Open for Business - Magnum photographers on commission

Gucci Makeup, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2019 © Bruce Gilden/Magnum Photos

23 October 2020 to 8 May 2021
Deutsche Börse AG, The Cube, Eschborn

The exhibition "Open for Business – Magnum photographers on commission" shows commissioned works from six decades by more than 50 photographers of legendary agency Magnum Photos, offering insights into fascinating and lesser-known parts of their portfolio.

For more than 70 years Magnum photographers have documented the world's major events and hidden stories. Simultaneously, many of these same photographers have worked on assignments for fashion brands, governments, NGOs and industries. Although not recognised by a wider public as 'Magnum' work, the images do play a vital role in the Magnum story. It also embodies the complex cultural position of photography, sitting as it does at the intersection of art, documentary and commerce.

"Open for Business" takes a critical look at Magnum's commissioned work from the 1950s to the latest assignments from 2019. It reveals interactions between commercial and independent production, highlights the way photographers shaped or changed visual languages of corporations and how they have played with assignments through their own free interpretation, resulting in surprising, ironic and humorous outcomes.

The exhibition has been developed in cooperation with Magnum Photos Paris, Foam Amsterdam and „Les Rencontres de la photographie Arles". It was curated by Anne-Marie Beckmann, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, and Mirjam Kooiman, Foam Fotografie Museum Amsterdam.

Artists (Selection): Antoine d'Agata, Eve Arnold, Olivia Arthur, Jonas Bendiksen, Werner Bischof, Miguel Rio Branco, René Burri, Enri Canaj, Cornell Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Chien-Chi Chang, Bruce Davidson, Bieke Depoorter, Thomas Dworzak, Nikos Economopoulos, Elliott Erwitt, Jean Gaumy, Bruce Gilden, Burt Glinn, Maya Goded, Jim Goldberg, Harry Gruyaert, Erich Hartmann, David Alan Harvey, Richard Kalvar, Carl De Keyzer, Josef Koudelka, Hiroji Kubota, Erich Lessing, Alex Majoli, Constantine Manos, Peter Marlow, Steve McCurry, Lorenzo Meloni, Cristina de Middel, Rafal Milach, Inge Morath, Emin Özmen, Trent Parke, Martin Parr, Paolo Pellegrin, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Mark Power, Marc Riboud, Moises Saman, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Lise Sarfati, Ferdinando Scianna, Jérôme Sessini, Alec Soth, Newsha Tavakolian, Alex Webb and Patrick Zachmann.