WHAT DO WE DO?

An exhibition exploring the role of contemporary photography, in collaboration with the photographers of the OSTKREUZ agency

Featuring photographs by Sibylle Bergemann, Jörg Brüggemann, Emile Ducke, Tamara Eckhardt, Espen Eichhöfer, Sibylle Fendt, Johanna Maria Fritz, Lea Greub, Annette Hauschild, Harald Hauswald, Heinrich Holtgreve, Elliott Kreyenberg, Tobias Kruse, Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler, Dawin Meckel, Thomas Meyer, Jordis Antonia Schlösser, Ina Schoenenburg, Anne Schönharting & Linn Schröder, Stephanie Steinkopf, Heinrich Völkel, Maurice Weiss, Sebastian Wells, as well as Ludwig Schirmer and Paula Winkler

The exhibition, featuring new series of works as well as historical photographs by 25 photographers from the OSTKREUZ collective, contrasts a love of the image with questions about the role and conditions under which contemporary photography is created: What responsibility do photographers bear today, and through which images can radical social transformations, (geo)political shifts in power and ongoing ecological changes be made visible?

The selected works have been created at a time when conditions of production are changing inexorably, shaking the very foundations of the kind of photography that made OSTKREUZ famous after the fall of the Wall: Participatory observations of current events—which bridge the gap between documentary commitment and artistic expression—and a detached perspective on power are increasingly being lost amidst the radical transformation of traditional media landscapes. And yet it is precisely these series of works that enable understanding, empathy and insights into developmental processes and lived worlds.

In times of crumbling certainties, the exhibition ‘What Do We Do?’ at the historic robotron canteen in Dresden – ahead of the building’s forthcoming refurbishment – presents horizons of experience and images of endings and new beginnings, war, but also solidarity and cohesion, as well as fundamental upheavals in living conditions and the incredible efforts, along with the repeated search for a sense of home and identity, required to bring about positive change – change that sometimes begins from nothing.

In response to these developments, ‘What do we do? Images in times of crumbling certainties’ also sees itself as an exhibition and a reflection on the role of photography today as a professional, artistic and social practice.

Supported by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the European Cultural Foundation and the Altstadt District Office.
We would also like to thank Hahnemühle and the Schloss Wiepersdorf Cultural Foundation for their support.