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Koyo Kouoh was appointed as the new artistic director of the 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2022

Koyo Kouoh was appointed as the new artistic director of the 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2022. As an experienced and internationally networked curator, Koyo Kouoh takes over planning for the photo Festival Hamburg.

Portrait Koyo Kouoh Photo © Zeitz MOCAA

Koyo Kouoh takes over the artistic direction for the 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg, which will take place from 19.5. to 30.9.2022. The curator, who comes from Cameroon, is responsible for the entire program of the international festival, in which, in addition to the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, numerous other Hamburg museums and exhibition venues will once again participate. An international symposium in spring 2021 will be the prelude and give a first insight into the diverse exhibition program of the 8th Triennale in Hamburg.

Koyo Kouoh has been Chief Curator and Managing Director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, MOCAA for short, since 2019. Previously she was part of the curatorial team for documenta 12 (2007) and 13 (2012). Kouoh is founder and director of the RAW Material Company, a centre for art, knowledge and society in Dakar/Senegal. As an expert in photography, video and art in public space, she has curated numerous international exhibitions and published on contemporary African art.

Dr. Carsten Brosda, Minister of Culture and Media: "With Koyo Kouoh, we were able to win an experienced and internationally well-connected curator for the Triennial of Photography. With her choice, the renowned photography festival will also present Hamburg as a city of culture and an important location for photography on an international level. At the same time, with the election of Koyo Kouoh, the Triennial of Photography opens the gate to the current global discourses that are also being dealt with in photography.

Koyo Kouoh: “I feel honoured to be entrusted with the responsibility of taking the pulse of contemporary photography to tell stories of images of our times. We live in a retinal era seized by the image. Its production and its global circulation deeply influence how we see ourselves and others. Hamburg as the leading site of media in Germany; thus at the forefront of politics of images, is an ideal place for these conversations to take place. I look forward to putting the team together that will accompany me in this journey.“

Prof. Dr. Dirk Luckow, General Director of the Deichtorhallen Hamburg: "The goal of the upcoming 8th Triennial is to once again realise a high-profile photography festival with a distinctive, international orientation and to make Hamburg the »Capital of Photography« throughout Germany in the summer of 2022. Koyo Kouoh's concept for the 8th Triennial of Photography convincingly brings into focus the global role of photography, its deep-rooted significance in its own history and its opinion-forming power in the world: in short, the artistic influence of photography today. It states that basically everything today is photography, and that the image has virtually become the currency of a contemporary global culture. The format and curatorial concept give reason to expect national and international radiance and significance of the 8th Triennial of Photography, which will not least strengthen public interest in photography as an art genre.

Since 1999 the Triennial of Photography has been held in Hamburg in cooperation with Hamburg museums, exhibition houses, cultural institutions, galleries and other organisers. The widely acclaimed photo festival illuminates current topics in photography with a large number of photo exhibitions.

TRIENNALE DER PHOTOGRAPHIE HAMBURG
Deichtorhallen Hamburg GmbH · Deichtorstr. 1–2 · D-20095 Hamburg