THE LINE BETWEEN US – Eleven positions in queer photography

Despite the highest number of CSD parades worldwide in 2024 and a partially more open attitude towards LGBTQIA* people, violence and aggression against queer people are continuously increasing.
Is society's treatment of the LGBTQIA* movement a barometer of the state of democracy?

In light of the increasing inhuman aggression against queer people, the project THE LINE BETWEEN US – Eleven Positions of Queer Photography, initiated by photographers Nora Bibel and Marcus Höhn, has become even more necessary and relevant.

With an exhibition and an educational programme, the project will run from 23 August to 1 November, addressing the challenge of respectfully depicting the realities of queer people's lives and opening up a dialogue across generations.

For the exhibition at Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten, they have selected eleven photographers and artists from the LGBTIQA* community who provide a wide-ranging insight into their work and the everyday lives of queer people.

Artists:

Sitara Ambrosio, Nora Bibel, Lucas Bihler, Marcus Höhn, Mit Euren Spuren collective, DeLovie Kwagala, Jo Langenhoff, Jeannette Petri, Minh Duc Pham, Lotte Reimann, Vincent Wechselberger

Curated by: Nora Bibel, Marcus Höhn, Veronika Witte


With their portraits, reportages, documentaries and photographic installations, the photographers in the exhibition challenge the normative gaze from within and open up different perspectives of self-empowerment. Through staged and documentary photographs, the eleven positions show the extraordinary strength and resistance that people can develop through collective empowerment processes.

They focus on transgenerational exchange, the everyday lives of queer people in crisis areas, and invisibility as a survival strategy. Sometimes glamorous, sometimes unspectacular, sometimes shocking, but always sensitive, the selected photographic positions explore the power of diversity and plurality in their conceptual strength and as “images”.

With their works, the artists and activists in the exhibition THE LINE BETWEEN US question the extent to which photography can influence social change processes and call for acceptance and respectful coexistence.

The first-time collaboration between Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten, laif foundation and laif Agentur enables a wide-ranging programme of discussions, workshops, concerts and talks with queer figures from politics, culture and art to accompany the exhibition.

• The exhibition is supported by the district funding programme of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and laif foundation and laif Genossenschaft.
  

PROGRAM

Fri 22 August, 7 p.m.: Opening
Welcome:
Veronika Witte, Artistic Director Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten
Alfonso Pantisano, Queer Representative of the Berlin State Government
Introduction to the exhibition:
Silke Frigge, Managing Director, laif – Agency for Photography & Reportage

Planned events (as of 25 July)

Sat 23 August, 4 p.m.
Talk: ‘In the Interstice – Generations, Language and Queer Perspectives’
With Jeannette Petri and the ‘Mit Euren Spuren’ collective (Stella Deborah Traub, Francesco Giordano, Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert, Mara Fischer, Florian Tenk, Teo Apostolescu)

Wed 3 Sept, 7 p.m.
Artist Talk 1
with Marcus Höhn, Jo Langenhoff, Minh Duc Pham, Lotte Reimann
Moderated by Ingo Taubhorn

Fri 19 Sept, 6.30pm
ROPE HAPPENING
with Aurora, moderated by Lotte Reimann

Sat 27 Sept, 1-3pm
Open voguing workshop with Eray Gülay

Thu 9 Oct, 7pm
Artist Talk 2
with Sitara Ambrosio, Nora Bibel, DeLovie Kwagala, Vincent Wechselberger
moderated by Katrin Köppert

Wed 15 Oct, 7 p.m.
Panel discussion:
‘The social treatment of the LGBTQIA* movement as an indicator of the state of democracy?’
A conversation with:
Heinrich Horwitz, director, actor, activist with #ActOut
Klaus Lederer, MDA of the Berlin House of Representatives, 2016–2023 Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe of the State of Berlin
Helge Mark, actor and content creator
Felizia Möhle, ZDF Television Council member and East German activist
Moderation: Jurassica Parka, drag artist, comedian, podcaster

Fri 17 Oct, 8 p.m.
Concert: ‘Deadline Season’ with Lucy Liebe

Thu 29 Oct, 7 p.m.
Dialogic exhibition tour with curators Nora Bibel, Marcus Höhn and Veronika Witte