MISSION
An institute for photography
No other medium permeates our everyday lives as much as photography. It is a technique, an art form and a social practice with diverse manifestations. The German Institute of Photography aims to be a public space dedicated to the past, present and future of photography in its analogue, digital and hybrid forms. Its vision is to both comprehensively promote the discussion of pressing issues within the field of photography and its medial contexts between players from the fields of art, science and business while engaging in dialogue with a global public.
Centralised institutions dedicated exclusively to the medium of photography and the particular challenges it presents have long existed in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. These institutions take on educational duties, they work in cooperation with educational and cultural institutions, they research, collect, restore and in doing so work sustainably while preserving for the future. An institution of this kind is lacking in Germany. While institutions and collections that excel in art history, theory and interdisciplinary work do exist, what the future requires is an aggregator capable of consolidating presentation and education, research, collection and preservation of photography as a cultural asset with the necessary resources and facilities, as well as connecting and supporting the relevant parties to make a significant contribution to necessary advancements. The German Institute of Photography intends to fill this void left by the current network of mostly individually operating, federally organised photography collections and archives ensuring that the challenges presented by an increasingly complex medium can be met on the cutting edge.
→ more
Currently at Projektbüro DFI e.V.
→ Eiskellerberg 1-3, 40213 Düsseldorf
Aug 30 – Sep 28, 2024
Open every saturday from 1–5 pm
Closing and Reading on saturday, Sep 28, 4 pm
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.
Jan Dibbets: This Giant Child
Jan Dibbets: This Giant Child – a production realised in collaboration with ATM Film
COOPERATIONS
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.
Hellraum der Werkstatt für Fotografie, Foto: Babette Bangemann
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
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln
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.
Restaurierungswerkstatt im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Fotografien und Gemälde im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Gemälde im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
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
MISSION
An institute for photography
No other medium permeates our everyday lives as much as photography. It is a technique, an art form and a social practice with diverse manifestations. The German Institute of Photography aims to be a public space dedicated to the past, present and future of photography in its analogue, digital and hybrid forms. Its vision is to both comprehensively promote the discussion of pressing issues within the field of photography and its medial contexts between players from the fields of art, science and business while engaging in dialogue with a global public.
Centralised institutions dedicated exclusively to the medium of photography and the particular challenges it presents have long existed in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. These institutions take on educational duties, they work in cooperation with educational and cultural institutions, they research, collect, restore and in doing so work sustainably while preserving for the future. An institution of this kind is lacking in Germany. While institutions and collections that excel in art history, theory and interdisciplinary work do exist, what the future requires is an aggregator capable of consolidating presentation and education, research, collection and preservation of photography as a cultural asset with the necessary resources and facilities, as well as connecting and supporting the relevant parties to make a significant contribution to necessary advancements. The German Institute of Photography intends to fill this void left by the current network of mostly individually operating, federally organised photography collections and archives ensuring that the challenges presented by an increasingly complex medium can be met on the cutting edge.
→ more
Currently at Projektbüro DFI e.V.
→ Eiskellerberg 1-3, 40213 Düsseldorf
Aug 30 – Sep 28, 2024
Open every saturday from 1–5 pm
Closing and Reading on saturday, Sep 28, 4 pm
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.
Jan Dibbets: This Giant Child
Jan Dibbets: This Giant Child – a production realised in collaboration with ATM Film
COOPERATIONS
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.
Hellraum der Werkstatt für Fotografie, Foto: Babette Bangemann
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.”
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
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln
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.
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Außenansicht
Restaurierungswerkstatt im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Fotografien und Gemälde im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Gemälde im Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
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
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
NEWSLETTER
Kontakt: info@dfi-ev.org
Partner
© 2024 Verein zur Gründung und Förderung eines Deutschen Fotoinstituts – DFI e.V.
Bildnachweise
Towards Photography
Foto: Peter Schlegel
Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf
Fotos: Edi Winarni
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
© Babette Bangemann;
Hauptfassade der Kunstakademie von NW, Foto: Wiegels, CC BY 3.0
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Foto © Ossip van Duivenbode, 2022
Fotosammlung Ruth und Peter Herzog
© als Sammlung im Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel, 2023. All right reserved.
The Association for the Foundation and Promotion of a German Institute of Photography e. V.
