The 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2022 engages with the theme of Currency from multiple angles and perspectives, investigating how value and meaning are attached to photographic images. Until September 18, an exhibition parcours in the major museums and art institutions in Hamburg reflects on the polyphonic ways in which photographs are produced, circulated and interpreted.
Within this thematic framework and in cooperation with FUTURES European Photography Platform, the Triennial of Photography Hamburg and the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, the International Summer Festival at Kampnagel presents But I’m Awake. Identity, Vulnerability and Empowerment, a major exhibition of positions of young photography. Opening on August 10, the exhibition shows works by five artists that deal with exclusion, belonging and empowerment from systems of oppression: With her photographs, Maria Babikova proves to be a precise observer of Russian society, its conventions and dualisms. With his surreal (self-)portraits and depictions of the body, the artist David Uzochukwu deals with belonging and resilience, isolation and security. Photographer Julie Poly, who lived in Kiev until recently, deliberately blurs the boundaries between documentary and staged photography in her search for the visual and cultural codes of everyday Ukrainian life. Agnieszka Sejud uses different media to explore the components of human identity and the idea of individual freedom. The artist Euridice Zaituna Kala explores different ways of dealing with memory, questioning the access to history.
The presented artists are part of FUTURES, a photography platform and program supported by the European Union that started in 2017 with an annual program to nurture emerging artists who are selected by museums and festivals throughout Europe. FUTURES’ goal is to increase the ca- pacity, mobility and visibility of its selected participants and to bridge the gap between emerging and established artists.