MISSION
A National Institute for Photography
The Deutsches Fotoinstitut (DFI) is being established as a public institution dedicated to the research, preservation, and dissemination of photographic culture in Germany. It envisions itself as a platform for knowledge and exchange within a federal, decentralized, and digitally connected network – an open institution with an international outlook.
It brings people and ideas together with archives, fosters dialogue between art, collections, and research, and works to develop shared standards and structures for the future of photography.
Its mission: to safeguard the photographic heritage, make knowledge accessible, and advance visual literacy in a world increasingly shaped by images.
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Currently at Projektbüro DFI e.V.
→ Eiskellerberg 1-3, 40213 Düsseldorf
11/10 – 01/11/2025
More on www.towards.photography
TOWARDS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Towards Photography both takes a look at the present and explores the future of photography. Hosted by the DFI e.V., the series of events creates an open forum for discourse between international artists, theorists, academics, authors, the local arts and culture scene as well as local citizens. The events such as talks, lectures and panel discussions held at Projektbüro DFI e.V. in Düsseldorf and online facilitate a direct exchange between all participants.
State capital Düsseldorf
In collaboration with art and media scholar Dr Christina Irrgang, the DFI e.V. and the Cultural Office produced "Düsseldorf and Photography” a report that chronicles the past and present of Düsseldorf as a centre of photography.
The publication illustrates the diversity of the city as an international centre for photography and provides a current foundation for promoting the medium’s future development in Düsseldorf. Moreover, it reflects role photography plays in Düsseldorf, its history, its most important locations for communication, research and archiving, the regional and international networks created and its importance as an economic factor.
Düsseldorf has been closely associated with the medium of photography ever since its invention. From an early stage, artists in Düsseldorf have consistently integrated photography into their artistic practice. As a result, an internationally unique network for teaching, producing, processing and presenting photography has developed. This network and the approach to the photographic medium as a cultural asset will be developed further in collaboration with all those involved. With this in mind, the state capital Düsseldorf established Germany's first coordination centre for photography at the Department of Culture in May 2021, followed by the presentation of the report "Düsseldorf and Photography" in June 2022. The report is available in full as a PDF on the state capital Düsseldorf website.
Düsseldorf Art Academy
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), founded in 1773 by Elector Carl Theodor as the Electoral Palatinate Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture is this year celebrating its 250th anniversary. In 1819, it was renamed the Royal Academy of Art of the Prussian Rhine provinces. Today it is a public corporation and an institution of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, offering degrees in painting, sculpture, graphic design, architecture, stage design, photography, film and video.
The Kunstakademie experienced an intensive period of activity during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s thanks to numerous Fluxus events and actions by artists such as Nam June Paik and Joseph Beuys. Artists such as Katharina Sieverding, Blinky Palermo, Rosemarie Trockel, Gerhard Richter, Isa Genzken, Thomas Schütte, Imi Knoebel and Jörg Immendorff have all taught and studied here. Due to its ongoing engagement with images, the Academy has developed a unique approach to photography that has provided continuous impetus for production, analysis and art historical research in the field.
A new chapter began in 1976, when Bernd Becher was awarded the first professorship for photography and thus established the world's first photography class at an art academy.
Bernd Becher's class, which included graduates such as Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Tata Ronkholz, Thomas Ruff, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Struth and many others, was subsequently headed by Christopher Williams until the middle of 2023, while Sophie Thun currently occupies the position. The Fine Art class is led by Peter Piller.
August Sander, Frau eines Malers [Helene Abelen], um 1926/27
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur in Cologne is home to the August Sander Archive and contains the world's largest collection of original prints and preserved negatives, August Sander's letters and correspondence as well as an extensive library. A further important component of the institution is the archive of the artist couple Bernd and Hilla Becher. A collection has been compiled on this foundation that comprehensively reflects the tradition, including both present and future development of conceptual documentary photography.
Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, who has been the director of the Photographic Collection since 2007, says the following about a German Photographic Institute in Düsseldorf: "Düsseldorf is able to point to a significant artistic tradition in which photography has been incorporated in a variety of ways. The Kunstakademie plays a central role in this. Behind all of these personalities and their works stands a great and invaluable chapter in the history of art and photography, which was created in Germany and has a profoundly influential impact on contemporary art and photography internationally. Thus, Düsseldorf is proving to be a nucleus for the artistic acceptance of the medium of photography with far-reaching effects. Last but not least, Düsseldorf is home to a vast number of photographers, studios and associated companies. In this context, Düsseldorf can offer networks and synergies in a variety of different directions.”
