Albrecht Kunkel: Quest

In a solo exhibition, the ZKM is presenting the work of German photographer Albrecht Kunkel (1968–2009) for the very first time. His work concentrates on landscapes and rooms, which have historic, cultic or social significance. It focuses on cultural practices and procedures. He was always a seeker, in whose work far removed places and times encounter one another: whether prehistoric caverns (1992/1998), the archaeological excavations in Troy (2002), the Cannes Film Festival (2003), Times Square in New York (2004) or the holy sites of Jerusalem (2007).

In a broader perspective, this heterogeneous, seemingly random choice of motifs turns out to be a search for the first and last questions of human existence – and then how these are still perceived today. Kunkel’s work researches a localisation of culture in its historic and contemporary characteristics. It shows significant places of collective memory and refers to the construction of history and reality that is intrinsic to the image, which Kunkel explored in the possibilities of photography.

The Albrecht Kunkel. Quest work exhibition in the ZKM shows the work of the photographer, who died in Berlin in 2009, for the first time. Kunkel studied with Thomas Struth, Bernd and Hilla Becher and was a master student with Katharina Sieverding. He lived in Berlin, Paris and New York. His photographical estate was donated to the collection of the ZKM | Centre of Art and Media Karlsruhe in 2013.