European Photography

European Photography, based in Berlin, is an independent art magazine for international contemporary photography and new media. It was founded and is published by the German artist Andreas Müller-Pohle.

History

European Photography first appeared in 1980 as a quarterly magazine in German and English. Each issue focused on one particular theme and also reported on international photo initiatives, exhibitions, and book publications. It drew on an international network of photographers, critics, and curators. Only the first few issues were restricted to European themes; according to Müller-Pohle, by 1985 at the latest, "the magazine title had changed [...] from the literal to the metaphorical: Europe meaning transnationalism, pluralism, diversity."[1]

In addition to presenting current photographic positions, the magazine has played a decisive role in the theoretical and programmatic debate on the medium of photography and has had a lasting influence on this.[2] Alongside Andreas Müller-Pohle, important authors have included Jean-Claude Lemagny, Derek Bennett, Boris Groys, Hubertus von Amelunxen, and Vilém Flusser.

In 1982, the European Photo Galleries Guide was published, of which seven further updated and successively expanded editions under the title European Photography Guide followed through 2003. The editors described the eighth and final edition – the collaborative effort of over forty correspondents in thirty-four countries – as "the most comprehensive reference work on the photography-and-art scene in Europe ever published."[2]

In 1983, the first theoretical book publication was the essay Für eine Philosophie der Fotografie by the media and cultural philosopher Vilém Flusser, whom Andreas Müller-Pohle had met two years earlier at a symposium in Düsseldorf and who subsequently became a regular columnist for the magazine.[3][4].An English translation was published in 1984 under the title Towards a Philosophy of Photography. Flusser's collaboration with European Photography continued on various levels until his death in 1992, most importantly as a columnist for the magazine ("Reflections") and as author of the ten-volume Edition Flusser published by Müller-Pohle.[5]

Also in 1983, European Photography took over the magazine Print Letter, which had been founded in 1976 by Marco Misani in Zurich and was aimed at galleries, museums, and collectors.[6] It was continued in European Photography until 1989 as an separate section of the magazine and was last mentioned in the imprint in 1995.

In 1993, European Photography changed its publication frequency from quarterly to half-yearly, now with a new format (24 x 30 cm) and page count (84).

In 2004, the publishing house moved from Göttingen to Berlin.

Ethos

European Photography was devoted to the presentation of current photographic positions in media theory, and was heavily influenced in its early stages by the theories of media philosopher Vilém Flusser, whose writings appeared in the magazine. Initially representing young European photography, it soon turned to contemporary non-European developments, separately covering Australian and North American photography in two editions in 1985 (issue 23 and 24); "If you will, the title changed at that time from the literal to the metaphorical: Europe [representing] Transnationalism, pluralism, diversity."[7]

European Photography Guide

In parallel the magazine has maintained and updated a European Photo Galleries Guide, first published in 1981, and later renamed the European Photography Guide.

Selected issues
  • Series – Cycle – Sequence – Tableau (no. 1, 1980)
  • Contemporary Trends I: Visualism (no. 3, 1980)
  • Contemporary Trends II: Conceptual Photography (no. 4, 1980)
  • Contemporary Trends III: Documentary Photography (no. 6, 1981)
  • Immigrants (no. 8, 1981)
  • Edited by... (no. 18, 1984)
  • Photography: Today⁄Tomorrow I (no. 21, 1985)
  • Photography: Today⁄Tomorrow II (no. 22, 1985)
  • Narrative in North America (no. 24, 1985)
  • Dutch Staged Photography (no. 31, 1987)
  • Ten Years Later (no. 40, 1989)
  • Deutschfoto (Ost) (no. 46, 1991)
  • Vilém Flusser Issue (no. 50, 1992)
  • Artist's Cookbook (no. 62, 1997)
  • goEurope: The Kaleidoscopic Eye (no. 68, 2000)
  • Photography and Water (no. 75, 2004)
  • Photography in China (no. 76, 2004)
  • Contemporary U.S. Photography (no. 87, 2010)
  • Net Photography (no. 88, 2010)
  • Photography and Privacy (no. 90, 2011)
  • Retro-Photography (no. 94, 2013)
  • The Photographic Figure (no. 97, 2015)
  • Urbanics – Urban Photography (no. 98, 2015)
  • Why Hong Kong? (no. 99, 2016)
  • Talking Photography – 100 Pictures that Tell a Story (no. 100, 2016)
  • Photo-Phenomenology: Points of View (no. 103, 2018)
  • Travel: The Outside Perspective (no. 104, 2018)
  • Fortieth Anniversary Issue (no. 105, 2019)
  • The Environmental Issue (no. 106, 2019)

References
  1. "Art and Publishing – European Photography's Anniversary. Hans-Michael Koetzle in Conversation with Andreas Müller-Pohle," in: European Photography, nos. 85/86, spring/summer 2009, p.76.
  2. European Photography Guide 8, ed. Vladimir Birgus and Lea Gryze (Göttingen: European Photography, 2003)
  3. Klaus Sander, "Flusser-Quellen. Eine kommentierte Bibliografie Vilém Flussers von 1960–2002," URL : http://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/1485097/d85714e287d539db39da46f0e5198b20.pdf
  4. "Andreas Müller-Pohle. Interview," in: Flusser Studies, no. 10, 2010, URL: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/179859/1/photography-beyond.pdf
  5. https://equivalence.com/labor/lab_vf_edi.shtml
  6. Derek Bennett, "Interview with Marco Misani," in: European Photography, no. 13, 1983, p. 44.
  7. Andreas Müller-Pohle, in: European Photography, 85/86, p. 79
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