EXTREME. ENVIRONMENTS

For RAY 2018 contemporary photo-based artists who are working on the forefront of environmental awareness are brought together at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. Nearly half a century after the exhibition curated by William Jenkins “New Topographics: The Man-Altered Landscape” was shown in Rochester, New York, the photo-activists, story tellers and artists today are concerned with obvious and hidden aspects of man’s impact on the environment. The exhibition “EXTREME. ENVIRONMENTS” addresses drastic environmental developments concerning global warming, extinction and industrial or political fraudulence.

In his long-term project “Drowning World”, South African born photographer Gideon Mendel has crossed the world portraying those whose lives have been devastated through massive floods; Lois Hechenblaikner’s behind-the-scenes photographs and short films reveal how “Gletscherpathologie” and “Alpine Entertainment” effect winter sport tourism. Three very different artistic approaches deal with the effects of when governments or corporations hide damages that evolve to epic proportions: Mathieu Asselin’s award-winning book and installation project deals with the multinational agrochemical and biotechnology corporation Monsanto, Pradip Malde’s “The Third Heaven”, a homage to the resilience of Haiti, and Paula Luttringer’s “Entrevero” — a series of double exposures of a forgotten disaster in Argentina resurfacing through draught. National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale or artist duo Frank Ekeberg & Krista Caballero take viewers to real and staged habitats of animals threatened with extinction. A highlight of “EXTREME. ENVIRONMENTS” will be the interactive stations created about the Frankfurt Rhine/Main bird populations by Ekeberg and Caballero for their global series Birding the Future.