Photographer Thomas Struth: Culture Defends the Freedom of Mind | Louisiana Channel

“What are they afraid of?”
We went to see German star photographer Thomas Struth in his Berlin studio and met a man both concerned and enraged about the ongoing attacks on our liberal values and democracies.
“Culture, concerts, theatre, dance, music, and museums bring people together to have a shared experience about something that is not clearly defined. It is free-floating, and that is a democratic quality.”
“It’s an acknowledgment of a community to try to understand life by seeing other interpretations of life. Interpretations that are not yours.”
Struth witnesses attacks on cultural institutions all over the world and sees both art, artists, and cultural institutions like museums as prime defenders of democratic rights and values:
“Right-wing institutions try to control culture because of its free-floating opinions. They want to control arts and culture. Often I think: What the f… are they afraid of? But this is what they are afraid of. They are afraid of the freedom of mind.”
Thomas Struth was born in 1954 in Geldern, Germany, and studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He was part of the first generation of artists to study photography with Bernd and Hilla Becher. Comprehensive solo exhibitions of Struth’s work have been presented at institutions including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, The Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the Museum Folkwang in Essen and Haus der Kunst in Munich. Between 1993-1996 Struth was the first Professor of Photography at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe. Struth was awarded the Spectrum International Prize for Photography by Kulturstiftung Lower Saxony. He is an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Struth’s work is featured in various public art collections, including Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Tate Gallery, London, the Galleria d’Accademia, Florence, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The artist lives in Berlin.
Thomas Struth was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in November 2022. The interview took place in Struth’s studio in Berlin, Germany.
Camera: Simon Weyhe
Edited by: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2022
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling, and Fritz Hansen.
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[@thelouisianachannel]

“My work is about the theatre of life.” *Watch the full-length interview with Thomas Struth right here:* kzbin.info/www/bejne/haKkcmmHgdxpr9E

[@INTERpEST]

Thx and all the best to this channel!

[@olivierbolton8683]

Freedom is always relative never absolute...left wing right wing wing wing its ok to learn to fly high up into the sky! The love of your culture is not a bad thing.

[@danryan4137]

Don’t know what the hell he’s on about. But I really love that photo piece. Gorgeous.

[@daviddaverson]

Is there a longer version of the interview on the way?

[@thelouisianachannel]

Yes, there will be a longer interview coming soon. Thanks for watching!

[@ce2513]

he's made some great photos, but the branches with snow is not one of them.

[@meemaflowers9446]

Culture does not defend freedom of mind if that culture is sick.

[@notanemoprog]

That's true. Look no further than Trans-Reich Radical Gender Ideology of today and its cancerous spread in the West, dragging it down to the base level of mindless mud

[@timoluetk]

I think what he meant was that the extreme right wing and fashist regimes never let a free culture happen. They have their agenda and everything that doesn't allign with it will be forbidden. So in that sense freedom of speech and expression very clearly stand for freedom and one which fascism is afraid of. Ergo they do their part in upholding freedom quite effectively.

[@olivierbolton8683]

@@timoluetk The radical left is financed by the rich guys...fact

[@hansstepford7824]

Mr W is wracked with guilt. He wants to help his neighborhood, but he has moments in the past.

[@michaelyolch79]

Um...what?

[@paulwheeler6609]

Or freedom defends the culture of mind. That said, the European mind has created the world we live in today, for better or, more likely, worse.

[@notanemoprog]

"Fashionist Germany" 😂😂😂 Yep Hugo Boss did their uniforms I guess that was indeed _haute couture_

[@michaelh.gerloff3659]

Wrong, if you mean "did" = "designed"

[@timetobenotdo]

Freedom of the mind?! Yeah, within the confines. Culture conforms. Get real

[@lenskapvdo]

Ok boomer