"One of the best photography exhibitions I have seen in the past years, better call it a "Photography Documenta";
Urs Stahel's curating is thematic, smart, chaotic and important, bringing up and exposing whatever the eyes and ears want to ignore these days.“ Ilit Azoulay
"Excellent selection and mix of artists. It was a long time that I don’t saw a good show, festival like this.“ Yann Mingard
"Precise in concept and presentation of photographs, repeatedly new and surprising visual concepts which thematize social issues confront the visitor from one exhibition venue to the next. At the same time, the topics are so current that the Fotofestival even makes reference to the latest developments in Europe.“ Henrik Spohler
Concept
The exhibition [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields installs, in [7] museums and art venues, [7] precarious fields of our society today and discusses them on the basis of chiefly contemporary photographic and video works.
In a blend of documentary and artistic works, of murals, projections, installations, showcase works, films and videos, a discursive climate that is also optically visible is to be generated, a climate that meets the requirements for dealing with these themes. The exhibition deals with uprooting, delocalization, alienation, with high-tech production and social control, with real and virtual migration; with aggrandized self-images, highly-strung psyches, inordinate rapacity, with narcissism and loss of self-control, and finally with violence, surveillance and punishment. And, of course, communication and control through photographic images will likewise be a central focus of the project.
Via the works of photographers and artists, the [7] exhibitions intend to look these real situations in the face. Even if every reflection on the real always contains something fictive at the same time: Photography (photographers and artists) has always dealt particularly intensively, in recent decades, with social and economic relationships in today's world. The crucial point of the exhibitions will be that it will not be classic photographic thinking that is brought to bear (pointing its finger, this thinking believes it can name the world's problems and, through naming, solve them), but contemporary and videographic positions that get to work in these critical, precarious fields, that work inside them – questioning, seeking, testing, formulating.
Fotofestival Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg is sponsored by the
premium sponsor BASF SE and the principal sponsor MVV Energie AG.
News
09/11/2015
Free admission for students during the final Festival week
7 November 2015, 5 p.m., Port25 - Raum für Gegenwartskunst, MannheimNew realities in documentary photography
The event will introduce five individual positions who have been selected by photography experts from our Portfolio Review format. Backgrounds and artistic processes will be discussed in a dialogue among artists, photography experts and the public.The presenting photographers and their topics are:LAIA ABRIL, Asexualtity and Gender // ANDREAS STALDER, Childhood Memories in the Unconventional Family Context // INGO STURM, Relationship between Nature, City and Mobility // MARVIN HÜTTERMANN, Death and Dying // SABINE LEWANDOWSKI, Trisomy 21.Culture journalist ANNIKA WIND will moderate the lectures and lead the discussion. The following photography experts will be in attendance: ARIANE BRAUN, deputy Head of Publishing at Kehrer Verlag // SOLVEJ H. OVESEN, Curator of the 4th Fotofestival // MARKUS WECKESSER, The PhotoBookMuseum Cologne and freelance culture journalist specialising in photographyThe event is free of charge.
05/10/2015
Portfolio Review - Opening of the Exhibition of Favourites
16.10.2015 New realities in documentary photography
Our Portfolio Review format offered photographers the opportunity for dialogue with the Fotofestival’s participating artists and renowned experts on the photography scene. Three favourites were selected by the expert jury. Their works will be put on show in a dedicated exhibition at the Heidelberger FORUM für KUNST.Kirill Ovchinnikov (*1965) Herbert Naumann (*1950) Julia Autz (*1988)Introduction: Benedikt StegmeyerHeidelberger FORUM für KUNST Heiliggeiststr. 21 69117 HeidelbergFon 06221 - 24023 Fax 06221 – 658775
In addition to many other exciting events, Fotofestival´s supporting programme offers curator tours with Urs Stahel!
SAT | 17.10.15 | 5.00 p.m. | Kunsthalle Mannheim FRI | 6.11.15 | 3.00 p.m. | Sammlung Prinzhorn FRI | 06.11.15 | 4.30 p.m. | Heidelberger Kunstverein SAT | 7.11.15 | 11.00 a.m. | Port25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst SAT | 07.11.15 | 3.30 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. | Wilhelm-Hack-Museum and Kunstverein Ludwigshafen Start: Wilhelm-Hack-Museum FRI | 13.11.15 | 4.00 p.m. | Kunsthalle Mannheim FRI | 13.11.15 | 5.30 p.m. | ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie SAT | 14.11.15 | 3.30 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. | Wilhelm-Hack-Museum and Kunstverein Ludwigshafen Start: Wilhelm-Hack-MuseumMore information about the supporting programme´s events can be found here.
