“Where am I from” is monumental – SWR2

It is the largest photographic exhibition project of the year in the Southwest and an ambitious project: the Biennial for Current Photography with six exhibitions in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen from 19 March to 22 May 2022. Under the motto “From Where I Stand “-” From where I am “- 36 artists from four continents are dedicated to the causes and consequences of the destruction of our planet and also show counter-strategies.

A panoramic visual encyclopedia

Taken together, the six exhibits do not provide an opulent display of images, but rather an in-depth analysis of what is wrong with the environment and resource consumption.

Basically, it is a detailed visual encyclopedia. In order not to drown in the deluge of images, the viewer must be involved again and again with the English texts. About when it is in the Mannheim Art Gallery on “Contested Landscapes”, or rather on “disputed landscapes”, such as in Lisa Barnard’s series of photos on the hunt for gold. Photos of a Peruvian gold mine with an artificial football pitch are shown, along with a gold-lined portrait of a miner.

Large color photo of digitally enhanced people

Change of scene in Ludwigshafen, where the The Wilhelm-Hack-Museum reopens after a year and a half of closure for firefighting renovations, with the exhibition “Shaping Data”. So “shaping the data” – to ultimately create the new optimized human being?

In the non-stop video installation “The Shielding” – “The Shielding”, what Salvatore Vitale has distilled from 800 hours of online propaganda from China and Europe with the help of artificial intelligence, scrolls on five large screens connected by tubes. Mathieu Gafsou contributes digitally enhanced large color photos of people.

Some of the photographic artists have long been on the move in the new crisis area of ​​Ukraine

Two years ago, Iris Sikking tackled this International Photo Biennial as a curator. Climate disasters and environmental protection: this was the approach. And that should be the problem that drives this planet. And now the war in Ukraine seems to put everything in perspective. But some of these photographic artists, whose works are on display at the International Photo Biennial, have long been on the move in the new scenario of the crisis.