9. September 2016 - 22. January 2017

The Flow of Pictures. The Rhine and Photography 2016-1853

In cooperation with the Bundeskunsthalle

The Rhine may aptly be characterized as a flowing current of pictures, this even applying in a dual sense. As early as the time when the production of images began, this most famous of all European rivers advanced to a treasured motif that became widespread in paintings, drawings, and engravings. In turn, the Rhine images are, in general, able to evoke and serve as models of collective notions. In terms of their visual manifestations, they consciously vacillate between testimony and myth, between cliché and art. Such image notions continue to influence the perception of the Rhine to this very day.

The "Flow of Pictures" exhibition explores the ambivalent mutual effects between the river and the image in the light of photography. Ever since the patent was approved in 1839, this modern, technical process has operated in a particular field of tension between the faithful rendering of reality and a collective yearning for fantasy. The show brings together more than 40 noteworthy European photographers, in particular from Germany and the other riparian countries of the Rhine: Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands. The spectrum ranges from free documentary and photo journalistic works up to positions in photography as an art. Thus, "Flow of Pictures" opens up a history of photography by showing a common motif but with a multitude of facets.

The exhibition comes about as a cooperative project with the Bundeskunsthalle, which will simultaneously show the exhibition "The Rhine - a European River Biography", presenting a panorama of cultural history from Neanderthal man up to the present day. The LVR-LandesMuseum will be supporting the exhibition with significant loans. Both exhibitions may be visited with a combination ticket (Kombi-Ticket) discount.