Isabel Mahns-Techau

In parallel to the exhibition “We, Hamburg,” which portrays the city visually and socio-geographically through the medium of press pictures, the Kunstverein presents a selection of photographs in the Living Archive on its own history taken by Isabel Mahns-Techau.

As a photographer and journalist, she has accompanied the art and cultural scene in Hamburg for many years. Her portraits record the life of society in the city. People are her sole subject – well and less known personalities in the world of art.

The more than 50 photographs selected for the exhibition include not only portraits of artists, directors, and staff but also shots of exhibition openings and events of the past decade at the Kunstverein Hamburg. They bring the recent history of the Kunstverein back to life.

While the archive of the Kunstverein contains numerous photographs of works of art, installations, and spatial views of exhibitions, it has few pictures of the artists involved. Isabel Mahns-Techau's photographs bring the people behind the works to the foreground.