Ute Eskildsen

This is the first book on the history, influences and impact of the Werkstatt f r Photography (Photography Workshop), founded by the Berlin photographer Michael Schmidt at the Volkshochschule Kreuzberg in 1976. In the midst of the Cold War, the Werkstatt initiated a democratic field of experimentation beyond the pale of traditional vocational and political-institutional standards. Those same years witnessed the establishment of infrastructures in West Germany that paved the way for the emancipation of photography as an art form: Documenta 6 (1977), the first photo galleries and photography journals and a number of pathbreaking exhibitions. Berlin, Hanover and Essen played important roles in that process. This book presents the story of German photography in the 1970s and '80s, its international ties, its protagonists and its networks.