“My View” presents extensive work
Herlinde Koelbl is one of the most renowned German photo artists; she is considered above all as a great human photographer and an ethnologist with a camera. Her works are shown in numerous international exhibitions and her work is represented in the collections of important museums and institutions. Her work has already received several awards, including the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize of the German Society for Photography (DGPh).
She is interested in people in their cultural environment, their everyday life, their physicality and individuality. With her cleverly designed long-term studies, she has become a chronicler of the present. In “Traces of Power” she accompanied personalities from politics, business and culture for nine years, including Joschka Fischer and Renate Schmidt. Her photographs of Angela Merkel between 1991 and 2021 - one of her best-known series - are a portrait of a remarkable physical and psychological transformation and at the same time a record of an extraordinary encounter.
Under the title “My View” - the title of a publication of the same name from 2013 - the Kunsthalle Erfurt is now presenting an overview of Herlinde's intensive photographic work with a selection of images from almost all of her series, which were created between 1980 and 2024 Koelbl. This also includes images from the current “Metamorphoses” project as well as images that have never before been presented in a museum and were taken during several trips to the GDR on behalf of the New York Times. After individual series were shown in Halle/Saale (“Fascination Science”, 2022, Leopoldina) and Leipzig (“Metamorphoses”, 2023, Grassi Museum), this is the first comprehensive presentation of her work in the eastern German states.
Appointments
In addition to regular public tours, the exhibition is also accompanied by an artist talk with the artist (October 2nd, 6:30 p.m.) and two film screenings (October 23rd and 30th, 6:30 p.m. each). There is also a free art break every Wednesday at 12:00 p.m., during which a work from the exhibition is briefly presented.
Source: Press releases from the state capital Erfurt