February 2020
February 29–April 26, 2020
The Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, 2020, The Lives and Loves of Images, concentrates on the contradictory feelings that photography can evoke—from passionate affection to strong skepticism. In six exhibitions curated by David Campany at six houses in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Heidelberg, contemporary and historical works will be shown by around seventy international artists and photographers. Through a myriad of forms, from traditional darkroom prints to multi-part installations, virtual reality and video projections to large format murals, and handmade or digital collages, each invited artist probes current issues facing photography.
While photography is an art form, it does not belong exclusively to the world of art. It plays significant roles in all aspects of life and culture, making overlaps in its diverse functions inevitable, whether harmonious or tensional. In many ways, it was an acceptance of this complex relationship between art and non-art that led to photography becoming the medium of modernity in the 1920s and 30s. Early pioneers of the medium set the stage for later and continuing explorations in photography’s fluid and contradictory identity. Featuring the works of Christopher Williams, the exhibition Between Art and Commerce explores photography’s intersecting and often ambiguous relationship between commerce and art.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue.