I see something that you don't see What makes you think of a harmless children's game can turn into a bitter argument when it comes to the interpretation of images. After all, it is in the eye of the beholder what he thinks he sees in a picture, what associations it triggers. This applies not only to paintings, but also to photography, that medium, which, curiously enough, is ascribed a veracity to this day that it probably never had. Even the most sober documentation is created according to a pattern, is integrated into a system of codes and basic attitudes, a teaching of ideas, of ideology. Today, this term is primarily understood politically and in this sense the word Weltanschauung is also used, whereby it is by no means just a question of the political attitude how someone looks at the world,how he sees her. Rather, individual socialization, education, experience shape this view, which should explain why two people see the same picture, but can link very different associations with it.

Christian Riethmüller

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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    The title topic “Ideologies” of the fourth international photography triennial, RAY, is dedicated to these often divergent perspectives. Until September 12th, more than twenty artists reflect on how ideologies used to be at a good dozen different exhibition locations in the Rhine-Main area as well as today and what effect they have.

    The question is to what extent ideologies favor power and abuse, exclusion and exploitation, but not only.

    Many of the artists involved this time also deal with the effect of ideologies on the identity of societies and people, not least on their own.

    “Right” and “wrong” images

    Against the background of current discussions about identity politics, about fake news, about “right” and “wrong” images, the theme of the photo triennial initiated by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain for the first time in 2012 and has since been largely financed by it appears more topical than ever in its fourth edition RAY's original intention, namely to focus on the Rhine-Main area as a place of photography, should give some impetus.

    The main exhibitions of the triennial, conceived by a team of seven curators, are the shows at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, where works by Máté Bartha, Eddo Hartmann, Paula Markert and Salvatore Vitale will be shown until 19 September; at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, where the artists Akinbode Akinbiyi, Johanna Diehl and Qiana Mestrich will be exhibiting until September 12; in the Art Foyer of the DZ Bank Art Foundation, which will present a solo show by Adrian Sauer until September 11; at the Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, where works by Yagazie Emezi, Mohau Modisakeng and Yves Sambu can be seen until September 12; as well as in the customs office of the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, which is showing Ja'Tovia Gary's work “The Giverny Suite” until August 8th.

    RAY partner projects are the spectacular “Lee Miller” exhibition in the Opelvillen Rüsselsheim (until October 3rd), an installation by Eva and Franco Mattes in the Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden (until July 11th), a photographic dialogue between Nicole Ahland and Sibylle Fendt with Marta Hoepffner in the Hofheim City Museum (from June 6th to August 1st), the show "Hilde Roth" distributed by the art forum of the TU Darmstadt over the entire city center of Darmstadt, which honors the work of the Darmstadt photo reporter of the same name until October 3rd. Another visual witness was the Frankfurt photographer Otto Emmel, whose works created during the National Socialist era will be questioned in the exhibition “Beautiful, neat world of images - Education to look away?” At the Frankfurt Historical Museum (until June 3, 2022).Finally, the Giersch Museum of the Goethe University looks back to the time of the Weimar Republic, presenting works by the Frankfurt photographers Nini and Carry Hess from August 22 to December 5.

    The festival, which otherwise opens the Triennale, will be celebrated at the end this time.

    From September 1st to 3rd, artists, curators and experts will come together for public talks and lectures.

    Information on the program, the opening times of the exhibition halls and the current visiting and hygiene regulations is available at ray2021.de