True Pictures? Contemporary Photography from Canada and the USA

At the beginning of the 20th century, North American photography was seen as groundbreaking in the development of the medium’s artistic visual language. In the 1980s this pioneering role was challenged by developments in Europe. Young artists no longer considered North American photography as a role model, and as a result it gradually moved out of the spotlight. True Pictures? now remedies this situation by presenting thirty American and Canadian photographers from three generations who, in part influenced by the advent of digital photography, saw and still see themselves challenged in particular by political and social upheavals. The list of themes is by no means short: the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the AIDS crisis, racism, feminism, questions around gender and sexuality, or identity politics. The urgency of these problematic situations prompts the artists to assume highly polarized positions. By following subjective and transmedial approaches and exhausting the technical possibilities of the medium, they almost inevitably touch on topics such as the often cited image overload—a phenomenon to which they respond with a targeted critique on the excesses of the “digital age.”

Stefan Gronert, born 1964, art historian, is considered one of the most renowned photo theorists and curators in Europe. He accompanied the furious rise of the Düsseldorf Becher School early on as a volunteer at the Kunstmuseum Bonn (1993), exhibited them, and published widely on it (including 2009 the hughe volume Die Düsseldorfer Photoschule, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich). In addition, he has published amongst others on Rieke Dijkstra, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Wall, and recently on Fiona Tan. Since 2016 he is curator for photography and media art at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. Franziska Kunze, born in 1984, worked as deputy collection manager for contemporary art LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster. Her dissertation entitled “Opaque Photographs. Making Photographic Materiality Visible as an Artistic Strategy” was published in 2019. Prior to that, she worked as a fellow of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation in the Museum Curators of Photography program at various museums in Germany and abroad. Since August 2020, she has been Head of Collection for Photography and Media Art at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Ann Mbuti, born 1990, is a freelance writer and cultural publicist (MA) living and working in Zurich. She writes about contemporary art and (pop) cultures with a focus on their potential for social change. She writes regularly in various art magazines such as Texte zur Kunst, Monopol, Studio Magazine, okayafrica, and also works repeatedly for Deutschlandfunk Kultur, among others. Since 2011, Natasha Egan has served as the executive director of the MoCP Chicago (Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College), where she was previously the associate director and curator since 2000. She has organized over sixty exhibitions at the museum and worldwide, focusing on contemporary Asian art and artists concerned with societal issues such as the environment, war, and economics. She was a guest curator for the 2010 FotoFest Biennial in Houston; the United States pavilion curator for the 2016 Photo Dubai Exhibition. Benedikt Fahrnschon is a scientific volunteer at the Sprengel Museum Hannover and has already contributed to the preparation of several exhibitions there. Christoph Ribatt, born in 1968, studied at Ruhr University Bochum and Washington University in St. Louis. He has been a professor of American Studies at the University of Paderborn since 2007 and has received research fellowships at the Neon Museum, Las Vegas, and elsewhere. In 2017, he published in German the book “Germany for a Season”, a biography of the American-German basketball player Wilbert Olinde. Stefan Gronert, born 1964, art historian, is considered one of the most renowned photo theorists and curators in Europe. He accompanied the furious rise of the Düsseldorf Becher School early on as a volunteer at the Kunstmuseum Bonn (1993), exhibited them, and published widely on it (including 2009 the hughe volume Die Düsseldorfer Photoschule, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich). In addition, he has published amongst others on Rieke Dijkstra, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Wall, and recently on Fiona Tan. Since 2016 he is curator for photography and media art at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. Kerstin Stremmel is curator for photography at the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg. She published her doctoral thesis on quotations in photographic art in 2000 and then taught photography theory at the University of Cologne and the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Zurich. Since 1993 she has published in numerous magazines such as Photonews, Camera Austria, Eikon, and since 1998 she has also written regularly in the Zürcher Zeitung.