kontrast[e] - Fotowettbewerb und Ausstellung der HCU

kontrast[e] - Photo competition and exhibition of the HCU

:::

Presented in the xpon-art gallery

Opening with award ceremony on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 6 pm

Afterwards open daily until October 23, 2025

:::

What rubs against each other in our perception? Where do worlds collide and where is it sometimes not so easy to tell the difference? The kontrast[e] exhibition is aimed at anyone who not only sees differences and tensions, but also wants to experience them and discuss them.

:::

contrast[s] are more than opposites: They condense realities, allow spaces to speak and make visible what would otherwise remain hidden. Under this title, the Architecture Department of HafenCity University Hamburg - University of Architecture and Metropolitan Development is presenting photographs by students that depict light and shadow, proximity and distance, architectural austerity and social fragility.

An interdisciplinary jury has selected the most impressive entries in the photo competition:

Emilia Kuhlendahl (blrm/auau), Hannes Heitmüller (architectural photographer), Elizabeth Gallon-Droste (artist and anthropologist) and Emma Stiehle (vonwegenleer architecture collective). From the numerous student submissions, they selected works that are both formally convincing and raise social questions. Noel Pinna and Jonas Horney were responsible for the curatorial and organizational support and, together with the jury, condensed the contributions into an overall exhibition.

kontrast[e] does not understand contrasts as mere juxtapositions of light and dark, large and small, loud and quiet. Rather, they become visible as areas of tension in which social realities are reflected: Where architecture draws boundaries or enables encounters, where urban development inscribes questions of power, where the private confronts the public.

The photographs ask how contrasts shape our experience - and whether they signify ruptures or open up opportunities - contrast[s] can demarcate, but they can also connect; they challenge us to take a closer look and re-read familiar spaces. In this field of tension, the exhibition invites us to view contrast[s] not as rigid opposites, but as dynamic moments in which change becomes possible.

The opening with the award ceremony marks the start of a week of experiencing new perspectives, of perceptions that come to life in exchange and, it is hoped, of intensive encounters and experiences.

The exhibition is open daily from 6 to 9 pm.

Location:

xpon-art gallery

Repsoldstraße 45

20097 Hamburg

www.xpon -art.de