Nach den Maschinen. Industriefotografie aus Sachsen-Anhalt (After the machines. Industrial photography from Saxony-Anhalt)
Salinemuseum Halle, 27th September – 15th December 2024
Curator of the exhibition
For over 150 years, industry has shaped the area of what is now the state of Saxony-Anhalt. As part of ‘Mitteldeutschland’ (Central Germany), important sites such as the copper and coal mines of Mansfeld or the Leuna-Buna-Bitterfeld chemical triangle each developed their own identities. This industrial history extends over five political systems – a history full of opportunities and contradictions that has repeatedly provoked reactions in art and literature. The exhibition ‘Nach den Maschinen (After the Machines) is the first to ask coherently about the history of industrial photography in Saxony-Anhalt, which reflects the region’s rich cultural heritage.
Thematic aspects – The beginnings: a new way of seeing in the 1920s
Starting in the 1920s, the exhibition highlights the region’s long tradition of industrial culture and traces its many visual representations to the present day. Hans Finsler stands out from the early days of industrial photography, having documented local industries with his photographs. He introduced a New Vision of photography at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, thereby revolutionising industrial and advertising photography. His students Gerda Leo and Annemarie Giegold-Schilling continued to develop this legacy. At the same time, the urban planning department in Magdeburg documented the city’s large-scale industry and the port on the Elbe. Xanti Schawinsky, a Bauhaus member, was also part of the team that produced iconic images. Continuities of this imagery can be observed in the GDR and the post-reunification period. The exhibition shows examples of the traditional paths of industrial photography in Saxony-Anhalt.
The present: the last 30 years
A second thematic focus is on the last 30 years, during which the region has undergone an unparalleled transformation. With the rapid liquidation of the Treuhand privatisation agency, entire areas were transformed overnight. After reunification, large-scale projects such as Fotografie & Gedächtnis secured the legacy of an industrial region that seemed hopelessly outdated when it opened up to the world market. Photographers such as Claudia Fährenkemper, Dirk Krüll and Gert Kiermeyer show the resignation in the factories and the ruins of the old industry. At the same time, the modernisation that started in the West is taking place, which the photographer Hans-Christian Schink addresses in his central series of pictures, Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit (Traffic Projects German Unity). Liquidation, deindustrialisation and the loss of the old identity are juxtaposed with new forms of economic activity and a new infrastructure, which are also reflected in industrial photography.
Transformation
In this sense, Ferropolis in Gräfenhainichen is the region’s flagship project: the former Golpa-Nord open-cast mine now serves as an anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage and is also the venue for important concerts and festivals. This is where the partygoers of the region meet, and where photographers take pictures of them dancing in front of the relics of industry.
The exhibition also addresses topics such as environmental pollution in the GDR, which was also partly addressed in the medium of photography. Inge Rambow and Andreas Kämper take a critical look at an important topic of the period of reunification and transformation. At the same time, Saxony-Anhalt has undergone structural change, attracted new industries or retained existing ones, and is trying to take on the region’s (industrial) cultural heritage.
Photographers
Günter Ackermann, Christian Bedeschinski, Günter Bersch, Elke Busching, Jörg Dietrich, Jochen Ehmke, Claudia Fährenkemper, Hans Finsler, Hans-Jörg Franke, Annemarie Giegold-Schilling, Gerald Große, Reinhard Hentze, Sven Gatter, Andreas Kämper, Thomas Kemnitz, Gert Kiermeyer, Stephanie Kiwitt, Eberhard Klöppel, Ulrich Kneise, Wieland Krause, Dirk Krüll, Emil Leitner, Gerda Leo, Joerg Lipskoch, Aleksei Malygin, Franziska Meister, Marcus-Andreas Mohr, Richard Peter Jun., Emilia Prescher, Inge Rambow, Monika Rechsteiner, Evelyn Richter, Karlheinz Rothenberger, Hans-Christian Schink, Harald Schmitt, Julius Schreiner, Wolfgang G. Schröter, Gert Schütze, Rainer Steussloff, Peter Thieme
Students Exhibition
Jacques Callot – Die Grauen des Krieges. Die Freuden des Lebens
Zentrale Kustodie, Kupferstichkabinett Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 24th April – 19th July 2015
Project leaders: Dr. Michael Ruprecht, Zentrale Kustodie, Prof. Dr. Michael Wiemers, Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Student curators: Christian Drobe, Aileen Frey, Justine Halling, Anne Kahnt, Katrin Preusler
Jacques Callot (1592–1621) occupies a prominent place in the collection of the Martin Luther University’s Museum of Prints and Drawings. For the first time in the history of the university museum, a small exhibition curated by MA students and graduates of the Institute of Art History is showing a selection of the revolutionary engraver’s magnificent works on paper.
The selection of works focussed on the title-giving juxtaposition of the sheets on the Thirty Years’ War and the early, joyful and life-affirming motifs, some of which were heightened to the grotesque.
Catalogue: Die Grauen des Krieges – Die Freuden des Lebens
Grafiken Jacques Callots aus dem Kupferstichkabinett der Zentralen Kustodie der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Hrsg. Michael Ruprecht, 68 Seiten, englische Broschur
ISBN 978-3-9817347-0-6