Americans
Masterpieces of American photography from 1940 until now

Americans, named after Robert Frank's legendary photo book, featured 13 photo series that express the upheavals, crises and changes in American society under the pressure of political circumstances and countercultural projects, using examples of individuals, urban milieus, but also changes in landscapes and urban spaces.

The photographs are free of the ideology of a ‘Family of Man’; rather, their diagnostic gaze exposes the wounds of a society that threatens to break apart under the weight of its own contradictions, torn between religious fundamentalism and bohemian excess, between racism and liberal exuberance, between claims to world domination and small-scale alternative lifestyles.

The exhibition featured works by both young and renowned artists. The interplay of positions from different periods makes it possible to look back into history and measure judgements about the present-day USA against the visual repertoire of the 20th century.