitte is showing works from Linn Schröder's long-term project "Ich denke auch Familienbilder" (I also think family pictures). This project deals with one of the most fundamental tasks of photography, the capturing of memories.

Family pictures are photographs that on the one hand function as a reminder and on the other hand can often even create memories. But they can also be mental images that are created through stories and one's own imagination. Linn Schröder combines these aspects in a poetic way and creates visual worlds that, in their surreal, magical, and often staged imagery, tell of astonishment, uncertainty and perhaps also of unease.

Opening: 27.10.23, 6 to 9 p.m. in the presence of the photographer

Duration: 28.10. until 21.12.23

Further information here.

Johanna-Maria Fritz's work "A Grave in the Garden", made in Ukraine, is part of the shortlist exhibition of the Leica Oscar Barnack Award 2023, currently on show at Leica Welt in Wetzlar.

Since the start of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Johanna-Maria Fritz has repeatedly travelled to the dangerous areas of the country, photographing the happenings and consequences of the ongoing conflict. Her moving reportage gives a direct insight into the everyday lives of the people who struggle to survive every day.

Duration: until 31.1.23

Further information here.

Current and relevant topics from ReVue magazine give rise to discussion in the "Salon Revue" at F hoch 3 - freiraum für fotografie. New scientific findings and perspectives, innovative ideas and questions about photography and perception characterise the stimulating, discursive evenings. Representatives from the field enter into a direct dialogue with scientists and exchange their views with the audience.

As part of the "Salon ReVue" series, Maurice Weiss and Boris Kochan, President of the German Design Day, will discuss under the title "Politisch Fotografieren" (political photography) in November. They will examine questions such as: What kind of photographs do politicians still allow today? How is the role of photography to be understood politically? The exchange will be moderated by Miriam Zlobinski.

The number of participants is limited, booking an online ticket is recommended.

Date: 7.11.23, 7 pm

Further information here.

The Niedersächsische Landesvertretung in Berlin is showing "Bilder zur Zeitenwende" (images at the turn of time), a photo exhibition by the German-Ukrainian artist duo Sebastian Wells and Vsevolod Kazarin. Both were awarded with the " Deutscher Friedenspreis für Fotografie" (German Peace Prize for Photography) in Osnabrück this year for their mutual work, which was photographed in Kyiv in 2022.

At the opening of the exhibition there will be a talk with Sebastian Wells, the peace researcher Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schneckenkenner (University of Osnabrück) and Dr. Kateryna Rietz-Rakul (Ukraine Institute Berlin), moderated by Stefanie Sembill (Representative of Niedersachsen). Entrance is free, but registration is requested (possible from 1.11.).

Opening and talk: 13.11.23, 7 p.m.

Duration: 14 - 19.11.23

Further information here.

The „Museum für Angewandte Kunst“ in Gera is showing the exhibition of the 14th Aenne Biermann Prize, a nationwide competition for German contemporary photography, which is organised by the MAK Gera and the SV Sparkassen-Versicherung every 2 years.

Tobias Kruse will receive a recognition for his work "Deponie" (Landfill) as part of the prize, and his series will be shown in the exhibition. It is Tobias Kruse's photographic journey through eastern Germany, which began at the Schönberg landfill site near Schwerin. Kruse's associative black-and-white photographs of landscape and people stand between harshness, poetry, abstraction and representationalism. A publication will also be released on the occasion of the exhibition.

Opening and award ceremony: 21.11.23, 6 p.m.

Duration: 22.11.23 until 11.2.24

Further information here.

As part of the REVIEW OSTSEE-BIENNALE of the Kunsthalle Rostock, Espen Eichhöfer is represented with his work "Papa, Gerd und der Nordmann“ (Dad, Gerd and the Northman) in an exhibition of photographic positions from Norway and Germany. In this exhibition, the "Kunstverein zu Rostock", as a satellite location of the Kunsthalle Rostock, presents positions by Espen Eichhöfer, Andrea Gjestvang, Patrick Hinz, Hans-Christian Schink and Edgar Zippel, all of whom have in common that they artistically reflect the meaning of "home" in their works.

