October 24, 2026
09:00 a. m.
Breakfast & Check-In
Lean into the unknown: Morning Walk at Volksgarten 10:00 - 10.45 a. m.
10:30 a. m.
TRACES (eng)
What becomes visible in images and archives—and what remains inaccessible or hidden?
The focus is on images as testimonies of memory, loss, and tradition. The discussion centers on exclusions within institutions, archives, and the formation of canons; on claims of neutrality; and on the political authority of collections: When are images considered credible, documentary, or admissible as evidence—and when are they not? At the same time, the focus turns to artistic, archival, and counter-archival practices that work with fragments, gaps, and damaged records, opening up new interpretations. In this context, ignorance appears not only as a consequence of power and erasure, but also as a starting point for contradiction, counter-narratives, and renegotiation.
Host: Introduction: Julia Richrad (Social and Cultural Anthropologist, Berlin)
Dialogues: Lasse Branding (artist, M.A. student in History and Theory of Photography at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen), Ashkan Cheheltan (architect and spatial researcher, Forensic Architecture, London), Bindi Vora (artist, Senior Curator at Autograph London), Jana Haeckel (curator and lecturer in the history of photography and exhibitions at KASK & Conservatorium, Ghent)
1 – 1:30 p. m.
Lunch Break
1:30 p.m.
TRACES (de)
Panel, Werkstattperformance & Screening: Collection heads of the AMA Residency: Thomas Thorausch (Deputy Director of the German Dance Archive Cologne, SK Stiftung Kultur), Anne Stukenborg (Deputy Director of Greven Verlag and the Irene and Sigurd Greven Foundation), Adelheid Komenda (Photography Specialist, LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn), Daria Bona (Curator and Program Director of *Artist Meets Archive* at Internationale Photoszene Köln), Andreas Langfeld (Artist and Artistic-Scientific Associate for Photography at KHM), and Konstantin Butz (Cultural Studies Scholar and Artistic-Scientific Associate for Art and Media Studies at KHM) & KHM students (project "Bonus Tracks")
4 - 5:30 p.m.
POTENTIALS (eng)
The central question is: What forms of thinking, perception, and coexistence become visible when supposedly established knowledge becomes unstable? Photography appears not only as a documentary medium but also as part of technological, ecological, and social systems that shape conceptions of reality, the future, and truth. The discussion focuses on speculative and experimental approaches that engage with uncertainty, complexity, and unpredictability, and that explore new relationships between people, technology, the environment, and the image. In this context, not knowing is not seen as a deficiency, but rather as a prerequisite for new perspectives, scope for action, and ways of relating to the world.
Host: Nada Rosa Schroer (Curator, Cologne; Research Associate at the Institute of Art and Material Culture, TU Dortmund University)
Dialogues & Lectures: Orit Halpern (Lighthouse Professor and Chair of Digital Cultures at the Technical University of Dresden), Su Yu Hsin (Artist, Berlin), Marta Djourina (Artist, Berlin)
6:30 p. m.
Community Dinner & Party mit DJ Savsannah (E.P.I.Q.)