Germany around 1980: Photographs from a distant land

LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn
March 24 to August 14, 2022

An exhibition project of the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn in cooperation with the German Photo Library Dresden and the F.C. Gundlach Foundation Hamburg

The period around 1980 was a time of profound upheaval and, at the same time, an era of great anxieties about the future. A global arms race, rampant environmental destruction, and mass unemployment fueled a general sense of doom, but also triggered an extreme surge of creativity. Punk and pop music flourished and influenced the artistic avant-garde. A vibrant youth culture asserted itself as a driving force for feminist and homosexual emancipation. Reform parties and organic farmers suddenly enjoyed great popularity.

The exhibition " Germany around 1980" explores this turbulent period through seven photographic perspectives: In addition to works by Angela Neuke and Hans-Martin Küsters, whose estates are housed at the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, photographs by Mahmoud Dabdoub, Gerd Danigel, Barbara Klemm, Martin Langer, and Ingolf Thiel are on display. Their works come from the archives of the Deutsche Fotothek Dresden and the F.C. Gundlach Foundation Hamburg.

The seven photographers offer highly individual perspectives on developments in Germany around 1980: as freelancers, as reportage photographers commissioned by newspapers and magazines, or as photographic artists. They present a multifaceted picture of an era that seems distant from our present, yet continues to have a profound impact today.

LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn
Colmantstr. 14-16
53115 Bonn
Tel 0228 2070-0
Fax 0228 2070-299

info.landesmuseum-bonn@lvr.de