Creative photography

“The City of Mannheim has got so many colours“

Mannheim has developed into a Mecca for photography. Festivals and exhibitions get a lot of attention.

It is no exaggeration to say that Mannheim has developed into a “City of Photography” in the past few years – also thanks to the Zephyr Gallery which is part of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums and which repeatedly presents fantastic exhibitions. For 2010, a show with works of the recently deceased famous architectural photographer Julius Shulman is planned. The “Kunsthalle” also contributes to the above reputation with its very diverse exhibitions of photography. And not to forget the “Photo Festival Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg” which is taking place for the third time and which is getting lots of attention for “Images recalled – Bilder auf Abruf”.

Mannheim’s photography scene is particularly associated with three names: Robert Häusser, Daniel Lukac and Olivier Pol Michel.

After 50 years of work, Robert Häusser can be called a “classicist of modern photography”. Although he has stopped taking photographs himself, he is still very active.

For Daniel Lukac, who is running a photo studio with two other photographers in Square H7, the photo festival is a strong source of inspiration and at the same time enrichment for the local cultural scene. According to him, the city should keep on investing heavily in this area and should not be satisfied with the status quo, particularly in view of the application for the title of Cultural Capital 2020.

Another photographic artist is Olivier Pol Michel. He has been working in Mannheim as a photographer for ten years now and has developed his own particular style. His still lifes, for example, have got scenic dynamic aesthetics: He arranges all sorts of objects to form a theme and thereby develops a new graphical form. If his client agrees, he does not work with models when taking fashion photographs but stages the product. He places high demands on his work: “Puristic, artistic, demanding.”

With another photographer, a fashion designer and a lamp designer, Michel forms a “hidden little creative centre” in the middle of the harbour territory, not far from the Neckarspitze.