Cocktail Prolongé: F.C. Gundlach Special
Assistant to curator Dr. Sabine Schnakenberg
With works by roughly seventy photographers, among them Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Hans Bellmer, Erwin Blumenfeld, Katharina Bosse, Jiří Georg Dokoupil, Greg Gorman, Jenny Holzer, Jürgen Klauke, Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, Kembra Pfahler, Jimmy DeSana and Cindy Sherman.
As one of the most influential German fashion photographers from the 1950s to the 1980s, F.C. Gundlach decisively shaped the aesthetic stylization of the female body. His private collection, however, reveals a different perspective: provocative, ambiguous, and deeply personal representations of corporeality. Extravagance and queerness appear alongside vulnerability and nonconformity, reflecting the body as a medium for roles, fantasies, and desires, but also for resistance and critique.
Drawing on around 300 works from the F.C. Gundlach Collection, the exhibition explores diverse forms of staging the body and highlights a lesser-known yet highly topical aspect of Gundlach’s collecting practice. Conceived as part of the 9th Triennial of Photography Hamburg and in celebration of Gundlach’s 100th birthday, the exhibition also pays tribute to the initiator of the Triennial itself. The title refers to Gundlach’s idea of a Cocktail Prolongé–an extended gathering for viewing, discussing, and celebrating the richness of the collection together.
Hall for Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
05.06. – 22.09.2026
