Human Topographies
Art Collection Deutsche Börse

20 February to 16 August 2026
Deutsche Börse Group, The Cube, Eschborn

The exhibition presents 70 works from the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, illustrating the diverse facets of environments shaped by humankind. It ranges from dense Asian megacities to North American metropolises and small towns on the German and French periphery to the vast, sparsely populated areas in the Midwestern US – and the many variations in between. The exhibited works depict the multifaceted interplay of landscape, architecture and humans, highlighting the challenges posed by nature and climatic conditions across different regions as well as the ways in which architects and urban planners tackle them. The spectrum ranges from the harmonious integration of architecture to a bizarre understanding of urban design, including the near-complete suppression of the original landscape. The photographic series, some of which took many years to create, illustrate the progressive and creative, albeit ruthless, creation of urban environments as well as the adaptability of the people who inhabit them. 

“Human Topographies” combines works from the 1950s to the present, thus creating a dialogue between images by well-known artists and younger positions. It presents photographs by the following artists: Verdiana Albano, Nobuyoshi Araki, Sibylle Bergemann, Peter Bialobrzeski, Mohamed Bourouissa, Alejandro Cartagena, Bruce Davidson, Mitch Epstein, Lucas Foglia, Thomas Hoepker, Evelyn Hofer, Matthias Klose, Ute and Werner Mahler, Vivian Maier, Mike Mandel, Richard Mosse, Jürgen Nefzger, Mimi Plumb, Anastasia Samoylova, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Wilhelm Schürmann, Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, Beat Streuli, Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse, Henry Wessel and Ulrich Wüst.

The exhibition was conceived by Cornelia Siebert, Junior Curator, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.