Research

The Ruhr Museum acquired the preliminary estate of Christine Boeckmann, a photographer and former student of Otto Steinert. The estate also includes extensive documentation of the Essen-based Galerie im Riek (1974–1978). An initial review of the material suggests that the gallery was a significant venue for people interested in photography, extending well beyond the regional level and having a profound influence on exhibition practices in the years that followed.
As part of the program »Research Traineeship for Art Museums NRW« and in close cooperation with the Folkwang University of the Arts, the collection will be systematically studied both in terms of content and form, and, if necessary, undergo conservation treatment. The project will focus on the impact of exhibition practices and the cultural history of photography, using perspectives from cultural history as well as art and photo-historical methods. It will draw on diverse sources, including visual and archival documentation, as well as interviews with contemporary witnesses.
Contact: Stefanie Grebe (Ruhr Museum)

The Krupp Historical Archive is cataloguing and scholarly processing two photographic estates of regional and national significance: a partial estate of Josef H. Darchinger and the photographic estate of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The archive arranges the holdings according to archival standards, analyzes their content, digitizes the material, and records the information in an archival database. The photographs are conserved and made publicly accessible online.

Contact: Manuela Fellner-Feldhaus (Krupp Historical Archive)

Since the 1970s, there has been widespread agreement in photographic theory that »photography« does not exist. While Siegfried Kracauer was still able to identify specific characteristics that distinguish photography as a medium from all others, today the very nature of the question seems suspect, especially in light of the medium’s digital transformation. In contrast, this research project assumes that the concept of the gift (»datum« in Latin) can indeed be helpful to name a differentia specifica of photography. It will also enable us to answer the question of whether »digital photography« is still photography.

The project draws on the simple fact that photographs record something; put differently, they receive something from the outside world. But what exactly happens during that process? Who gives what to whom? Is photography, above all, an object of exchange and a commodity, or does the question of gift and givenness have more far-reaching dimensions? The project is reckoning with these questions.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Markus Rautzenberg (Folkwang University ot the Arts)

There is no shortage of books about photo books: over the past two decades, a remarkable number of catalogs have been published that aim to collect, order, and comment on this particular book genre. Geographical frames such as cities, countries, and continents are particularly prominent. But what exactly is the advantage of such a perspective? How does it help to comprehend recent histories of the photo book? The growing interest in photography from the GDR suggests that we should also work on a book about photo books from the GDR. Such a compendium would be able to choose from a wealth of material: several hundred volumes.

However, this project aims at promoting a fundamental change of perspective that is interested in the social functions of photo books. Drawing on photo book productions from the GDR, it seeks to investigate an instrument of official self-fashioning. In this regard, photographs, printed in book form, represent an essential intersection of aesthetics and politics.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Steffen Siegel (Folkwang University of the Arts)