Dirk Reinartz: No beautiful country...

f³ – freiraum für fotografie
December 6, 2024 to March 2, 2025

Dirk Reinartz (1947–2004) shaped reportage photography and photographic documentation in Germany like few before or since. From his extensive body of work, the exhibition "Kein schöner Land…" (No Fairer Land…) at f³ – freiraum für fotografie in Berlin presents a selection of images from the archives of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation and the Deutsche Fotothek in Dresden. This selection focuses specifically on German identity with all its contradictions and historical roots, as well as its reorientation after 1989. Particularly in light of the recent state elections in eastern Germany, the exhibition clearly reveals the historical continuities that extend to the present day.

A large part of Dirk Reinartz's photographic oeuvre was commissioned work: with numerous publications between 1971 and 2004 in magazines and journals such as Stern, Merian, ZEITmagazin, and art, as well as representation by the VISUM photo agency, Dirk Reinartz's photographs achieved a distribution that is hardly imaginable today. In addition, there are independent bodies of work, beginning with the book project Kein schöner Land (1978–1987) , in which Reinartz compiled a lament on the visual expression of the German psyche from his previous work. Borrowed from the folk song in the spirit of 1848, and ironically adapted by Reinartz for both the book and the series, the exhibition once again employs this historically significant yet so apt title.

In his life's work, Dirk Reinartz explores mental states and sensibilities, socio-political developments, and cultural characteristics, particularly at the interface between the two German states. The exhibition is accompanied by an autobiographical slide presentation. Furthermore, the photographic works on the wall are commented on by facsimiles of the original publications.

OPENING: December 5, 2024, 7 p.m. | Free admission!
Welcome: Katharina Mouratidi (Artistic Director f³ - freiraum für fotografie)
Speakers: Sebastian Lux and Franziska Mecklenburg (F.C. Gundlach Foundation)

f³ - freiraum für fotografie
Waldemarstraße 17
10179 Berlin
Opening hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.