Foto/Album

The tattered passport photo carried along in a wallet, the leafing through grandmother's photo album or orchestrated everyday snapshots with monotonous parades of universal poses and subjects – we get a glimpse of strangers' personal histories and recognise ourselves at the same time. Entirely individual and biographical, these moments are at the same time often captured in a highly ritualised and formulaic visualisation. It is this very ambivalence and strange beauty, along with a trace of voyeuristic curiosity and a great deal of humour, that contribute to the enormous appeal of private photographs and albums.

In the special exhibition FOTO | ALBUM, the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge is presenting its otherwise invisible collection of private and anonymous photographs and photo albums, spanning an entire century, on a larger scale for the first time. Divided into three sections, the first part of the exhibition features hundreds of single photographs, grouped according to recurring motifs and visual conventions. The second part displays numerous photo albums, seeking to identify a typology and exploring their particular narrative forms. By reference to photos with evidently objectual qualities, the final section approaches photography as a material culture, looking beyond image content alone, and as a personal memory culture. Along with artistic perspectives, the exhibition also reflects on the medium's current change of meaning in the age of mass-produced digital images and the shifting of the boundaries between public and private.

Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge
Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin
Open 12 - 7pm, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Entrance €6, reduced €4