Special Exhibition 2020:
Provincia

This year’s special exhibition Provincia combines four positions with photographs by Ingar Krauss, Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler, Hans-Christian Schink and Ulrich Wüst, which dedicate themselves in different ways to life away from the metropolises. The Photographic Collection – Schloss Kummerow thus also introduces the new format of an annual temporary exhibition.

The Latin term Provincia was used in the administrative terminology of Rome, where the supply of the ancient metropolis was secured. And while the late Latin meaning of the word is still used in large parts of Europe as a “territory” or “district” in language, the corresponding German term “province” is mainly negatively used here.

For many people, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is such an epitome of province – a state close to nature and low-population population with comparatively few and rather small towns. Young people in particular always seem to be on the move. At the same time, the area is also a place of longing for stressed urbanites with promises of freedom for dreams and experiments as well as space for recreation and seclusion.

The exhibition at Schloss Kummerow does not represent the province as a lost or even abandoned region. Instead, the unexcited and often poetic images show a neglected but dormant area full of potential.