With this exhibition, Konrad Fischer Galerie is presenting the work of the American photographer, theorist, critic and filmmaker Allan Sekula (1951-2013) for the first time.
Characterised by a critical view of the economic and social crises of his time, the works focus on themes of wage labour and capitalism, natural disasters and the military-industrial complex. Sekula's approach is interdisciplinary and his writings on art deepen a view of social reality.
With his subjective perspective, such as in his works from the California Stories series, Sekula creates a nuanced commentary on the effects of industrialisation in Southern California and thus simultaneously breaks with the conventions of documentary photography. His work Untitled Slide Sequence, in which he uses black and white prints to show workers leaving a General Dynamics Convair Division plant at the end of a shift, is characterised by a similarly idiosyncratic perspective.
Instead of looking at the outside, Sekula's work examines the structures and systems that characterise a society, a social structure. His work goes beyond the surface of the images and encourages the viewer to scrutinise the social, economic and political contexts in which photographs are produced and consumed.
His works can be found in the collections of the MACBA Barcelona, the Getty Research Institute, LACMA and MoCA Los Angeles, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Whitney Museum in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
Special opening hours during düsseldorf photo+ Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media:
Friday, 17 May, 11am - 9pm
Saturday, 18 May, 11am - 6pm
Sunday, 19 May, 12pm - 4pm