In celebration of the 10th edition of EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography, EMOP is pleased to present the anniversary exhibition The Politics of Touch. The show opens on March 2 in the Amtsalon with 40 Berlin-based artists of different generations and backgrounds. Over the following three days, talks and panels will offer space and direction to contemporary discourses in photography.

In the opening roundtable on Friday, the Minister of State for Culture and participating artists will be discussing contemporary art photography’s socio-political mission and the new institutional challenges it faces. This will be followed by discussions over documentary photography in a post-migrant society and questions involved in negotiating identity.

Among other things, the following day will be devoted to the question of blind spots lurking in photographic archives. Artists will talk about how to identify them and intervene; we will also be discussing sustainable (?) forms of photographic production as it impacts climate change and the energy crisis, and what this will mean for future security. Another part of the program are the subversive strategies artists use to address the ongoing increase in digitization.

On Sunday, the focus will be on the Kharkiv School of Photography in Ukraine, an institution founded over 50 years ago by photographers like Boris Mikhailov. The director of the institution, Sergiy Lebedynskyy, is one of several who will be discussing the mass exile caused by the war. The Opening Days includes a series of guided tours; it will close with talks by artists addressing the war in Ukraine in visual ways.

EMOP Berlin is a member of the European Month of Photography (EMOP), a European joint project that currently also includes the photo festivals in Brussels, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Paris and Vienna. The idea of creating a European network of photo festivals was born as early as 2003 on the initiative of Berlin's partner city Paris. The goals of the joint project are to promote cooperation at the European level, to strengthen the international photo scene, to intensify the exchange of information and experience, and to support young artists. In spring 2023, the festivals will take place in Vienna, Paris and Luxembourg.
EMOP Berlin is a project of Kulturprojekte Berlin in cooperation with photo institutions in Berlin and Potsdam. It is made possible by funding from the Senate Department for Culture and Europe and the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE). The anniversary exhibition is sponsored by Lotto Stiftung Berlin.