Germany’s largest photo festival, the 8th EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography Berlin, opened last week in Berlin and will go on until October 31st. Throughout the city, 103 of Berlin’s museums, institutions, galleries, off-spaces, embassies, project spaces, and photography schools present a wide variety of exhibitions showcasing the popular medium in all its facets. The EMOP Opening Days, presented by Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH in cooperation with the C/O Berlin Foundation, is one of the highlights of this year’s Berlin Art Week.
Its extensive program kicks off the festival with artist talks and discussions with internationally renowned photographers, curators, media experts, archivists, and publicists as well as performances, live acts, and workshops for all ages.
At the end of March 2018, just under 150 submissions were reviewed by an expert jury consisting of Prof. Walter Bergmoser (University of Applied Sciences Europe, Head of Photography Department), Dr. Matthias Harder (Helmut Newton Foundation, Curator), Gisela Kayser (Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus, Artistic Director), Prof. Heidi Specker (photographer, Berlin), and Pierre Stiwer (EMOP Luxembourg, Director). A multifaceted yet classical confrontation with the medium was ensured by refraining from a single, overarching theme. According to the jury: “Berlin, with its recent past as a visual motif, is just as much a theme as small American cities… In many cases, the focus is on the private sphere, often within the city limits of Berlin, from architectural images to historical black-and-white photographs. What stands out are portraits of great intensity, reflecting different eras, subcultures, and continents, through street photography or historical milieu studies. Taken as a whole, the portraits reflect Berlin’s cosmopolitan character.”
The range of exhibitions spans historical photographs by Nathan Lerner (Galerie Berinson/1939), iconic images from the international music scene (record cover “Wish You Were Here”/Pink Floyd/1975), self-portraits by Cindy Sherman (me Collectors Room Berlin/1977), and documentations of geopolitical crisis areas, such as Aleppo in Syria (Benhadj & Djilali Galerie/2017).
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY BERLIN
Since 2004, Germany’s largest photo festival shows the entire spectrum of historical and contemporary photography in Berlin every two years. Numerous museums, cultural institutions, galleries, project spaces, embassies, and photo schools in Berlin and Potsdam present exhibitions and events which have been selected by a panel of experts. The formats range from outdoor exhibitions and large museum shows to individual and group presentations in galleries and project spaces, and impressive contributions from various international cultural institutions and embassies as well as municipal offices for art and culture.
In 2016, the EMOP Opening Days were held for the first time in cooperation with the C/O Berlin Foundation at Amerika Haus, attracting more than 10,000 visitors over three days. Due to this great success, they are taking place again this year and will be curated by the C/O Berlin Foundation.
EMOP Berlin is a member of the European Month of Photography (EMOP),
a European joint project that includes photo festivals in Athens, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Paris, and Vienna. The idea of creating a European network of photo festivals was born in 2003 on the initiative of Berlin’s partner city, Paris. The aim of the joint project is to promote cooperation at the European level, strengthen the international photographic scene, intensify the exchange of information and experience, and to support young artists. The results of this collaboration include jointly conceived contemporary photography exhibitions that are tailored to the partner cities of the EMOP network.
EMOP Berlin 2018
September 28 – October 31
