Relation to the outside world

Photography depicts. What the photographer perceives and sees - with the eyes, through the viewfinder, through the lens, completely subjectively. It shows the detail, focuses and thus also deliberately fades out. In film, at least editing and sound are added, expanded dimensions, but the initial situation remains: the reference to reality, to "real life", to the world out there, to the other person.

"Brauhausfotografie 34", which has now opened, impressively underlines how a narrative is created from the "image". 17 art and architecture students from the University of Siegen and three guests have jointly curated this exhibition project. They are presenting their selection on several levels: on the first floor of the old brewery between Geisweid and Weidenau, which is used by the art department, in a catalog designed as a fan and online both on the brauhausfotografie.de website (with additional explanations) and on the "brauhausfotografie" Instagram profile.

The works of this ad hoc collective are therefore not only available in analog form, but also retain their visibility. At the opening of the show, many interested people were invited to follow the trail of the different positions. And smiled ... at the sight of Carl Roller's "pudding parliament". And recognized familiar things ... in Aaron Stierl's inkjet print series, which was created during the demolition work on Siegen's Gasthof Klein. And were moved ... by the finely crocheted black and white negatives of Kira Schulte-Siering's installation on the wall, for example.

The group used the space with great skill. The students responded to the wide open spaces and narrow niches, to chambers and window sills; they brought their works into a dialog without taking the air out of each other's work. The correspondence between the "Facades" by Liara Klein and Simona Hoff is an example of this: Here the close-up, there a pointed observation of a before and behind, both placed stylishly (and even around the corner!) on the white walls in a brewery passageway.

Those looking for a retreat could find themselves in the small booth in which the almost half-hour video by Kim Edelhoff was shown: "dolled up" follows an inward-looking, almost monotonous activity of a woman making herself up - in front of the camera and behind lowered blinds and in a process of concentrated transformation. Leoni Sidiropoulou also relies on this touch of nostalgia in her multidimensional work "Kill *apple": a red-cheeked apple loses its innocence on a plate of flowers ...

Guest alumnus Simon Hönicke, now a student at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, encouraged visitors to immerse themselves in a video work that takes them to the Sieg near Au, to a point between the "artillery mounds" of the last days of World War II in April 1945. He collages film footage of an idyllic pasture on the banks of the river with eyewitness accounts, with radio O-sounds from the (presumably) African continent captured there via radio masts and also with digitally altered historical film footage of the German Wehrmacht. Multi-layered and highly interesting - and with the "Eyes with Ears" by guest artist Kathrin Sonntag, placed in the visual axis, quite related in terms of content. The third of the invited guests is the media artist Jörg Paul Janka, whose film still "Sorgenbrecher" almost looks like a painting.

In his introductory speech, Prof. Dr. Christian Berger, lecturer in art history at the Department of Art and Music at the University of Siegen, expressly referred to the successful form of the exhibition arrangement in the Brauhaus-Parterre. Finally, Raphael Nikola Janetzki also thanked the lecturers Prof. Uschi Huber and Dr. Julia Kernbach as well as the supporting institutions for the dedicated team of students (even the pizza for everyone was handmade!). And then? It was time to watch, discuss and celebrate.
(Text: Claudia Irle-Utsch)