With the group exhibition “Hi How Are You“, the fifth master class of the Ostkreuz School of Photography will be presenting its series of works, which were created under the direction of Ute Mahler (photographer / co-founder of the Ostkreuz agency) and Ingo Taubhorn (photographer / curator of the House of Photography / Deichtorhallen Hamburg).

“Hi How Are You” – with this greeting the 12 graduates open a visual dialogue, be it with unknown people or with close confidants, in familiar places as well as in strange situations. At the same time, their works provide an answer to the current status quo of photography: from documentary series to artistically reflective works and poetic imagery.

“Hi How Are You?” Mohammad and his son Ali, the protagonists of the documentary series Do you come from Europe? by Diego Reindel, heard this question many times while fleeing Afghanistan. But what answer is there when the complex asylum system in the EU makes family reunification seem impossible? The work of Frank Schirrmeister and Karolin Klüppel also focuses on family. While Frank Schirrmeister takes a subjective and intimate look at his own late fatherhood in The Best Years, Karolin Klüppel addresses the absurdity of motherhood in No Room of One’s Own in an extraordinary visual language. Steffi Drerup turns her gaze to long-term breastfeeding mothers – still a taboo in our society – and shows them in her portrait series Mamma as heroines of the feminine.

Katharina Poblotzki undertakes a visual relocation of the female gaze in Fever Sea by emancipating herself from the familiar visual vocabulary and drawing a multi-layered image of the female body. In her portrait series Bluebird, Judith Weber visualizes the tension between masculinity and fragility with poetic sensitivity. Jan Vélez embarks on a photographic search for traces with his work La Casa de Oma, in which the native Puerto Rican artistically examines an unknown German homeland. With Present and Beyond, Peter Pietschmann shows in portraits and overpainted photographs a visual meditation on the present, perception of oneself and others.

Sabine Jaehnke undertakes a journey through time to the places of longing from her GDR youth in Funafuti, which at the same time represents a medial retrospection of memory and personal location. In the fictional story Bergland, in which he addresses the beauty of industrial homeland landscapes, Richard Rocholl shows that no two places are the same. Fred Hüning, who arranges objects found in still lifes based on the basic colors, is Not afraid of red, yellow and blue. Manuela Braunmüller explores the sum of the individual parts in her visual research One Chicken. By photographing every single bone of a chicken, she confronts the viewer with her relationship with the most common bird in the world.

A publication accompanies the exhibition.
Follow the exhibition news on Instagram: instagram.com/hihowareyou_oks

Framework program

Sunday, Nov 21, 2021, 12 – 5 pm
Opening Reception
Greetings: Heike Schmitt-Schmelz (district councilor) & Elke von der Lieth (gallery director Kommunale Galerie Berlin).
Introduction: Ute Mahler & Ingo Taubhorn.
60 people are allowed to be in the exhibition at the same time. There may be waiting times. Please note the gallery’s current regulations on events.

Saturday, Nov 27, 2021, 2 pm
Artist Talk 
with Katharina Poblotzki & Riya Lerner. Held in English.
Please register via phone: +49 30 9029 16704

Sunday, Dec 5, 2021, 2 pm
Guided Tour
with Ingo Taubhorn. Held in German.
Please register via phone: +49 30 9029 16704

Saturday, Jan 15, 2022, 3 pm
Book presentation „Funafuti“ by Sabine Jaehnke
With Ute Mahler (photographer), Jenna Gesse (designer) and Arend Bruchwitz (family) in conversation with Ingo Taubhorn (curator).
Limited places, please register via phone: +49 30 9029 16704.

Sunday, Jan 16, 2022, 12 pm
Guided Tour
with Ute Mahler & Ingo Taubhorn. Held in German.
Limited places, please register via phone: +49 30 9029 16704.

Nov 21, 2021 — Jan 30, 2022 extended until Feb 6, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, Nov 21, 2021, 12 – 5 pm
+ Framework program: please see above

Kommunale Galerie Berlin

Hohenzollerndamm 176, 10713 Berlin
[District: Wilmersdorf | Borough: Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf]

Opening hours: Tue – Fri 10 am – 5 pm, Wed 10 am – 7 pm, Sat & Sun 11 am – 5 pm

Admission free