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until 06.06. | #4990ARTatBerlin | CAMERA WORK shows from Saturday, 28. März 2026 the exhibition Peel Off by the artists Peter Beard, Michel Comte, Sebastian Copeland, Patrick Demarchelier, Victor Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, Esther Haase, Olaf Heine, Jean-Baptiste Huynh, Russell James, Helmut Newton, Rankin, Eugenio Recuenco, Martin Schoeller, Ruud van Empel und Albert Watson.
From March 28 to June 6, 2026, the CAMERA WORK gallery presents the group exhibition “Peel Off.” Featuring over 100 unique works by sixteen renowned artists, the exhibition explores the history of the legendary instant photograph. Among the works, spanning from the early 1970s to the present day and often created on the sets of famous photo shoots, are rare large-format pieces by Peter Beard, Michel Comte, and Olaf Heine. The instant photograph was significantly shaped by Herbert Erwin Land and the Polaroid company. Land introduced the first instantly developable photographic paper system in 1947 and later, with the Polaroid company, made it known worldwide. The patented development process established itself in professional photography as an important creative tool and was crucial for checking lighting and composition on set. The visible development time of the image, which was manually completed by peeling off the development sheets, heightened the perception of the photographic process and its performative character. Each instant photograph is a unique physical object that remains directly linked to the time of its creation.
The exhibition showcases instant photographs, which reached their zenith in the artistic creative process between the 1970s and 2000s before being superseded by digital photography. However, they never completely lost their relevance. Works by Helmut Newton from the 1970s, as well as by Arthur Elgort and Patrick Demarchelier from the 1990s, demonstrate the significance of instant photography for the composition of a photographic work. Furthermore, the traces of use and the distinctive aesthetic of the images are perceived as a characteristic stylistic device, reflecting an intimate and immediate atmosphere and uniquely documenting the working processes of artists such as Eugenio Recuenco and Jean-Baptiste Huynh. Simultaneously, instant photography developed as an independent artistic medium, enabling the creation of entire photographic series. Since the 2010s, instant photography has experienced a renaissance, underscoring a yearning for analog, slower-paced image-making processes. Thanks to its unique artistic qualities, instant photography has been a relevant subject on the primary and secondary art photography markets for many years, sometimes fetching top prices.
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 28. March 2026 until Saturday, 6. June 2026
To the gallery
Caption title: © Michel Comte, Polaroid Claudia Schiffer, Courtesy of CAMERA WORK Gallery
Exhibition Peel Off | Camera Work | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
