DLF 1874: Die Biografie der Bilder

An exhibition compiled from the Austrian photograph collection of the Republic of Austria and the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, Ruth Horak curator.

Scenario I (Graz):
with: Annegang, Werner Feiersinger, Michael Höpfner, Rainer Iglar, Krüger & Pardeller, Tatiana Lecomte, Mahony, Dorit Margreiter, Christian Mayer, Susanne Miggitsch, Gregor Neuerer, Tina Ribarits, Gabriele Rothemann, Constanze Ruhm, Günther Selichar, Elfie Semotan, Margherita Spiluttini, Michael Strasser, Sofie Thorsen, Anita Witek

Scenario II (Leipzig):
with: Fine Bieler, Lena Brüggemann, Christoph David, Silke Fischer-Imsieke, Susanna Flock, Alba Frenzel, Marie Gimpel, Marco Habeck, Ulrike Hannemann, Martin Höfer, Susanne Käßner, Marta Kryszkiewicz, Philipp Kurzhals, Nils Mollenhauer, Martin Reich, Anne Rombach, Lorenz Schreiner, Stefanie Schroeder, Sandra Schubert, Günther & Loredana Selichar, Heidi Specker, Wenzel Stählin, Hayahisa Tomyasu, Monique Ulrich, Hannes Waldschütz, Manuel Washausen, Jonas Wilisch, Katrin Winkler, Lisa Zwielich

DLF 1874-Die Biografie der Bilder is an international exhibition project by Ruth Horak founded on the Republic of Austria’s large photograph collection. The Viennese curator’s idea was to examine striking images from the collection, which consists of more than 8,500 individual works, and explore the conditions under which they were created, the self-references and possible narratives. Once a work leaves the studio, it also leaves behind the history of how it came about; factual information then takes the place of the personal context in which the work was created: year, technique, dimensions, number of copies, price, inventory number »DLF 1874«. But what were the decisions that led to the creation of the art work? What was rejected, who was involved, and what other works were created in the process? Restoring the link between the work and its author creates a »biography of the photographs«.

The exhibition project, which in its first phase went on show at Camera Austria in Graz, features a cross-section of contemporary Austrian photographic art of the past few decades. Designed as an open exhibition concept, it is expanded by artists of the photography and media classes at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, who in a sort of »inventory of prerequisites« reflect the basic conditions of their activities in their specific media-permeated environment.