Preserving photo archives: The archives at the F.C. Gundlach Foundation
"Don't let the photo archives die!" wrote Kurt Zentner in his appeal for the preservation of photographic archives in the Stuttgarter Zeitung in May 1956. But, like a number of other welcome initiatives since then, his plea has gone unheeded.
Today, photography is undergoing a far-reaching and momentous media transformation. The classic archive, in which negatives, slides, and photographic prints are available on demand, has lost its function. Hard drives and databases have taken their place, and the pixel has replaced the grain. In this situation, the preservation and activation of photographic archives and estates are among the currently most important tasks in the world of photography. Following this insight, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation, in addition to the oeuvre of its founder, also manages and activates the works of other important German photographers.
Archive Clusters
The openness of the phrase "promotion of photography as cultural heritage" was particularly important to F.C. Gundlach when defining the purposes of his foundation, as he wished for his diverse photographic estate to "be preserved as a living organism in all its parts, and be able to react to societal changes, trends, and eventualities." In this spirit, F.C. Gundlach himself, in response to the pressing question of how to deal with analog image archives, had already begun securing photographic oeuvres in the early 2000s.
Based on the work with F.C. Gundlach's photographic oeuvre, the foundation's stated purpose of promoting the medium of photography as cultural heritage, and F.C. Gundlach's own approach to photographic archives as a guide for the foundation's activities, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation has since acquired further oeuvres and formed four archive clusters:
From fotoform and Subjective Photography
This cluster revolves around the new beginnings in artistic photography after the Second World War, with reference to the New Vision and New Objectivity of the 1920s. Archives already present in the F.C. Gundlach Foundation for Photography in this cluster are: Peter Keetman, Toni Schneiders, and Werner Stuhler.
From Fashion and Advertising to Artistic Photography
With the appreciation of commissioned photography, the membrane between applied photography and art became more permeable from the mid-1970s onwards. Outstanding photographers developed creative solutions within their commissions, which they then confidently implemented in independent projects. Archives already present in the F.C. Gundlach Foundation for Photography in this cluster are: F.C. Gundlach, Walter Schels, Hans Meyer-Veden, and Reinhart Wolf.
From Reportage and Journalism to the Conceptual Photo Series
Many photojournalists and reportage photographers, alongside their work for magazines, eventually turned to independent, often extensive series of works. Archives already present in the F.C. Gundlach Foundation for Photography in this cluster are: Wilfried Bauer, Dirk Reinartz, Michael Lange, and Andreas Herzau.
From Photography as Art and Art with Photography
Increasingly since the 1970s, artists have used photography exclusively as a medium of art from the outset. Archives already present in the F.C. Gundlach Foundation in this cluster are: Renée Pötzscher, Sabine von Breunig, and Henrik Spohler.
Acceptance of additional archives
The F.C. Gundlach Foundation would like to accept additional archives in these clusters, space permitting. In the future, it will also accept a small number of outstanding individual works that fit the continuation of the F.C. Gundlach Collection, which is also enshrined in the statutes.
The Photographers' Archive
In cooperation with the Deutsche Fotothek, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation also conceived the "Photographers' Archive", which commenced its activities in September 2012 and acts as a point of contact, analogue archive, and digital showcase, taking responsibility for our cultural heritage in the form of photographic works and estates. The F.C. Gundlach Foundation is therefore also a frequent point of contact for photographers who then entrust their archives to Dresden. The cooperation with the Deutsche Fotothek is also so valuable for the F.C. Gundlach Foundation because, together with the Deutsche Fotothek, exhibitions and book publications can be realised from the archives again and again.
The photographic heritage in/of the media city of Hamburg
The F.C. Gundlach Foundation will effectively continue its commitment to photography as a cultural asset, also within the framework of the German Photo Council's activities. What would be desirable is even more secure funding that would allow the foundation larger storage areas, a little more staff, and a small showroom – perhaps in Hamburg's Speicherstadt, long-term and free of charge? Fundamentally, the foundation considers it absolutely necessary for a place to be created that looks after the rich photographic heritage of the media city of Hamburg. In the long term, this could be Hamburg's local contribution to a decentralized German Photo Institute.