Five artistic positions have been brought together in the exhibition spaces in the Ebertplatz passage which deal, among other things, with the question of visibility.

The “Revolutionäres Archiv” of Frankfurt-based artist Jochem Hendricks shows police photos from the glory days of the Rote Armee Fraktion – hidden film and photographic shots of political confrontations, demonstrations, evictions, demonstrations, bank raids or accidental disasters from 1973 until 1985. He developed, enlarged, mounted and framed the images together with Magdalena Klopp. A selection from this comprehensive collection can be seen at LABOR.

Cologne-based Max Regenberg has been photographing advertisements in the public space for many years. On view on the advertising surfaces on Ebertplatz are selected street scene motifs featuring posters from the still-debated, and in the 90s highly controversial campaign conceived by Oliviero Toscani for Benetton. The debate surrounding the question of what advertising is able and permitted to do, of how photography functions and is perceived in the public space, has been collated by Max Regenberg in a comprehensive archive at LABOR.

Unseen are the transactions of the high-speed brokers who, in their offices, have a considerable influence on our society and future. Beate Geissler and Oliver Sann, artists who live in Chicago, were able to take photographs in these offices for their work “Volatile Smile”. We see desks and faceless devices, which complete transactions almost autonomously. The issue of censorship was not planned at first: the company that initially permitted the two artists to photograph in their offices is now attempting to exert influence and control the images. The artists react to this encroachment by overpainting a number of images and developing new images for the installation, which is on show on the premises of GOLD+BETON.

In the Tiefgarage photographs and videos by the Swede Nils Petter Löfstedt can be seen with “The Pier”. In Malmö, he and a group of friends discovered a forgotten underground room beneath a pier, took possession of it and, for a brief time, found a place where they could be together and have parties – and which, in the end, fell victim to the city’s helplessness and lack of inspiration and was destroyed. 

The Japanese Ryudai Takano has been dealing for many years with issues of sexuality, gender identity and intimacy. He is one of the few Japanese photographers who began to photograph colourful portraits at an early stage; in his photographs (including in the series “In my Room”) he shows images of people in Japan who still live rather inconspicuously and are not visible. They meet in a small scene, in bars, restaurants and clubs; Takano invited them to his place in order, in the shelter of his studios, to make respectful portraits. At BRUCH & DALLAS he responds to the semi-public, semi-private situation of the place.