Artist Meets Archive #5 Bonus Track:

In the 1980s, a new language emerged within pop culture discourse. Outside the mainstream media, magazines such as SPEX—founded in Cologne in 1980—developed new ways of talking about music and pop culture, operating in a DIY spirit. They struck a new note that gave voice to the spirit of punk and new wave and provided a platform for the cultural sense of renewal. In addition to the influential texts by numerous authors, photography also contributed significantly to the development of this new language—and yet, to this day, it has scarcely been studied academically or reflected upon artistically.

As part of this collaboration, the visual dimension of (Cologne) pop journalism will now be brought into focus. Together with a group of students, starting in April 2026 we will embark on an artistic-research journey to trace its visual history and archives. The central starting point is the archive of photographer Wolfgang Burats: founding member, co-editor, and one of the first photographers of SPEX. We want to speak with photographers and other participants of the time, make further photographic collections visible, shed light on individual developments, and above all ask questions: How did the photographers work, and how did they define their visual authorship? What forms of photographic expression emerged, what (political) stances were reflected in them, and what communities did they form or strengthen? Where are the photographs and image archives located today?

The results of this search for traces will be presented as a snapshot and interim report in an exhibition at the Photoszene Festival in May 2027.

About the project

The project group consists of students Yue Cao, Jeanne van Eeden, Heike Geltsch, Lukas Jantschek, Thea Kleinhempel, Shinyoung Rhyu, Caroline Weyers, and Farah Wind, as well as artistic and research staff members Konstantin Butz and Andreas Langfeld from the KHM Cologne and Daria Bona (Program Director of Artist Meets Archive), Heide Häusler (Artistic Director and Managing Director) and Antonia Pečavar (Assistant, Artist Meets Archive) from the International Photo Scene Cologne.

The project is part of the Artist Meets Archive #5 program organized by Internationale Photoszene Köln, with support from the City of Cologne, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Kunststiftung NRW, the Sparkassen Kulturstiftung Rheinland, and Sparkasse KölnBonn.