Uncertain images: Photography from Sander to AI

Can photography still be trusted today? Could it ever be trusted? Image manipulation—whether to influence the viewer or as a form of artistic expression—is as old as photography itself. In light of the latest technical developments such as AI and deep fakes, the Kunsthalle Bremen is questioning the medium, its truthfulness, and its future relevance in a major exhibition that brings together historical and contemporary works: Remix. Photography – Fiction and Truth, an extension of the collection exhibition Remix, presents around 75 works in four rooms. The artists on display, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Candida Höfer, Richard Mosse, Sebastian Riemer, Ricarda Roggan, Thomas Ruff, August Sander, Taryn Simon, Thomas Struth, and Heinrich Zille, are mostly represented at the Kunsthalle Bremen for the first time. Some of the photographs are new additions to the Kunsthalle Bremen collection, while others are on permanent loan from the Ültzen Collection and on loan from the Lothar Schirmer Collection. The exhibition opens on February 25 and is expected to run until spring 2027.

For Irish artist Richard Mosse (born 1980), the show marks a return to Bremen: in 2022, he had his first major solo exhibition in Germany here. In his photographs and films, Mosse explores the boundaries between conventional reportage photography and contemporary conceptual art. He uses technologies originally developed for military and scientific purposes to reveal what the human eye cannot perceive. The Kunsthalle Bremen is showing insights into the work series The Innocents (2002-2003) by artist Taryn Simon (born 1975): Simon photographs people who were convicted of serious crimes and spent years in prison despite being innocent. Their convictions were based on false identifications using photographic material such as Polaroids and mug shots.