Berlin’s Legendary Photography (II)

The C/O Berlin, the Folkwang Museum in Essen and Sprengel Museum in Hanover present a joint exhibition project to mark the 40th founding anniversary of the Werkstatt für Photographie (Workshop for Photography), established in Berlin in 1976. Each of the three venues will host an exhibition showing the rise of a medium which, inspired by the self-confidence of American photography, was dedicated to an autonomous, artistic authorship. On the basis of multiple perspectives, the project paints a vivid picture of West-German photography in the 1970s and 1980s – complementing the success story of the Dusseldorf School for Photography. In this first cross-municipal collaboration, the three venues convey the history, influences and impact of the legendary Berlin-based photography institution and its protagonists.

C/O Berlin
Kreuzberg – America: Berlin’s Workshop for Photography 1976–86, 10 December 2016 to 12 February 2017

In 1976, Berlin-based photographer Michael Schmidt founded the Werkstatt für Photographie at the VHS Berlin-Kreuzberg – creating a unique forum for contemporary photography at an institution for adult education. The photography school focused on a groundbreaking, content-driven approach to contemporary photography, which soon fostered a profound understanding of the medium as an art-form in its own right. After it closed its doors in 1986, the school increasingly slipped into obscurity.

For further information visit: C/O Berlin