This fourth edition of the European Month of Photography Berlin presents itself as a festival in transition. Open through 28 November 2010 at the Berlinische Galerie.
This time the ‘month’ of photography lasts for six weeks, starting – in response to the rhythm of Berlin’s cultural autumn – in mid-October. The biggest change however is the experiment of confronting all participating institutions with a mandatory set theme. The objective was to have all the exhibitions and events focused on a single topic, so as to make the festival more prominent in the public eye and give it a higher profile.
‘Modern times, new pictures’ is the phrase that sums it all up – a theme focusing on photography as an instrument of modernisation. Museums and cultural institutions, galleries and exhibition organisers have been invited to dedicate their exhibitions to this modernising function of the photographic medium, taking different aspects into account. After all, it has long been a matter of general knowledge that photographs do more than just ‘reproduce reality’. What the camera registers, and the way in which the result is reproduced, is rather a matter of interpretation and so can be seen as the creation of new and additional realities. Several specific fields relating to this theme were proposed to participating institutions by way of example, and all these areas reappear in the festival in the form of historic, and – even more importantly – contemporary samples of the art.
Anyone who wishes can organise the website following these different thematic areas, or bring up a display of the outstanding highlights. For the first time the festival includes a central point – in the form of the Berlinische Galerie – one offering a wide range of events.
The curious visitor can expect to find pictures that are surprising and disturbing, controversial and simply breathtaking. The Fourth European Month of Photography Berlin 2010 is more than just a feast for the eye.
Image: Milla Jovovich, Downtown, Los Angeles, USA, 2000 © Peter Lindbergh
www.mdf-berlin.d
