BUT I WORLD I SEE YOU*

BUT I | WORLD | I SEE | YOU presents works by around 40 international artists of different generations who identify folds in the content of photographs – revealing details capable of unfolding historical sediments. The exhibition’s opening chapter deciphers (sepulchral) landscapes that are permeated by historical memories and shaped by personal experiences, myths and ideologies. The second chapter uncovers seemingly overt and yet enigmatic analogies between Marcel Duchamp’s readymades and photography, exploring how artists use optical devices and photographic appropriations to capture states of matter that can serve as a matrix for organising ideas. The last part of the show focuses on protocols, image treatment, and the production of objects of historical and poetic evocation — or how artists investigate and translate photographic or archaeological material and artefacts.

To complement the exhibition, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, in collaboration with the International Summer Festival at Kampnagel 2026, will present Nan Goldin’s iconic slide show The Ballad of Sexual Dependency and the performance Monsters of Circumstances (German premiere) by dancer and choreographer Xavier Le Roy.

For the 9th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2026 (Alliance, Infinity, Love – in the Face of the Other, 5 June to 22 September 2026) a range of projects at museums and exhibition spaces will spotlight photographic practices that assume responsibility for diverse life worlds and which generate a feeling of community.

(*Rémy Zaugg)