The photography symposium "URBAN PLACES" at The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) on Tuesday, 25 November 2025, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will focus on the question of how urban spaces - whether grey or green - are represented, interpreted and questioned photographically. The event will take place in the Faculty of Design at HSNR (Frankenring 20) in Krefeld.
"URBAN PLACES" invites all interested parties to engage with the many facets of urban photography and to gain new perspectives on the design and perception of cities. Admission is free. Gudrun Kemsa accepts registrations by e-mail at gudrun.kemsa(at)hs-niederrhein.de. Kemsa is a professor of moving image and photography at the HSNR and will moderate the event.
The symposium will focus on the question of what insights contemporary artistic photography provides into the relationship between people and the city. Both documentary and artistic perspectives will be examined. Together with invited curators and lecturers, we will reflect on the role photography plays in the perception, criticism and design of urban spaces and how photographic images change our understanding of the city.
The day's programme includes both lectures and a discussion round: After a welcome by Prof Dr Erik Schmid and Prof Gudrun Kemsa, lectures on public spaces and urban art will open the morning. A lunch break will be followed by a panel discussion with experts from museums and the city administration. The degree will be rounded off with presentations of photographic projects and the photographic collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld.
The speakers include Prof. Nicolas Beucker (Public & Social Design, HSNR), Prof. Dr Robert Fleck (art historian and exhibition curator), Stefanie Grebe (Head of the Photographic Collection and Photo Archive, Ruhr Museum Essen), Prof. Paula Markert (Photography, HSNR), Dr Linda Conze (Head of the Photographic Collection and Photo Archive, Ruhr Museum Essen), Prof. Dr Gertrude (Head of the Photographic Collection and Photo Archive, Ruhr Museum Essen) and Prof. Dr Robert Fleck (Art Historian and Exhibition Curator). Linda Conze (Head of the Photography Collection, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf), Stephan Macháč (Coordination Officer for Photography, City of Düsseldorf), Dr Christoph Danelzik-Brüggemann(Head of Collections: 19th Century / Photographic Collection, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf), Düsseldorf artist Thomas Neumann and Thomas Janzen (Education and Outreach, Kunstmuseen Krefeld).
Further information on the photography symposium "URBAN PLACES" can be found at: https: //www.hs-niederrhein.de/design/ueber-den-fachbereich/news/fotografie-symposium-urban-places/
