»Alliance, Infinity, Love«

Since its first edition in 1999, the Triennial of Photography Hamburg has explored current trends in photography under a common theme. Curated by artistic director Mark Sealy, this year’s festival focuses on a photographic practice that presents a wide variety of lived experiences and fosters a sense of community. A total of eleven exhibitions will be shown in eight renowned museums and exhibition venues in Hamburg, opening one after another from June 4 to 6. The main exhibition, Alliance, Infinity, Love – in the Face of the Other, kicks off on June 4 at 8 p.m. at the Deichtorhallen, setting the overarching theme of the festival. Here, around 30 artistic works from Brazil to Greenland to Japan will be on view, addressing questions of identity, intimacy, community, and spirituality. The triennial ends on September 22.

During the Opening Days, which run through June 14, the triennial will be accompanied by numerous events, including talks, book presentations, and guided tours. The Triennial Expanded section presents 15 projects that provide a platform for Hamburg’s independent photography and art scene. The festival features works by, among others, Katharina Bosse, Olaf Breuning, Claude Cahun, F.C. Gundlach, Mario Cravo Neto, Jo Ractliffe, Joke Reichel, Martha Rosler, Sara Sallam, Lee Shulman and Omar Victor Diop, Inuuteq Storch, Mathew Thorne and Derik Lynch, and Akram Zaatari.

Two exhibitions at PHOXXI – Temporary House of Photography will run temporarily a little longer, until November 1: In Abdulhamid Kircher – Rotting from Within, the German-Turkish artist (*1996) combines newly shot imagery, archival photos, and personal objects into installations exploring memories and relationships. Kircher opens the doors to an experimental family album in which the consequences of violence and ideas of reconciliation become visible.

In the exhibition Residual Sky under Contamination, German-Ghanaian artist Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah (*1990*) uses approximately 30 large-format works to explore the dissolution of hierarchies. Drawing on historical photographs from her father’s birthplace in present-day Ghana, Adu-Sanyah develops new visual spaces in which landscapes and treetops exist outside of colonial contexts. »I am moved by the possibility that dignity can emerge precisely where the wounded becomes visible. The work does not undo the damage. It merely refuses to set aside what bears it«, the artist states.