Bernd und Hilla Becher, Fachwerkhäuser des Siegener Industriegebietes. Verschieferte Giebelseiten, 1961–1978
Karl Blossfeldt, Winterschachtelhalme, o. D., [Urformen der Kunst, 1928]
August Kotzsch: Kornpuppe, um 1895
Simone Nieweg: Gartenhaus (mit Teppichfliesen), Meldorf 1986
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Außenansicht
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the largest art museum in Rotterdam and houses a collection of 150,000 objects. In 2021 the museum constructed a publicly accessible depot in order to bring more visibility to the art that is not on permanent display. It is the only one of its kind in the world and functions much like a showcase, providing access to the entire collection. As such, the depot differs from the normally closed and inaccessible depots of art museums. In an act of maximum possible transparency, the processes and activities that take place within the museum have also been made visible, for example the conservation of art and its preparation for transport. Furthermore, visitors can experience curated exhibitions as well as regularly changing presentations. The Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot has offered the DFI e.V. their cooperation with regard to the establishment of the DFI in Düsseldorf.
Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel
Unknown Photographer, Views of the Yellow Stone Park in color, 9.–16.7.1919
Etienne-Jules Marey, Motion study of a horse and rider, 1894
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel with the Ruth and Peter Herzog photo collection
Ruth and Peter Herzog's collection of over 700,000 photographs contains exhibits from all over the world. Spanning from the earliest stages of photography in 1839 through to the 1970s, it traces the development of the medium, while at the same time telling a pictorial history of mankind via original works. The two collectors spent decades compiling an overview of analogue photography that is characterised by its remarkable diversity. All facets of the medium are represented in a wide variety of formats, materials, techniques, forms of presentation and themes. The collection includes albums, framed objects and negative plates from the fields of amateur photography, advertising and travel photography. Family and holiday albums are represented as well as soldier and war albums, landscape photography, photographs from expeditions and collections of artist portraits. The Ruth and Peter Herzog photo collection has been integrated, as an independent component, into the Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel, since 2015. 2020 saw an extensive selection of works from the collection presented in the exhibition "The Incredible World of Photography" at Kunstmuseum Basel. The collection is being continuously analysed and made accessible to the public via an extensive online database.
„Accumulating an immense global mosaic of the life of as many inhabitants on this planet as possible — I have to admit that’s a pretty ambitious goal that we’ve set for ourselves and our collection … Human beings are the focal point of the collection. What makes us human? What do people wish and hope for, what do they dream about? We are intrigued by the fact that, since 1839, there has been a medium capable of recording the history of humankind in meaningful and extremely concentrated images. Our store of photographs is useful to a wide variety of university disciplines, and it allows entirely different kinds of museums to collaborate.“ — Peter Herzog
düsseldorf photo+
darktaxa-project
The current Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media, düsseldorf photo+, took place from May 17 to July 14, 2024, under the theme ON REALITY. Throughout the city, exhibitions, presentations, concerts, discussions, lectures, panels, and other events were hosted in museums, collections, galleries, independent exhibition spaces, and universities. These events were united by their engagement with diverse questions and media that play a crucial role in shaping our contemporary understanding of reality.
darktaxa-project is a collaborative and discursive platform for artists working experimentally at the intersection of photography and new digital imaging technologies.
darktaxa-project: phtoograify
Group exhibition at Projektbüro DFI e.V., as part of düsseldorf photo+, featuring works by: Ralf Brueck, Raphael Brunk, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Philipp Goldbach, Alex Grein, Spiros Hadjijanos, Fabian Hesse & Mitra Wakil, Kristina Lenz & Alex Simon Klug, Achim Mohné, Johannes Post, Michael Reisch, Anna Ridler, Aaron Scheer, Björn Siebert, David Young
Imagebeeld Edition, Brussels
PS/SK Cologne
→ www.imagebeeldedition.com
→ www.towards.photography
Currently at Projektbüro DFI e.V.
→ Eiskellerberg 1-3, 40213 Düsseldorf
11/10 – 01/11/2025
More on www.towards.photography
TOWARDS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Towards Photography both takes a look at the present and explores the future of photography. Hosted by the DFI e.V., the series of events creates an open forum for discourse between international artists, theorists, academics, authors, the local arts and culture scene as well as local citizens. The events such as talks, lectures and panel discussions held at Projektbüro DFI e.V. in Düsseldorf and online facilitate a direct exchange between all participants.
August Sander, Frau eines Malers [Helene Abelen], um 1926/27
Karl Blossfeldt, Winterschachtelhalme, o. D., [Urformen der Kunst, 1928]
Bernd und Hilla Becher, Fachwerkhäuser des Siegener Industriegebietes. Verschieferte Giebelseiten, 1961–1978
August Kotzsch: Kornpuppe, um 1895
Simone Nieweg: Gartenhaus (mit Teppichfliesen), Meldorf 1986
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Außenansicht
Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel
Unknown Photographer, Views of the Yellow Stone Park in color, 9.–16.7.1919
Etienne-Jules Marey, Motion study of a horse and rider, 1894
Kontakt: info@dfi-ev.org
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