C/O Berlin . Photography Days

The image—and particularly the photographic image—has taken on increased importance as a communication form over the course of the twentieth century. Photography conveys information in an immediate way; it tells compelling stories, captures situations, and creates portraits of people. But above all, photography triggers emotions. Capturing the perfect moment with a well-trained eye is the aim of every ambitious photojournalist. Photography’s use in the media is a phenomenon of extraordinary importance: it has radically transformed how people see, and has opened a window to the world for the masses. Photography has ushered in a new age of visual mass media—both in a humanist enlightenment sense, and as a powerful instrument of propaganda and manipulation.

The effects of digitization have transformed photography as well. The dissemination of information on current events by trained photographers is rendered obsolete in an age when the average cell phone user can react instantaneously, sending snapshots all over the world. Today, amateurs are involved in the dissemination of information. Because of this acceleration of information exchange, increased competition, and market restructuring, many photojournalists, agencies, and media have been compelled to reorient their work and their trade.

Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's governing mayor, will be the patronage the the exhibition "shifting media" and the Photography Days.