17/09/2015
Today´s Artist Lectures: Jules Spinatsch, Ilit Azoulay and Paolo Woods & Gabriele Galimberti
JULES SPINATSCH 1.30 p.m. | PORT25 Swiss artist Jules Spinatsch, who carried out the in-situ project of the 6th Fotofestival, talks about "semiautomatic photography" as one of his documentary strategies. In parallel with the Festival’s curatorial concept Spinatsch produced seven new works with computer controlled cameras in the Rhine-Neckar area: One for each of the seven exhibition topics.ILIT AZOULAY 2.30 p.m. | PORT25 Language: English Israeli artist Ilit Azoulay reports on her artistic work, for which she looks for photographic material for her utopian photo montages in houses cleared for demolition in the southern districts of Tel-Aviv. These houses were built during the immigration boom in the 1940s and 50s. Exhibition [7.5] Knowledge, Order, Power at Port25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst is showing her works Shifting Degrees of Certainty, Third Option and Seventh Option.PAOLO WOODS & GABRIELE GALIMBERTI 3.30 p.m. | PORT25
17/09/2015
Today´s Artist Lectures: Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier and George Legrady
Additionally to the previous artist lectures, there are two more about to take place at september the 18th. Not only the duo Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier, but also George Legrady, coming from Santa Barbara, will allow exclusive insights.
RICO SCAGLIOLA & MICHAEL MEIER 4.30 p.m. | HEIDELBERGER KUNSTVEREIN Swiss artist duo Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier, who photographed and filmed teenagers over two years, talk about their work. The 10-channel projection Double Extension Beauty Tubes, which arose from this comprehensive collection of photos and videos, is on show in exhibition [7.6.] Ego-Fest & Self-Stress at Sammlung Prinzhorn in Heidelberg.GEORGE LEGRADY (THE EXPERIMENTAL VISUALIZATION LAB) 5.30 p.m.| HEIDELBERGER KUNSTVEREIN Language: English Internationally known artist George Legrady is, alongside Marco Pinter and Danny Bazo, a founding member of ExpVisLab, an artists’ collective from California, and director of The Experimental Visualization Lab on the Media Arts and Technology (MAT) programme at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The series AutoVision by The Experimental Visualization Lab is on show in exhibition [7.7] Communication and Control at Heidelberger Kunstverein. tverein.
17/09/2015
Today´s Artist Lectures: Julika Rudelius and Thomas Hirschhorn
Before the grand opening begins at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum (17.09, 7.00 p.m.), you are warmly invited to visit two artist lectures. In the Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, the artists Julika Rudelius and Thomas Hirschhorn talk about their exhibited work.
JULIKA RUDELIUS 4.30 p.m. | KUNSTVEREIN LUDWIGSHAFEN Internationally renowned video artist Julika Rudelius talks about her works Liaison and Dressage, which are on show in exhibition [7.2] Violence and Destruction at Kunstverein Ludwigshafen.THOMAS HIRSCHHORN 5.30 p.m. | KUNSTVEREIN LUDWIGSHAFEN Swiss installation artist Thomas Hirschhorn, who has already shown works at Documenta11 and the Biennale di Venezia, talks about his artistic work and in particular about the series CollageTruth, which is on show in the exhibition [7.2] Violence and Destruction at Kunstverein Ludwigshafen.
10/09/2015
Fotofestival App
3 Cities, 7 Exhibition Venues and 1 App
This year we are adding to our range and offering you a free app to accompany the Festival! One app to serve as your compass through our 7 exhibition locations in the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen, to get you from one exhibition location to the next the fastest way possible and provide you with information on getting there by public transport. Additionally, the app provides exciting information all about the Festival, the exhibition venues, and the exhibition topics being dealt with and the artists on show. Our Newsfeed, in addition, has up-to-date news and information about the supporting programme at the ready.
02/09/2015
Edition Sale - 49 Unique Pieces by Artist Jules Spinatsch
First come, first served!
As a special highlight, this year a series of unique pieces from the oeuvre of Swiss artist Jules Spinatsch will be on offer! 49 single images from the work created for the Fotofestival in the Rhine-Neckar region. Tanzboden 1 is exclusively provided by the artist for sale at the Festival. These single images will appear only once in this form and are exclusively available from us. So it pays to be quick! (The artist reserves the right to offer all images in package form as an Edition.) Title: Tanzboden 49 | 39 x 26 cm | signed |Price: 250 Euro
01/09/2015
The Supporting Programme for [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields
On our homepage you can now find comprehensive information on the events in our supporting programme.
