Gottfried Jäger (*1937) is one of the most important photographers and photo theorists of the post-war period. Alongside Otto Steinert (Essen) and Bernd and Hilla Becher (Düsseldorf), Jäger influenced generations of photographers with his abstract photography and his teaching at the FH Bielefeld. In the 1960’s he developed the concept of „ge-nerative photography“: it’s not about reproduction, but of a creation of new images. In this process, the photo-graphic means themselves become the object, the medium the object. Therefore, Jäger is called a „photographer of photography“ (B. Stiegler). After his work has been marginalized for a long time, the retrospective, developed in cooperation with the Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, will unfold the artist‘s most important creative forms and periods.
Focusing on the material and tactile properties of the medium, this exhibition is the first contemporary survey to highlight the global practice of cameraless photography across generations, cultures, and ideologies. Highlighting many emerging global artists and featureing primarily women-identifying artists, we are pleased that the photograph of Australian photographer Danica Chappell has been selected by the curator Lauren Richman.