PRESS RELEASE

The exhibition brings together two photographers from different generations, both of whom have documented the art scene – particularly in the Rhineland. Since the late 1960s, Bernd Jansen (*1945) has been portraying artists such as Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter in his series Portraits from the Düsseldorf Art Scene.
His portraits generally depict the artists in their living and working environments. These photographs are the result of planned encounters rather than spontaneous snapshots. They arise from a dialogue between photographer and subject, reflecting a shared interest in artistic expression. Jansen often integrates elements of the artist‘s own practice: objects, works or specific gestures that reference their individual body of work. All images are taken in black and white, and rather than focusing on recognisability, they aim to visually distil the artist’s attitude and working method.
A prime example is the portrait of Gerhard Richter (1968), which, through blur and disorienting spatial references, alludes to Richter‘s own image-making strategies.
Jansen has a clear vision in mind, which takes shape in conversation with the subject and only finds its final form over the course of the encounter. His portraits are thus not mere photographic representations but the result of an artistic process of mutual understanding. They do not simply document – they interpret, acting as an “extended eye” of the photographer.
In the late 1960s, Jansen was closely involved with the Rhineland‘s avant-garde art movement. He accompanied developments such as Fluxus and material collages at close range, engaging with them through his photography. His practice goes beyond documentation: he sees photography as a creative tool for translating experience into visual form. He employs a range of techniques – from deliberate image composition to experimental development processes and sculptural modes of presentation.

Neven Allgeier (*1986) turns his photographic gaze towards a younger, contemporary art scene. At Moltkerei Werkstatt, his focus is on artists who are presented in a uniform format, hung equally and in series. His portraits, bathed in soft light, convey a sense of restraint, sensitivity and vulnerability. These images emerge from a close-knit social network and reflect the sensibility of a generation navigating between self-staging, intimacy and societal uncertainty.
Allgeier often returns to the same places, spending time with his subjects and allowing them to decide how, where and in what clothing they wish to be photographed. This collaborative approach produces a confident authenticity that permits closeness without being intrusive.
Despite their often delicate, pastel-toned aesthetic, the photographs evoke a subtle unease: the diffuse lighting and use of flash obscure the time of day or year, leaving it unclear whether the scene depicts a moment of departure or retreat.

The faces seem directed towards the viewer, yet remain ambiguous – they embody a simultaneity of different inner states: nostalgia, melancholy, lightness and scepticism. They resist straightforward narrative and instead open up atmospheric spaces that hover between reality and imagination, almost like a dream.
Allgeier’s work coalesces into a layered image of contemporary experience. It portrays a young generation caught between a crisis-ridden reality and the search for new forms of expression, belonging and visibility. His photographs offer an intimate view of a collective state of being – between hope and uncertainty, performance and inner life.
Bernd Jansen and Neven Allgeier share a fundamental interest in the portrait as a site of encounter – one that not only depicts individuals, but makes visible the constellations between them: between person and environment, between self-perception and external image, between artistic attitude and the cultural mood of the time. While Jansen – shaped by the spirit of the 1960s and 70s – reflects on the interweaving of artist personality and oeuvre, developing a documentary-conceptual approach to portraiture, Allgeier turns his focus to the present of a younger generation oscillating between intimacy and self-assertion. Both photographers resist simple categorisations or conventional forms of representation. For both, the portrait becomes a medium of proximity, artistic exploration and social positioning – whether in the studio, the urban space or the liminal realm between inner world and public visibility.