Information is Currency!

Information is Currency!
A visual dialogue across 6 countries and 3 continents

A project of the KLUB DER KÜNSTE of the Deichtorhallen Hamburg
for the 8th Triennial of Photography 2022

20.5 – 31.7.2022
Gallery floor at Hall of Contemporary Art
Deichtorstraße 1–2,
20095 Hamburg

Information is the currency of the moment, and information is spread most rapidly through social media. Information is not only text but mainly also images. We connected young photographers from Hamburg, Khartoum, Abidjan, Casablanca, and Johannesburg. Two of them each brought together at the kickoff meeting, and exchanged information about everyday or social, political or personal circumstances via WhatsApp and Instagram, etc. Visually and textually, this exchanged »currency« is the project's theme. What is the value of this information about life circumstances and contexts away from the public, official news, and information flow? Using the example of the current difficult situation in Khartoum and the interrupted flow of information due to disrupted Internet and mobile phone service, direct information via social networks, which partially gets through, is of great »value« here.

The results were personal dialogues between the respective partners, who came to appreciate the exchange and value of this »information currency« more and more, thus providing direct and almost intimate insight into their living conditions.

The resulting communications (pictorial and textual) were presented, discussed, and further developed in weekly Zoom meetings with all participants and the local partners. Information was exchanged over almost four months from January to mid-April 2022. From the resulting material, André Lützen developed and conceptualized the exhibition with the participants. The works will be shown on 5 monitors and in print form in the Gallery in the Corridor of Cultural Education (Hall of Contemporary Art).

Curated by: André Lützen

With photographs and texts by: Yasmine Hatimi & Saad Eltinay (Marocco & Sudan), Gabriela Guimarães & Mikhail Samuel (Germany/Brazil & South Africa), Remofiloe Mayisela & Ahmed Khalid (South Africa & Sudan), Caio Jacques & Henri Toh (Germany/Brazil & Ivory Coast), Aurelie Tiffy & Eythar M. Gubara (Ivory Coast & Sudan/Germany)

Local Project Organizations:

Khartoum, Sudan
Ala Kheir (Freelancer)
Lilli Kobler (Goethe-Institute)

Johannesburg, South Africa
Michelle Loukidis (Founder and Director Through the Lens Collective, Johannesburg)

Marrakesh, Morocco
Janine Gaëlle Dieudji (Independent Curator, Co-founder The Recovery Plan in Florence, Italy)

Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Macline Hien (Freelancer)

© Yasmine Hatimi, Casablanca/Morocco
© Ahmed Khalid, Khartoum/Sudan
© Henri Toh, Abidjan, Ivory Coast