From 14th April to 25th August 2024, the Ludwig Múzeum – Museum for Contemporary Art in Budapest presents IDENTITY – LANDSCAPE EUROPE, a solo exhibition by the musician and photographer Till Brönner. Spanning over 450 square meters, around 80 photographs will be on display, including numerous new works. The solo exhibition is complemented by a program of lectures, musical interventions, and panel discussions.
Renowned jazz musician and photographer Till Brönner captures the cultural diversity of the European continent through his lens. The exhibition IDENTITY – LANDSCAPE EUROPE emerges from Brönner’s 2018/2019 MELTING POTT series, commissioned by the Brost-Stiftung and Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V. Bonn. For that series, Brönner traversed one of Germany’s most diverse and complex regions – the Ruhr area. Brönner not only portrayed well-known figures like footballer Mario Götze, TV presenter and journalist Dunja Hayali, and Dr. Franz-Josef Overbeck, Bishop of Essen, but also immersed himself in the area’s iconic mining industry. His evocative portraits and scenes, some captured under extreme heat and other challenging conditions, form a compelling long-term chronicle of Germany’s most densely populated region.
Till Brönner (born 1971, Viersen) is a cosmopolitan at heart. Raised in a family of musicians in Italy and the Rhineland, he lived and worked extensively between Berlin and Los Angeles, feeling at home in the world. Inspired by musician and fashion photographer William Claxton, who was featured in Julian Benedikt’s documentary film Jazz Seen, Brönner began exploring the parallels between jazz and photography, leading him to capture his first portraits of fellow musicians in 2009. His portfolio soon expanded to include actors, sports figures, writers, and activists. Some of his most notable images include portraits of Lenny Kravitz, Hannelore Elsner, and Klaus-Maria Brandauer.
Diversity
Till Brönner aimed to capture the cultural diversity and European influences present in the Ruhr region – which sparked the idea of expanding his project to explore different parts of Europe. The exhibitions MELTING POTT and its follow-up IDENTITY – LANDSCAPE EUROPE immediately captivate viewers with an immediacy and sensitivity that have much to do with Brönner’s background as a renowned jazz
musician.
In his Ruhr region exhibition, Brönner’s photographs offer a personal and humanistic perspective – a consistent theme throughout his work documenting European landscapes. The Ruhr region, once symbolic of German industrial might and economic prosperity, is now transforming. Brönner captures this societal shift, revealing the emergence of a more globalized and diverse way of life. Now, in IDENTITY – Landscape Europe, Brönner unites multifaceted perspectives to create an exhibition of great diversity. Driven by the European ideals of unity and understanding, as demonstrated in MELTING POTT, Brönner aims to bring people together across borders and spark conversations, including in Budapest.
Following successful exhibitions at Küppersmühle Museum of Modern Art in Duisburg, Ludwig Museum in Koblenz, and the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the project expanded with motifs from across Europe for a further showing at Ludwig Múzeum in Budapest. Numerous new works created over the past year document the interplay of economic development, culture, technological progress, and untouched landscapes well beyond the Ruhr region.
Through portraits of prominent figures and ordinary individuals, juxtaposed with images of industrial architecture and cultural landscapes, Brönner explores the similarities and differences of a continent of close proximities and longstanding traditions. He captures a Europe continually renewing itself while still rooted in its cultural and industrial heritage.
Brönner gives a face to European culture, featuring artistic luminaries such as Ai WeiWei, Vera Molnar, Bob Geldorf, and the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. He broadens the picture of politics beyond its leaders to include their impact, from climate protests to migration. Landscapes encompass both bustling cities and rural farmlands. His photographs weave together personal memories with Europe’s collective memory. Through this rich tapestry, Brönner offers a nuanced view of Europe’s social and cultural richness, starting with his journey’s origin: the Ruhr region.
Freedom
Julia Fabényi, Director of the Ludwig Múzeum in Budapest, sees the exhibition as a significant European statement: “With this exhibition we celebrate Till Brönner’s boundless Europe and the boundless freedom his photography and music offers viewers.”
Says Prof. Bodo Hombach, Chair of the Brost-Stiftung, on the foundation’s support of the exhibition: “Sparking social dialogue through artistic impulses is one of the goals of the Brost-Stiftung. Great art speaks all languages. It broadens horizons and builds bridges. Till Brönner is on a bridge-building mission for our Ruhr region, from Duisburg to Katowice and Budapest. While it’s not a substitute for effective state diplomacy, it does help prevent further estrangement among peoples.”
Till Brönner: “Identity – Landscape Europe”
Opening: Saturday, 13 April 2024, 18 hrs. The artist will be present.
Featured speakers: Julia Fabényi, Director, Ludwig Múzeum
Csaba Káel, General Director, Palace of Arts – MÜPA Budapest
Bodo Hombach, Chair, Brost-Stiftung, former German Federal Minister
Gergely Prőhle, former Ambassador of Hungary to Germany
Walter Smerling, Chair, Stiftung für Kunst + Kultur e.V., Curator
Exhibition: 14 April – 30 June 2024
Location: Ludwig Múzeum – Museum for Contemporary Art, Komor Marcell u. 1, Budapest/Hungary
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