An institute for photography
No other medium permeates our everyday lives as much as photography. It is a technique, an art form and a social practice with diverse manifestations. The German Institute of Photography aims to be a public space dedicated to the past, present and future of photography in its analogue, digital and hybrid forms. Its vision is to both comprehensively promote the discussion of pressing issues within the field of photography and its medial contexts between players from the fields of art, science and business while engaging in dialogue with a global public. Centralised institutions dedicated exclusively to the medium of photography and the particular challenges it presents have long existed in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. These institutions take on educational duties, they work in cooperation with educational and cultural institutions, they research, collect, restore and in doing so work sustainably while preserving for the future. An institution of this kind is lacking in Germany. While institutions and collections that excel in art history, theory and interdisciplinary work do exist, what the future requires is an aggregator capable of consolidating presentation and education, research, collection and preservation of photography as a cultural asset with the necessary resources and facilities, as well as connecting and supporting the relevant parties to make a significant contribution to necessary advancements. The German Institute of Photography intends to fill this void left by the current network of mostly individually operating, federally organised photography collections and archives ensuring that the challenges presented by an increasingly complex medium can be met on the cutting edge.
From artist initiative to conception
The idea behind an Institute for Photography (DFI) was born of an initiative by photographic artists. They face a variety of ongoing challenges posed by the transition from analogue to digital, the complex relationships between creativity and technology, and the sustainable handling of their material and archives, all of which continuously require innovative solutions. Inspired by these issues, the artists Andreas Gursky, Stefan Hostettler and Moritz Wegwerth have compiled a collection of central themes and questions with the aim of providing a framework for discussion. The first concept was developed in early 2019 under the working title "German Centre of Photography" in close collaboration with fellow artists, experts and key figures from the field of photography. Together with additional advocates, they founded the "Association for the Foundation and Promotion of a German Institute of Photography e. V." soon afterwards, the aim being to promote the idea of an international centre of excellence geared towards the public. The initial members and supporters included Jen DeNike, Roe Ethridge, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ralf Hütter, Peter Piller, Cindy Sherman, Christopher Williams among many others.
The materiality of photography
Photography is a global medium whose history has been shaped by regional constellations. Alongside countries such as France, England, Japan and the USA, Germany, as the centre of optical, chemical and photomechanical industries, played an instrumental role in the medium's development. Major photographers have worked here, built up collections here and undertaken important research here. As a result, Germany is home to a large number of institutions with outstanding photographic collections. Nevertheless, a place where the materiality of photographic images is at the forefront alongside content and motif is still lacking. Every photograph has a history, a provenance, a context – every image also has a flip-side that contains important information. Photography is closely linked to the technical conditions of its time, to industrially developed materials and processes. Therefore, a place where knowledge and practice and where both sides of the image take centre stage is required.
Operating in a network
An open and interdisciplinary approach is a fundamental principle of the institute. Central to achieving this is close collaboration with existing institutions. The institute does not consider itself as a stand-alone entity, but as an aggregator in an international network. Therefore, during the development phase, the DFI has already begun cooperating with archives, museums, universities, foundations and collections. The questions that are being negotiated concern us all: what is photography, what can it do and what does it effect? How can photography be preserved for posterity? How can knowledge about artistic and technical processes – and the images themselves – be made permanently accessible to the public? The DFI intends to provide answers to these questions. For example, by formulating guidelines and standards for the professional and sustainable preservation of photographic materials. The German Institute of Photography will have a physical location and at the same time be a digital platform. The new institution's concept deliberately avoids drawing a line between digital and analogue, between artistic, applied and so-called amateur photography. In short, the DFI is concerned with photography as a cultural field in all its manifestations. The scale of the challenge is in no small part due to the enormous success of the medium. Photography has, for decades, not only determined how we perceive the world, but it is also increasingly determining how we remember the past. This shapes our perception of history and our understanding of the present.