In addition to the regular mediation range by the [7] participating institutions, we are offering exclusive guided tours with experts from different fields of expertise, the directors of the art venues and museums as well as with the Fotofestival's curator – Urs Stahel. You can download our programme booklet as a PDF from our section http://www.fotofestival.info/en/events/.
29/08/2015
Save the date! Formal opening of the Fotofestival
On Thursday, September 17, 2015, the opening of [7P] - [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields will be celebrated at Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen.
On the following two days the Festival cities Mannheim and Heidelberg are at the focus of the festivities:FOKUS HEIDELBERG Friday, 18.09.2015 at 19:00 at the Heidelberger KunstvereinFOKUS MANNHEIM Saturday, 19.9.2015 11 a.m.| Port25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst 18:30 | Kunsthalle MannheimWe are looking forward to welcoming you!
19/08/2015
The Registration Period for the Portfolio Review has been extended
Thomas Hirschhorn Thursday, 17.9.15, 17:30 Kunstverein Ludwigshafen
Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier Friday, 18.9.15, 16:30 Heidelberger Kunstverein
George Legrady Friday, 18.9.15, 17:30 Heidelberger Kunstverein
Jules Spinatsch Saturday, 19.9.15, 13:30 Port25
Ilit Azoulay Saturday, 19.9.15, 14:30 Port25
Paolo Woods & Gabriele Galimberti Sunday, 19.9.15, 15:30 Port25
More information about the the artists and upcoming events are to be found soon on our website.
05/08/2015
The setup of the exhibition has begun!
Preparations in the participating institutions are in full swing
The Kunstverein Ludwigshafen am Rhein e.V. starts with a gigantic exhibition architecture which will grow to a wall surface of 600sqm. (see photo)
30/07/2015
Our Homepages´section "artists" is now online!
Images and additional information about the participation artists of [7P] - [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields
The section about the 50 international artists from 19 countries can be found here.
Episode 1: Urs Stahel - Curator
In cooperation with artmetropol.tv we produce a video-documentation of the exhibition project [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields.In the first part, we introduce our curator. Urs Stahel talks about the challenge of equipping 4.000 sq. of exhibition space. In addition, he explains the importance of photo-exhibitions in a time in which photography is omnipresent. The video is to be found here.
25/07/2015
The Fotofestival announces the participating artists!
Interesting videos and additional information about the participating artists.
There are still 4 months left until the Fotofestival starts. We will regulary release videos about the artists to shorten your waiting time and to provide you an additional insight into their work. These can be found here.
26/02/2015
The topic for the Festival's upcoming 2015 edition has been decided!
[7P] [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields
For the 6th edition of Fotofestival Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg the renowned Swiss curator Urs Stahel has drawn up an exciting exhibition concept! From 18 September until 15 November 2015, under the title [7] Places [7] Precarious Fields, our society's current crises will be discussed! The exhibitions at the participating institutions will deal with uprooting, delocalization, alienation, with high-tech production and social control, with real and virtual migration, with aggrandized self-images, highly-strung psyches, rapacity, with narcissism and the loss of self-control, and finally with violence, surveillance and punishment. They will reflect these precarious fields on the basis of chiefly contemporary photographic and video works. In a blend of documentary and artistic works, of murals, projections, installations, showcase works, films and videos, a discursive climate that is also optically visible is to be generated, a climate that meets the requirements for dealing with these themes.Participants will include: Ai Weiwei (China), Ilit Azoulay (Israel), Gaëlle Boucand (France), Adam Broomberg (South Africa) / Oliver Chanarin (United Kingdom), Edmund Clarke (United Kingdom), Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques (France), Henrik Spohler (Germany), Mishka Henner (Belgium), Melanie Gilligan (Canada), Trevor Paglen (USA), Maya Rochat (Switzerland), Rico Scagliola / Michael Meier (Switzerland), Dayanita Singh (India), Jules Spinatsch (Switzerland) and Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Greece).
03/09/2014
URS STAHEL Curator 6th Fotofestival 2015
Urs Stahel is going to curate the 6th Fotofestival edition in autumn 2015Urs Stahel is the founding director of Fotomuseum Winterthur, which, in the 20 years under his leadership, has evolved into one of the most important photography institutions. The internationally active photography specialist is additionally the co-founder of Kunsthalle Zurich, visiting professor at the University of Zurich, and curator at MAST, the new centre of industrial culture in Bologna. He is the curator and author of numerous exhibitions and publications.For the upcoming Fotofestival Urs Stahel will develop an overriding exhibition concept that will give rise to discussions from various perspectives at the participating institutions.