Fotosommer 2021: Eurovision: Go Home Polish

In times when national aspirations at home and abroad determine the times of action, Fotosommer Stuttgart wants to set an example for Europe. There is a Europe under whose umbrella different countries come together and exchange not only economically but also cultur­ally. It is precisely the individuality of each country that is perceived as enriching for the other countries of Europe. In order to show a variety of photography in the city, Fotosommer Stuttgart has invited galleries and cultural institutions to participate with exhibitions on their own responsibility. The diverse contributions make it clear: Eurovision is not only a statement on the present, an appeal to a European future, it is also a record of thousands of years of shared history. It tells of rapprochement and interweaving, of fallen borders and new arrivals, and at the same time of the preservation of one‘s own identity. Walking through the exhibitions also gives a visual impression: we are neither at the beginning nor at the end of European history, we are right in the middle of it. Europe is growing.

The Fotosommer Stuttgart has close contacts with Stuttgart’s twin cities Cardiff/Wales and Lodz/Poland. Already in 2010, eight photographic positions in cooperation with Ffotogallery, the national photography agency for Wales, were shown as part of the Stuttgart Fotosommer, in the exhibition FOKUS CARDIFF HERE WE ARE­—DYMA NI in Stuttgart City Hall. In the following years Ffotogallery was always a guest at the Fotosommer Stuttgart. A special event in 2015 was the exhibition “Photographs from Cardiff and Stuttgart” in the Kunst­bezirk, Galerie im Gustav-Siegle-Haus with the title A TALE OF TWO CITIES— EINE GESCHICHTE AUS ZWEI STÄDTEN on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the town twinning between Cardiff and Stuttgart. A lively exchange also began with the Polish twin city of Lodz. In 2018 the Fotosommer Stuttgart was a guest in Lodz. Five Stuttgart photographers were invited with the exhibition FUTURE OF REMEMBERATION at the Muzeum Miasta Lodz as part of the 30-year partnership between the two cities.