Three inaugural exhibitions

Fotografiska, the Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art, and Culture celebrated its grand opening with three inaugural exhibitions. Together with Juliana Huxtable’s –USSYPHILIA and Candice Breitz’ Whiteface, the all-female group show NUDE will be open to the public at Berlin’s new contemporary museum of photography, art and culture. The new space opens while Berlin Art Week and is part of BAW Featured.

The forth dependence of Fotografiska is situated at Oranienburger Straße in Berlin Mitte and is set to become a new hub of artistic expression and cultural exploration. Spanning six floors and covering an area of nearly 5,500 square metrers, the venue will house a diverse range of exhibitions, cultural experiences, events, workshops, and talks. Fotografiska’s mission is to inspire new perspectives for its visitors, providing a platform for established as well as emerging artists, while offering a varied cultural program to the public. Fotografiska Berlin will also feature a bakery, a café bar, and a restaurant.

NUDE is a Fotografiska International show featuring the works of 30 female and female-identifying artists from 20 different countries challenging traditional constructs around body politics. Through a diverse range of creative approaches, the artists explore the complexities surrounding the portrayal of nudity in art—and challenging the historical constraints attached to it. In this exhibition of over 200 works, the viewer receives a comprehensive global view of what the body means, how it is used, and what it tells us about modern society. It is an attempt to redefine boundaries of representation, sparking a revolution that celebrates diversity and challenges conventional norms. Participating artists in the show NUDES are Jenevieve Aken (Nigeria), Evelyn Bencicova (Slovakia), Arvida Byström (Sweden), Elinor Carucci (Israel), Joana Choumali (Côte d’Ivoire), Angélica Dass (Brazil), Brooke DiDonato (US), Bodhi Shola (Italy), Aneta Grzeszykowska (Poland), Carlota Guerrero (Spain), Marie Hald (Denmark), Ina Jang (South Korea), Viki Kollerova (Slovakia), Joanne Leah (US), Yushi Li (China), Monika Macdonald (Sweden), Laila Majid (Pakistan), Malerie Marder (US), Alix Marie (France), Sakiko Nomura (Japan), Momo Okabe (Japan), Denisse Ariana Pérez (Dominican Republic), Bettina Pittaluga (France/Uruguay), Lotte van Raalte (Netherlands), Lina Scheynius (Sweden), Leah Schrager (US), Dana Scruggs (US), Julia SH (Sweden), Prue Stent, Honey Long (Australia), and Luo Yang (China).

Whiteface by Candice Breitz, the dual-channel installation that will be presented at Fotografiska Berlin, offers powerful commentary on questions of race and representation, focusing sharply on how such issues resonate within our attention economy. Breitz holds a critical mirror up to whiteness, inviting reflection on privileges that white people have taken for granted for far too long. Her body of work has explored the intersection of political and social forces with individual and collective identity over the last three decades. In recent years, her works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Tate Liverpool, and collected by major museums worldwide, captivating audiences and inviting meaningful conversations across cultural boundaries. Parallel to the central installation, Whiteface, Breitz will present seven single-channel videos from the series, White Mantras, as well as a series of photographic portraits of the characters that make up the cast of Whiteface. 

The third show, —USSYPHILIA by Texas-born and New York-based multimedia artist, writer, performer, and Berghain line-up regular, Juliana Huxtable, includes and premieres a video installation, the new site-specific work and works from the Akimbo Splittle series. Renowned for her visual metaphors and artistic forays into contemporary discourses surrounding subcultural identification and the possibilities for effective culture, Huxtable makes multidisciplinary work that unravels the threads between the personal and the political, the anthro (human) and the zoological. From trans visibility in the age of social media to marginalized histories, narratives and experiences, she performs responses to various subjects by probing her own body in front of the lens, where subjectivity is created in direct response to the political, social, and symbolic climate. 

“Our vision for Fotografiska Berlin is to provide one of the most beautiful stages that Berlin has to offer for both established artists and up-and-coming talents on the one hand, and the internationally acclaimed community of creatives in Berlin on the other,” says Yousef Hammoudah, Executive Director of Fotografiska Berlin.

“We are extremely happy to finally bring Fotografiska to Berlin, a city with such a rich and vibrant art scene. It’s my hometown, Europe’s creative heart and the perfect place to open the next Fotografiska Museum.” said Yoram Roth, Chairman of the Fotografiska Group of Museums.

And Marina Paulenka, Director of Exhibition adds: “When it comes to our exhibition program and our house, Fotografiska Berlin will host exhibitions developed by our local and global team for what is best for the Berlin audience: from emerging to established international and local visual artists with a focus on bringing inspiring and relevant stories and themes that reflect our everyday personal, sociopolitical lives.”

We thank our media partner MONOPOL MAGAZIN.

Press contacts
Alex Möller & Hans Krestel, press.berlin@fotografiska.com

Fotografiska Berlin
Oranienburger Str. 54
10117 Berlin