Location
As decided by the council of the state capital, the new DFI building will be located at the intersection of Hofgarten and Ehrenhof, on the site at Inselstraße 36a. The expressionist architectural complex Ehrenhof is located in the city centre and is surrounded by art and cultural institutions such as the Kunstpalast, NRW Forum, Tonhalle, Staatliche Kunstakademie and Kunstsammlung NRW. The importance of a landscape of complementary institutions can be recognised by this present-day Düsseldorf as a city of photography. The municipal centre for restoration has been located in the immediate vicinity of the planned DFI site since 1976. It was established in order to combine expertise in the preservation and restoration of photographs equally with the other artistic media. Today, museums and archives holding a total of 3.5 million objects have access to the specialised workshops and expertise of the photography restorer. Düsseldorf's concentration of artistic, academic and technical expertise in the field of photography is unrivalled. The large format images that are produced here by Düsseldorf photographers would be inconceivable without the infrastructure of specialised businesses catering to the demand of commercial photography. Among these are photography laboratories and international film and camera manufacturers that are based in Düsseldorf or have branches in the city. The material requirements of the photographic practice will also play an important role at the DFI. This relates to the preservation of images, but to techniques in photographic processes and the development of new technologies, too. The DFI, as a representative of the artists, aims to enter into a dialogue with producers. The objective will always be the sustainable use of photography.
The DFI e. V. and its cooperating partners
In addition to its collaboration with the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, the DFI e. V. has forged a number of other alliances. These alliances serve to enrich the development of the new institution by combining their respective practices and expertise with the DFI. For example, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot in Rotterdam fully opened its collection to the public in the form of a “display depot” in 2021, thereby demonstrating a transparent approach to its own collection, while the Fondation Herzog in Basel provides an example of how photography can be understood as a historical force and contemporary witness. Since the 1970s, the Swiss couple Peter and Ruth Herzog have amassed one of the most important private photography collections in the world. Containing over 300,000 images, it tells a story of people living in industrial societies since 1839, a large proportion are amateur photographs that are currently being analysed and archived in Basel. The Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur is a further key partner for the DFI e.V. and the state capital. Founded in 1992 and based in Cologne, the institution houses approximately 40,000 photographs, including the August Sander Archive containing the world's largest collection of original prints and preserved glass negatives, and the archive of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
News
At a joint press conference on 18 September 2023, the State Minister for Culture Claudia Roth, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister for Culture and Science Ina Brandes and the Mayor of Düsseldorf Dr Stephan Keller presented the Founding Committee for the Deutsches Fotoinstitut. The team of seven comprises a broad range of photographic expertise and will define the main objectives for the future institute of photography.
The Association for the Foundation and Promotion of a German Institute of Photography e. V.
An institute for photography
No other medium permeates our everyday lives as much as photography. It is a technique, an art form and a social practice with diverse manifestations. The German Institute of Photography aims to be a public space dedicated to the past, present and future of photography in its analogue, digital and hybrid forms. Its vision is to both comprehensively promote the discussion of pressing issues within the field of photography and its medial contexts between players from the fields of art, science and business while engaging in dialogue with a global public. Centralised institutions dedicated exclusively to the medium of photography and the particular challenges it presents have long existed in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. These institutions take on educational duties, they work in cooperation with educational and cultural institutions, they research, collect, restore and in doing so work sustainably while preserving for the future. An institution of this kind is lacking in Germany. While institutions and collections that excel in art history, theory and interdisciplinary work do exist, what the future requires is an aggregator capable of consolidating presentation and education, research, collection and preservation of photography as a cultural asset with the necessary resources and facilities, as well as connecting and supporting the relevant parties to make a significant contribution to necessary advancements. The German Institute of Photography intends to fill this void left by the current network of mostly individually operating, federally organised photography collections and archives ensuring that the challenges presented by an increasingly complex medium can be met on the cutting edge.
From artist initiative to conception
The idea behind an Institute for Photography (DFI) was born of an initiative by photographic artists. They face a variety of ongoing challenges posed by the transition from analogue to digital, the complex relationships between creativity and technology, and the sustainable handling of their material and archives, all of which continuously require innovative solutions. Inspired by these issues, the artists Andreas Gursky, Stefan Hostettler and Moritz Wegwerth have compiled a collection of central themes and questions with the aim of providing a framework for discussion. The first concept was developed in early 2019 under the working title "German Centre of Photography" in close collaboration with fellow artists, experts and key figures from the field of photography. Together with additional advocates, they founded the "Association for the Foundation and Promotion of a German Institute of Photography e. V." soon afterwards, the aim being to promote the idea of an international centre of excellence geared towards the public. The initial members and supporters included Jen DeNike, Roe Ethridge, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ralf Hütter, Peter Piller, Cindy Sherman, Christopher Williams among many others.
