Category: Future

Opening Friday, April 17, 2026, 7-9 pm
Curated by Stefanie Odenthal, Christiane Stahl & Thomas Tode

For the very first time, Alfred Ehrhardt’s film work is the focus of an exhibition. The photographer, documentary filmmaker, and Bauhaus-trained artist created more than sixty films—an oeuvre that has long been overshadowed by his photographic work. Now, the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung bring his films to the fore, offering a fresh aesthetic and historical perspective on one of the most prolific German cultural filmmakers of the twentieth century.

A selection of twenty key short and feature-length films will be presented across ten screens in two program phases: ten films during the first five weeks of the exhibition, followed by ten further works in the second half. The selection includes nature studies, films on art and cultural history, as well as productions from the Nazi era that have rarely been shown to date. The exhibition features Ehrhardt’s so-called “shell films” devoted to snails, mussels, and corals; his investigations of nature as a master of form, including studies of the tidal flats near Neuwerk, volcanic landscapes in Iceland, and ice formations off the coast of Greenland; as well as films on art and artists, among them works on Ernst Barlach, documenta II, and African masks.

Problematic aspects are not glossed over. With Urkräfte am Werk (Germany 1937/39), Ehrhardt’s debut film rediscovered in 2024, and the propaganda film Flanderns germanisches Gesicht (Germany 1941), his cinematic practice is examined within the historical context of its time.

Opening Friday, July 11, 2026, 7-9 pm
The artists will be present

A grain of sand – inconspicuous, yet a microcosm of the world. The exhibition takes visitors deep into the hidden structure of one of the earth’s oldest and most precious raw materials. Under the microscope of forensic scientist and microphotographer Matthias Burba (*1954), the tiny crystals are transformed into luminous landscapes that reveal both geological history and human perception. Between physical precision and poetic interpretation, a dual perspective unfolds: on the material itself and on the stories it carries within it. Each turn of the polarizing filter reveals new, equally valid realities. Thus, scientific precision and poetic imagination merge into a perspective that not only measures but also interprets.

Opening Friday, September 11, 2026, 7-9 pm
The artist will be present
Curated by Stefanie Regina Dietzel

For the first time, the Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation is presenting Alfred Ehrhardt’s (1901–1984) historical industrial photographs in a new light. Between 1954 and 1963, numerous film and photographic works were created on behalf of the tobacco company Reemtsma & Co., which have remained largely unnoticed until now—and stand in stark contrast to Ehrhardt’s free artistic nature and landscape photographs. These little-known works now form the basis for a new series by Leipzig artist Ramona Schacht (*1989), who takes an in-depth look at the working environments depicted in them. The focus is on scenes of work in tobacco fields and processing, which Ehrhardt documented in countries such as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Turkey, the USA, and Greece. The photographs reflect a colonial understanding of the “foreign” and “exotic”—ideas whose aftermath Schacht critically questions in her work. The dialogue between historical archives and contemporary art practice gives rise to a multi-layered reflection on work, history, and cultural perception. Schacht’s portrayal of female labor in particular sheds new light on the subject and opens up unusual perspectives on realities that have been overlooked until now.