Early in 2020, Der Greif (an organization promoting contemporary photography) invited me to curate the May edition of ‘Guest Room’ – a monthly online exhibition with open submissions from Der Greif’s community of thousands of image-makers around the globe. 

‘Guest Room’ is built around collaboration and I asked Jessica  Backhaus, a distinguished voice in contemporary photography, to partner with me. I was attracted by the purity in her work, her experimentation and adventurous spirit. Jessica selected a quote by the influential postwar artist and theorist Joseph Beuys as the theme for the exhibition: “Wer Nicht Denken Will Fliegt Raus.” (Who is Unwilling to Think is Dismissed).

She chose it for its radicalism and relevance in these times of post-truth politics. By the time the online exhibition launched, everything had changed. We were in the midst of a global pandemic and most of the world was in lockdown – in this context, Beuys’ words resonated stronger than ever.

I began delving into links between Backhaus and Beuys’ ideologies, and found a unifying thread in how their art can be seen as a “conscious act”, inseparable from everyday life. This led to a desire to bring Jessica’s work into the curation. In the last two weeks alongside the Open Call, Jessica created a series of images responding to Joseph Beuys, made in ‘Confinement in Berlin’.