"Pictures on a Journey": A Der Greif interactive installation at Various Others

As part of the first Various Others “Unconference” at Bayerischer Hof in Munich – a gathering of curators, artists, and thinkers exploring forms of inclusion, agency, and change in the art world – Der Greif was invited to contribute a public intervention that responded to the themes and setting of the convening.

We chose to explore what it means to share and to send – to offer something of yourself to someone else, near or far. To do so, we returned to one of the most accessible and analog forms of artistic communication: the postcard.

“Bilder auf Reisen / Pictures on a Journey”

The resulting installation, “Bilder auf Reisen / Pictures on a Journey”, presented a curated selection of postcards – not mass-produced motifs, but photographic works by over fifty emerging image-makers from around the world. Each image was the result of a global open call launched earlier in the year by Der Greif, inviting artists to respond to the intertwined themes of “strange homeland” and “encounters.”

The responses were diverse in origin, tone, and texture – reflecting experiences of displacement, re-rooting, confrontation, tenderness, and poetic rupture. Selected works were transformed into postcards and placed in a custom display at the “Unconference” venue. Visitors were invited to choose one, write a personal message, and send it – reviving the spirit of Mail Art through a quiet, participatory act.

A gesture within a gathering

“Bilder auf Reisen / Pictures on a Journey” proposed a small, tangible gesture within this larger discourse. By inviting people to pause, choose, write, and send, the work operated quietly alongside the conversations – offering a moment of intimacy, of choice, of presence.

In doing so, the installation continued Der Greif’s longstanding exploration of how photographic practices can connect, travel, and shift meaning through context and exchange.

The following artists and image-makers were featured in “Bilder auf Reisen / Pictures on a Journey”: Abhishek Khedekar, Alba Ruiz Lafuente, Ana Nuñez Rodriguez, André Ramos-Woodard, Anqi Li, Anna Franciska Legát, Anna Tiessen and Maria Sturm, Bulat Arslanov, Constanze Flamme, Dane Rhys, Guanyu Xu, Güzin Mut, Hankyung Ryu, Hiro Tanaka, Inès Riber, Ingeborg Everaerd, ievgen stepanets, Ira Lupu, Jack Fox, Jasmijn van Buytene, Jens Masmann, jieyu deng, Karol Szymkowiak, Katinka Schütt, Kevin Scotton, Kiri Zullo, Konrad Gubała, Li Biletska, Logan White, Lou Westrelin, Lucija Rosc, Malte Oing, Margaux Corda, Mariana Amaro, Marianne & Katarzyna Wasowska, Mehdi Moghimnejad, Mirjam Stenevik, Moulaye Diarra, Mykhaylo Palinchak, nora obergeschwandner, Paloma Passetto, Roban, Sasha Chaika, Sean McKenzie, Sungchul Lee, Vera Zurbrügg, Vilerx Perez, Yixuan Liu, Yulia Spiridonova, Zahra Babaei, and Zeng Zexuan.

Image-text juxtaposition

How do images move through the world, and what do they carry with them? What possibilities of communication do they open up, also when attached to texts? Rather than presenting a static display, we imagined the postcard rack as a living archive – one that would disperse over time, leaving only traces in letters, hands, and postboxes. We paired each image with a “textography” by Angela Aux, a poet and musician known for his work across disciplines. These short poetic texts were not captions or explanations, but autonomous literary fragments that opened further associations – sometimes contradicting, sometimes echoing the visual content.

The interplay between image and text – and the possibility for visitors to further personalize these combinations through their personal messages – created a space for both reflection and exchange. The project is kindly supported by Hollweg Stiftung.