The materiality of photography
Photography is a global medium whose history has been shaped by regional constellations. Alongside countries such as France, England, Japan and the USA, Germany, as the centre of optical, chemical and photomechanical industries, played an instrumental role in the medium's development. Major photographers have worked here, built up collections here and undertaken important research here. As a result, Germany is home to a large number of institutions with outstanding photographic collections. Nevertheless, a place where the materiality of photographic images is at the forefront alongside content and motif is still lacking. Every photograph has a history, a provenance, a context – every image also has a flip-side that contains important information. Photography is closely linked to the technical conditions of its time, to industrially developed materials and processes. Therefore, a place where knowledge and practice and where both sides of the image take centre stage is required.
Operating in a network
An open and interdisciplinary approach is a fundamental principle of the institute. Central to achieving this is close collaboration with existing institutions. The institute does not consider itself as a stand-alone entity, but as an aggregator in an international network. Therefore, during the development phase, the DFI has already begun cooperating with archives, museums, universities, foundations and collections. The questions that are being negotiated concern us all: what is photography, what can it do and what does it effect? How can photography be preserved for posterity? How can knowledge about artistic and technical processes – and the images themselves – be made permanently accessible to the public? The DFI intends to provide answers to these questions. For example, by formulating guidelines and standards for the professional and sustainable preservation of photographic materials. The German Institute of Photography will have a physical location and at the same time be a digital platform. The new institution's concept deliberately avoids drawing a line between digital and analogue, between artistic, applied and so-called amateur photography. In short, the DFI is concerned with photography as a cultural field in all its manifestations. The scale of the challenge is in no small part due to the enormous success of the medium. Photography has, for decades, not only determined how we perceive the world, but it is also increasingly determining how we remember the past. This shapes our perception of history and our understanding of the present.
Location
As decided by the council of the state capital, the new DFI building will be located at the intersection of Hofgarten and Ehrenhof, on the site at Inselstraße 36a. The expressionist architectural complex Ehrenhof is located in the city centre and is surrounded by art and cultural institutions such as the Kunstpalast, NRW Forum, Tonhalle, Staatliche Kunstakademie and Kunstsammlung NRW. The importance of a landscape of complementary institutions can be recognised by this present-day Düsseldorf as a city of photography. The municipal centre for restoration has been located in the immediate vicinity of the planned DFI site since 1976. It was established in order to combine expertise in the preservation and restoration of photographs equally with the other artistic media. Today, museums and archives holding a total of 3.5 million objects have access to the specialised workshops and expertise of the photography restorer. Düsseldorf's concentration of artistic, academic and technical expertise in the field of photography is unrivalled. The large format images that are produced here by Düsseldorf photographers would be inconceivable without the infrastructure of specialised businesses catering to the demand of commercial photography. Among these are photography laboratories and international film and camera manufacturers that are based in Düsseldorf or have branches in the city. The material requirements of the photographic practice will also play an important role at the DFI. This relates to the preservation of images, but to techniques in photographic processes and the development of new technologies, too. The DFI, as a representative of the artists, aims to enter into a dialogue with producers. The objective will always be the sustainable use of photography.
The DFI e. V. and its cooperating partners
In addition to its collaboration with the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, the DFI e. V. has forged a number of other alliances. These alliances serve to enrich the development of the new institution by combining their respective practices and expertise with the DFI. For example, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot in Rotterdam fully opened its collection to the public in the form of a “display depot” in 2021, thereby demonstrating a transparent approach to its own collection, while the Fondation Herzog in Basel provides an example of how photography can be understood as a historical force and contemporary witness. Since the 1970s, the Swiss couple Peter and Ruth Herzog have amassed one of the most important private photography collections in the world. Containing over 300,000 images, it tells a story of people living in industrial societies since 1839, a large proportion are amateur photographs that are currently being analysed and archived in Basel. The Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur is a further key partner for the DFI e.V. and the state capital. Founded in 1992 and based in Cologne, the institution houses approximately 40,000 photographs, including the August Sander Archive containing the world's largest collection of original prints and preserved glass negatives, and the archive of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
News
At a joint press conference on 18 September 2023, the State Minister for Culture Claudia Roth, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister for Culture and Science Ina Brandes and the Mayor of Düsseldorf Dr Stephan Keller presented the Founding Committee for the Deutsches Fotoinstitut. The team of seven comprises a broad range of photographic expertise and will define the main objectives for the future institute of photography.