Michael Jostmeier
ON THE ROAD 1976 - 2024
Extended
Due to the high visitor response, the exhibition will be extended until April 17, 2025.
Photographer Michael Jostmeier is Professor Emeritus of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Technical University in Nuremberg. In professional circles, he is one of the pioneers of the combination of computer graphics and photography, which he has been working on since the early 1980s. However, he is also a trained photographer with a diverse oeuvre that is less well known. It was not until the exhibition "Unterwegs 1956 - 2023", which was shown at the Kunsthaus Nürnberg in spring 2024, that a wider public became familiar with his work.
At the invitation of Peter Nürmberger, Head of the Cultural Office in Hof, he is now showing pictures in the Freiheitshalle. This is the second collaboration in the form of an exhibition. Back in 2019, computer-generated works by students were on display under the title "Subjective CGI", in which they explored the role model Otto Steinert under the guidance of professors Michael Jostmeier and Dr. Christoph Schaden. Jostmeier studied under Steinert, the great post-war photographer, at the Folkwang School in Essen.
Jostmeier is a traveler. But his pictures are not touristy, not private and certainly not sightseeing or even Instagram-worthy. He is driven by an insatiable curiosity. The spaces are usually vast: North Cape, Mojave Desert, Hardangervidda. And when the computer comes into play, a spaceman even appears. It doesn't go any further outside. Inside, however, Jostmeier sees vastness when he photographs people. In his case, it is political greats of the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1980s to the present day: Johannes Rau, Franz Josef Strauß, Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl, Helmut Schmidt. Jostmeier also travels between genres: CGI, portrait, landscape, street photography. Documentary.
It is clear that he is also a political person. His way of seeing is not restricted, but stringent: where would the state of our world (keyword global warming) be more visible than in the vast landscapes that have been considered unchangeable for so long?
The photographs on display cover a period from 1976 to the present day. The most recent works were taken during a trip to the North Cape in the summer of 2024.
Heinrich Jostmeier (1956 - 1966)
Photographs by Heinrich Jostmeier, the photographer's father, are shown in a specially arranged video presentation.
Heinrich Jostmeier meticulously photographed post-war developments in the Ruhr area in the 1950s and 60s. The photographs are a valuable historical document of the subjective view and thus an insight into the West German world of those years. He photographed everyday life and the public space of that time with a sure eye for image composition, spatial division and light-shadow contrasts, which many self-taught photographers of the time shared. Michael Jostmeier remembers his childhood, when his father was often out and about with a camera in his hand. However, his son only discovered that his pictures were more than just snapshots for the family album after Heinrich's death. Ute Eskildsen, the long-time curator of photography at the Folkwang Museum, paid tribute to this subjective view of the post-war period in the 1990s with an exhibition at the Museum Folkwang Essen.
Following the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Nürnberg, these photographs can now be rediscovered for only the second time in more than 30 years.
Information about the exhibition
Location: Foyer of the Freiheitshalle Hof
Duration: December 9 to February 28, 2025; extended until 17 April 2025 (as at 26.03.2025)
Opening hours: Mon to Fri, 10:00 to 17:00, and by appointment. Additional opening times can be arranged, especially for groups/schools.
Admission is free.
In cooperation with the Kunsthaus Nürnberg. With the kind support of Sparkasse Hochfranken.
Since 1985, Peter Nürmberger, Head of the Cultural Office in Hof, has been closely associated with the Faculty of Design at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Technical University in Nuremberg. Until 1993, around 70 posters for the Hof Theater were created there as student projects and later a whole series of design works ranging from exhibition stands and posters to CD concepts.
With this exhibition, the Cultural Office of the City of Hof is continuing the intensive exploration of the medium of photography that began with Barbara Klemm in 2012.
Invitation to the exhibition opening
on Friday, December 6, 2024, 5:30 p.m.
Welcome: Eva Döhla, Lord Mayor Introduction: Matthias Dachwald, Director Kunsthaus Nürnberg
The artist will be present at the opening.
Please note:
Image and/or sound recordings may be made at our events for advertising and documentation purposes. By participating, you agree that these recordings may be reproduced, published or used in any other way without payment of a fee.