The Kunsthalle Rostock reopened after three years of extensive renovation. On this occasion, as organising institution, it turns to a theme with the REVIEW OSTSEE-BIENNALE, which is anchored in its history of origin: "To be a place of the Biennale of the Baltic Sea Countries, Norway and Iceland", for the organisation of which it was originally inaugurated in 1969.

Opening: 22.11.23, 7:30 pm

Duration: 23.11.23 until 14.1.24

Further information here.

Stephanie Steinkopf's work "Manhattan - Straße der Jugend“ (Manhatten - Street of Youth), created in Brandenburg, will next be on view at Galerie Fenster in Eberswalde. In the city's largest new housing estate, the Brandenburgisches Viertel, which was built from 1977-89, Galerie Fenster presents Steinkopf's series, which was also created more than 10 years ago in a new housing estate on the periphery of a Brandenburg village.

"Manhattan" - that's what the villagers have been calling two prefabricated buildings for decades. Since reunification, only 12 of the total of 40 flats are still inhabited, one block is completely empty. Stephanie Steinkopf's work has not lost any of its actuality and shows the constant development of social separation that is currently evident in many village regions in East and West Germany.

Opening in the presence of the photographer: 30.11.23, 5 p.m.

Duration: 1.12.23 until 18.2.24

Further information here.

Sibylle Fendt's photographic project Reise durch deutsches Flüchtlingskrisenland" ("Journey through German Refugee Crisis Country"), realised in 2015 and 2016, will be published in September as part of the 88-page publication "Devenir invisible - Becoming Invisible" by the French publishing house "Nouveau Palais". Combining photographs and philosophical essays (German/French), the book explores the representation of refugees at a time when refugees in Europe are caught between a policy of "return" and the rise to power of far-right governments. Pre-orders of the book are now open.

Further information and book order here.

The exhibition "Die Wanderung" (The Wandering) by Espen Eichhöfer will be on show in the Rundeindicker exhibition space at Zeche Zollverein in Essen in October. The long-term photographic project shows pictures of a hike through the Ruhr region. These address origins, belonging and today's relationship to places that were once central to the photographer's life. "When I left Moers for the east with a light pack on my back, I didn't know where I would spend the next night. On the other side of the river, Duisburg-Hauptbahnhof is the last place familiar to me. All my life I have left or arrived here. The makeshift glass facade at platform 12, repaired with duct tape, was a sight that said goodbye and welcomed me for years. Would the sense of belonging, once undoubtedly strong, return when I left?" says Eichhöfer about his work. He has not lived in the Ruhr area for 20 years, and for 10 days he travelled by foot from Moers to Bochum-Langendreer for this work.

Opening: 29.10.23, 12:00 p.m.

Duration: 29.10.23 until 17.3.24 

Further information here.

In recent years, Frank Schinski has been working on his independent project "Aiming High". For that purpose, he has travelled to various countries in Europe to accompany and document different application processes. At job interviews, castings and assessment centres, Schinski has observed the participants as they get caught up in a seemingly fixed choreography of imaginary expectations. An excerpt of this work is currently part of the 90th autumn exhibition at Kunstverein Hannover and can be seen until the end of October.

Duration: until 22.10.23

Further information here.

The Goethe-Institut Bordeaux is showing the exhibition "Habitat" by Anne Schönharting in its beautiful rooms in the institute building at the Jardin Public. For this series, Anne Schönharting photographed people in their flats in Berlin-Charlottenburg for over ten years. The photographs are interiors, portraits, still lifes, stagings of the photographer and at the same time documentation of a living environment: gestures, postures, objects and furnishings of the living spaces are an expression of the social status and personal self-image of the people portrayed. Anne Schönharting will be present at the opening and will sign the accompanying book of the same name, published by Hartmann books.

Opening: 30.9.23, 3:30 pm

Duration: 1.10.23 to 9.2.24

Further information here.