“Flight into the public” describes the conscious movement outwards as a possible strategy for artistic and political work. Often used in connection with the disclosure of incriminating information for which whistleblowers seek the largest possible platform, the term describes how the public is used as insurance. Visibility is used as a control mechanism in which public opinion is used to support critical action. In the GDR, on the other hand, “flight into the public eye” meant demonstrating steadfastness and cohesion to the outside world, in contrast to the subliminal and corrosive approaches of the state apparatus.

Based on this term, the f/stop Festival examines the relationship between visibility and resistance in photography and film and asks how political practice can be portrayed without impairing its ability to act. The festival brings together practices at the threshold of individual care and social effectiveness from a historical and contemporary perspective and illuminates the political dimension of image creation against the background of social debates and global crises. Particular attention is paid to archival access and their caring responsibility towards the past is considered.

The 10th edition of the f/stop – Festival for Photography Leipzig will expand into the city center and public spaces and will feature various exhibition spaces. Through displays in public spaces, the center of Leipzig is used as a place to discuss social issues. The exhibition is also physically brought into public space using various site-specific and mobile formats. The escape into the public will therefore also take place at the spatial level of the festival and will attempt to challenge the city, its fragmented publics and its institutions with current and pressing questions about our society using photographic and filmic practice.

See/Saw (2018)