When does the exhibition opening take place?

The exhibition opening begins on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 6 PM and is expected to end around 9 PM.

Where does the exhibition opening take place?

The venue is the Brandenburg Museum for the Future, Present, and History at Neuen Markt 9 in 14467 Potsdam.

What is the cost of admission to the exhibition opening?

Admission to the exhibition opening is free.

What content does the exhibition present?

The exhibition contrasts historical photographs from the project Photography and Memory with current rephotographs and free works by students from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

How long will the exhibition be on display?

The exhibition will be on display from October 2, 2026, to March 14, 2027, at the Brandenburg Museum.

Are there guided tours available?

During the opening weekend, guided tours and dialogue formats are planned. For some events, a binding reservation may be required.

Ah, Brandenburg: How Photographs Make Memory, Change, and Future Visible

Name: Exhibition Opening "Ah, Brandenburg ... Photography in Dialogue 1996 | 2026"
Start: 2026-10-01T18:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-10-01T21:00:00+02:00
Location: Brandenburg Museum für Zukunft, Gegenwart und Geschichte

When Brandenburg's Memories Come into Focus

The exhibition opening Ah, Brandenburg ... Photography in Dialogue 1996 | 2026 invites you to the Brandenburg Museum for the Future, Present, and History on October 1, 2026. The central question is what role photography plays in our memory and how the perspective on places, landscapes, and living environments has changed over three decades.

A photographic time capsule is opened

The starting point of the exhibition is the documentary photographic project Photography and Memory, which Diethart Kerbs and Sophie Schleußner carried out between 1993 and 1996 in three East German federal states. More than 22,000 images preserve views of Brandenburg in the post-reunification period. The initiators understood these images as messages in a bottle to the future: as a visual memory of a time of societal upheaval.

Historical images meet new perspectives

Thirty years later, students from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam examined the Brandenburg collection in the archive of the Brandenburg State Museum for Modern Art in Cottbus. In 15 teams, they visited the original shooting locations, re-occupied previous viewpoints, and created current rephotographs. Additionally, free photographic works emerged from encounters, observations, and conversations on site.

Photography between memory and change

The exhibition connects documentary photography with contemporary artwork examination. Historical images and new shots enter into a visual dialogue: places appear familiar and foreign at the same time, landscapes show traces of structural change, and human living environments become visible as fragile, evolving spaces of experience.

This curatorial juxtaposition unfolds an intense aesthetic experience. Light, framing, spatial distance, and photographic perspective become art-historically relevant means through which societal transformation can be narrated. The exhibition makes clear that photography does not only document but also shapes perception and organizes memory.

Cultural education through close examination

The exhibition opens up various approaches to cultural education. Visitors can compare what has changed at the photographed locations, what stories persist in the images, and how their own view of Brandenburg shifts through juxtaposition. The viewing of artworks thus becomes a personal quest for traces between past, present, and future.

Conclusion: An art experience about the ongoing life of images

The exhibition opening promises an engaging evening between documentary photography, contemporary research, and societal memory. Those wishing to experience Brandenburg as a changing space of experience and to directly grasp the impact of photographic images will find a show of particular historical and aesthetic density here. A visit to the Brandenburg Museum enriches the view of places, people, and the stories that images preserve for future generations.