Drängende Gegenwart (Urgent Present) is a collaborative exhibition of photography schools in Berlin and Potsdam. On the occasion of the EMOP Berlin 2023, they’ve joined forces to show works by students who have been addressing the topic ‘Urgent Present’ throughout the past several semesters as part of an EMOP Berlin assignment. 

Participants are the Lette Verein Berlin, the Ostkreuz School for Photography, the University of Europe for Applied Sciences, the HTW Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, the International Photography School, and the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences. The Friedl Kubelka School for Artistic Photography from Vienna was invited as a guest from one of the European Month of Photography’s partner cities. Through the cooperation of the local interest group Leipziger Straße e.V., EMOP Berlin was able to provide vacant office buildings on Leipziger Strasse for this special project.

Drängende Gegenwart  reflects the massive social upheavals and challenges caused by the concurrence of multiple crises, first and foremost Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its far-reaching consequences for Europe and worldwide, added to which are the escalating climate crisis, the ongoing pandemic, and the re-emergence of (right-wing) national and Identitarian movements. Participating students address the various themes visually, through their own individual methods and approaches.

This group exhibition, in a format that features in the festival program for the first time, springs from a desire on the part of the EMOP Berlin to grant young photographers a voice and a place to show within the festival framework – because they are the generation most affected by the social upheavals and existential crises of the present day. At the same time, we’d like to draw attention to the many opportunities in photography training available in Berlin and acknowledge the excellent work of the city’s private and public educational institutions.

Special thanks for helping us to implement this project go to photographer Frank Schumacher, head of the photography department at the Lette Verein Berlin and chairman of the education section of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V. (DGPh), who brought the various participants together to cooperate in the EMOP Berlin. Wiebke Loeper (FH Potsdam), Walter Bergmoser (University of Europe for Applied Science), Anja Manfredi (Friedl Kubelka School), Henrik Spohler (HTW Berlin), Marc Volk (International Photography School), Werner Mahler und Thomas Sandberg (Ostkreuz School for Photography) supervised the students in their work.

Maren Lübbke-Tidow