On German Photography Today

An artistic scene certainly consists not only of the producers, but also of the institutions of dissemination and, above all, of the public. The latter is difficult to describe, but the vehicles of transmission from production to consumption are easily specified. Here three have been selected, representing all others.

In addition, at the end comes a science, which deals with the effect of photographic pictures on people and describes the circumstances of this formation.

The museums

In the 1970s German museums set up various cabinets with photography presentations and promoted the medium itself by building up collections as well as by showcasing large exhibitions. Since the beginning of the new century, however, enthusiasm has been on the wane. For some time now, German photography, although internationally successful, has rarely been on show – with the exception of a few rediscoveries such as Martin Munkács or Hans Hajek-Halke. Although Peter Keetman, who died in 2005, has long been attaining the highest prices for his prints in the international art market, apart from two small presentations in 1998 and 2003, there has been no comprehensive exhibition of his life and work. The cabinets customary for many other artists have yet to be created for photographers, although the valuation, for instance, of an Otto Steinert or an Albert Renger-Patzsch is in the same league as that of an Ernst Nolde or an Otto Dix – who quite naturally have their own museums.

An exception to this rather lamentable rule is to be found in some regional museums which, outside the mainstream of current trends and topics, have developed as independent sites of pictorial presentation. At the forefront of these is the RuhrMuseum in Essen, whose multifaceted activities in the field of photography are already beginning to outshine the Photographic Collection of the Folkwang Museum in the same city. New types of museums with large photographic sections, however, do still emerge from time to time, for example, Hamburg’s Museum der Arbeit (Museum of Work), founded on a private initiative, which has an unusually large and comprehensive collection of industrial photographs. Large collections are occasionally donated to museums, such as that of Ann und Jürgen Wilde, now in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, while some huge stashes are still gathering dust elsewhere in warehouses and cellar rooms, such as Otto Steinert’s collection in the Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken.

Exhibitions

Certainly the best means of presentation in the German photo scene in recent years has been the widespread proliferation of exhibitions, which make it possible to see outstanding photographs at any time and in almost any place. The days of blockbuster photography shows now seem to be gone, but there are plenty of fine retrospectives these days – like those of Helmut Newton, Michael Ruetz and Gisèle Freund – that tour one city after another, actually providing more public exposure for the medium than many a spectacular event. Excellent work is also being done by numerous private initiatives, such as Stephan Erfurt’s C/O Berlin, and finally a whole number of galleries whose work goes beyond the usual art trade. Here two examples are named from Cologne, representing many others: Thomas Zander and Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie.

Magazines

In contrast to this hive of activity on the exhibition front, magazines on photography in Germany are not exactly thriving. At present the only magazines which still have a claim to high artistic quality are the sporadically published European Photography, the follow-up publication of an earlier journal, and PhotoNews, which focuses on developments and events in contemporary photography; the only world-class German-language magazine in this sphere is the Austrian Camera Austria.

Fortunately, in design there are a number of magazines such as Design-Report, Designer’s Digest and die form, which while not actually devoting regular column-inches to photography, do frequently highlight this medium. What’s more, periodicals like Photo-International examine economic aspects of professional photojournalism, even giving some coverage to the positioning of German photography in the international scene. Yet there is no printed periodical any more that sets standards for amateur photography; computer games and other activities now reign supreme in this domain.

Science

In view of the fact that there are hardly any high-profile institutions working in this field, the scientific study of the theory and practice of photography in Germany has developed relatively well. Although the Deutsche Centrum für Photographie, launched so ambitiously, has been reduced beyond recognition by funding cuts, nevertheless – in small steps, almost in secret - good work is being done there under the directorship of Ludger Derenthal. Small, precisely compiled exhibitions on the history of photography are on show in myriad sites; almost every day old names are being newly discovered. The number of theses and dissertations already written on photo history has meanwhile reached triple digits and is increasing steadily.

However, very few of these works are based on a genuine photo theory – there is only one professor for this subject in Germany. For a long time the literature sciences were at the forefront of this field, but they have now turned their attention to other subjects. Communication research seems to be laying a new, albeit barely perceptible trail – here an increasing number of studies are being encouraged to transcend the monographic investigation of photographers’ individual vitae. And historians have long since come to acknowledge photography as an integral part of their work, witness the growing corpus of photo criticism in the e-journal Zeithistorische Forschungen (Studies in Contemporary History). German photography has finally become what it always wanted to be: a medium that transmits visual knowledge in design and art, in the sciences and humanities.