Opening: «The Hobbyist – Hobbies, Photography and the Hobby of Photography»
7 p.m.: Welcome address by Dorothea Strauss, president of the board; introduction by the curators Pierre Hourquet, Anna Planas and Thomas Seelig
What happens when photographers and artists incorporate hobbies into their work as a means of challenging artistic practices and hierarchies? How do hobbyists describe their passions photographically, not least today in our era of digital communication and online blogs? This is the first major exhibition to explore the relationship between photography and hobby culture, both in connection to photography of hobbies and also photography as a hobby practice. From the hippy and avant-garde cultures of the 1960s, to 1980s do-it-yourself, to today’s maker movement, The Hobbyist explores photography’s engagement with a wide variety of lively, often quirky amateur obsessions.
With works by Diane Arbus, Benedikt Bock, Chris Burden, Jeremy Deller/Alan Kane, Carol Goodden/Gordon Matta-Clark, Stephanie Kiwitt, Mike Mandel, Lotte Reimann, Xiaoxiao Xu and many others.
© Xiaoxiao Xu, from Aeronautics, 2000