We are at a crossroads. The calls for fundamental change are growing louder and more urgent.
But what should it look like? What kind of new world do we want to create together? What other worlds are possible? How do we want to live? What do we dream of? What do we wish for? What do we want to save or even rediscover from the past and present for the future? What can we learn from other societies? How can we rethink the seemingly unchangeable? What new forms of coexistence are worth striving for? And how can we achieve them? The future is therefore a possibility and a vision. But also observation of the present, change and uncertainty.
A key term in the current discussion about the future is “transformation”. Change, transformation: this is one way into the future. The Photo Days will also focus on the transformative forces that are already giving us a glimpse of the future. To name just a few current aspects of transformation: Digitalization, the economy, climate, mobility, work, identity, diversity and sustainability — these are also areas in which we are imagining “the future”.
These are just a few of the questions and topics that the 13th Wiesbadener Fototage (Wiesbaden Photo Days) would like to address. As difficult as it is to look into the future, the attempt is worthwhile. The works submitted are intended to question supposed certainties, to provoke thought, to raise hopes and to open up new horizons.
And finally, with the final exclamation mark in the theme’s title, we want to express that there can be a future that is anything but bleak or dystopian: Future? What future ? !
After a long and intensive dialogue, the jury of Nicole Ahland, Andrea Diefenbach, Kim Engels, Marc Peschke, Daniel Oschatz and Jürgen Strasser selected a total of 38 photo and video projects for the seven main exhibitions of the Wiesbaden Photo Days 2025.
Artists:
Verdiana Albano (Berlin)
Jürgen Altmann (Stuttgart)
Eva Bachmann (London)
Katerina Belkina (Werder Havel)
Jenny Bewer (Hamburg)
Toby Binder (Munich)
Kai Brüninghaus (Hamburg)
Eva Bystrianská (Jihlava)
Serghei Duve (Berlin)
Sibylle Fendt (Berlin)
Dasa Geiger (Herne)
Arez Ghaderi (Hannover)
Gosbert Gottmann (Frankfurt a.M.)
Arne Grashoff (Berlin)
Ulrike Hannemann (Berlin)
Mohammad R. Hasan (Dhaka)
Jan Richard Heinicke (Dortmund)
Pia Hertel (Cologne)
Jan Hottmann (Stuttgart)
Berit Jäger (Bodenheim)
Seunggu Kim (Seoul)
Elliott Kreyenberg (Berlin)
Emile Krutulyte (Vilnius)
Ziyi Le (Hangzhou)
Melina Lehmacher (Düsseldorf)
Maartje Martisan (Amersfoort)
Laura Pannack (London)
Ele Runge (Hamburg)
Sofia Samoylova (Frankfurt a.M.)
Julius Schien (Hannover)
Falk von Traubenberg (Hamburg)
Filippo Venturi (Forli)
Gerd Waliszewski (Kiev/Berlin)
Sven Weber (Stuttgart)
Marcelina Wellmer (Berlin)
Yana Wernicke (Hochheim)
Lara Wilde (Berlin)
Paula Winkler (Berlin)
Exhibition Venues 2025:
Spiegelgasse Active Museum
Women's Museum Wiesbaden
Galerie Rubrecht Contemporary
Kunsthaus Wiesbaden
Künsstlerverein Walkmühle
Art Club Bellevue Hall
SAM - City Museum at the market
