Around a year ago, the City of Regensburg and OTH Regensburg published their joint report on poverty. Whilst work on the follow-up report is already underway, the exhibition “sichtbar arm” (Visibly Poor) now explores the topic through art and documentary media. From 3 June, OTH Regensburg will be showcasing works at M26 that examine the visibility of poverty and the realities of life for people affected by poverty from a variety of perspectives.
“The idea behind the exhibition is to stimulate a discussion about how we view poverty and the people affected by it in our city,” says Prof. Dr Wolfram Backert from the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences at OTH Regensburg, who is coordinating the exhibition. “To this end, the exhibition approaches the subject from a wide range of perspectives.”
Three perspectives on poverty
The exhibition brings together three projects: on display are illustrations by Simone Stiedl (studioh8), created for the Regensburg Poverty Report, which visualise poverty beyond common clichés. Large-format black-and-white photographs by Kelheim-based photographer Franz Pietruska document the work of the Rengschburger Herzen charity as well as the living conditions of people affected by poverty.
The third part of the exhibition presents photographs from the project “The World as I See It”, which was developed at OTH Regensburg under the direction of Prof. Dr Gabriele Scheffler. For this project, people living on the streets captured their everyday lives on camera from their own perspective.
Panel discussion on the visibility of poverty
To accompany the exhibition, the panel discussion “What is missing here” will take place on Thursday, 11 June at 6 pm. The focus will be on which groups of people affected by poverty may not be visible in the exhibition’s images and how poverty can be made more visible in urban society. The discussion will feature Thomas Thurow, Third Mayor of the City of Regensburg; Martina Groh-Schad, Chair of the Board of Soziale Initiativen Regensburg; Christoph Gailer, Head of the City of Regensburg’s Social Affairs Department; and Felix Fiebiger from the Regensburg Poverty Report team at OTH Regensburg.
“Sustainability Week in Regensburg is about to begin. Addressing inequality and the issue of poverty is one of the central themes of the debate on ‘social sustainability’. With this exhibition, we are trying to provide a stimulus that will hopefully be taken up,” said Backert.
The opening will take place on Wednesday, 3 June, at 6.30 pm at M26, Maximilianstraße 26, 93047 Regensburg. Admission to the exhibition and the accompanying events is free.
