Symposium

on 25 April 2026
English version here

Present Tense. Attitudes towards the Present

A collaboration between the Darmstadt Days of Photography and the Department of Design at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da)
Concept and direction: Prof. Robin Hinsch, Prof. Sara Maierhofer

On Saturday, 25 April 2026, the symposium “Present Tense. Attitudes towards the Present” will take place at the Department of Design at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences as part of the Darmstadt Days of Photography. Against a backdrop of increasing social tensions, the symposium focuses on photography’s potential to shift perspectives through contact and open up access to other realities. The invited speakers are united by an understanding of photography as a dialogical practice – as a place of encounter and exchange. The focus is on the photographic encounter as a concrete social situation: a moment of shared presence that takes on new significance in the age of generated images. What forms of attention, exchange and action can emerge from this today?
Symposium “Present Tense. Attitudes towards the Present”
Saturday, 25 April 2026, 1 pm to 6 pm
Auditorium of the Department of Design, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences

Programme 25 April 2026

1 pm Welcome
1.15 pm Lecture: Abdulhamid Kircher (EN)
2.00 pm Discussion: Mathilde Tijen Hansen and Maxie Fischer

3.00 pm Coffee break

3.30 pm Lecture: Sophie-Charlotte Opitz
4.00 pm Lecture: Salvatore Vitale (EN)
5.00 pm Discussion: Akinbode Akinbiyi and Ute Mahler

All interested parties are warmly welcome; no registration is required. Organised by Prof. Robin Hinsch and Prof. Sara Maierhofer.

Venue: Auditorium of the Department of Design at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences
Olbrichweg 10
64287 Darmstadt

Speakers

Abdulhamid Kircher

Mathilde Tijen Hansen

Photographer Mathilde Tijen Hansen (born in Cologne) lives and works in Berlin.
She graduated from the Ostkreuz School of Photography (class of 2024). In her work, she explores urban spaces and the question of how political power, social change, and perception are inscribed in architecture, street scenes, and everyday encounters.

Maxie Fischer

Maxie Fischer is an art historian, curator, and author.
She has just completed her dissertation on Michael Schmidt and focuses on photographic aesthetics, exhibitions, and publications as modes of thought and presentation in artistic photography. Her practice combines image theory, photographic history, and contemporary issues at the intersection of art and the public sphere.

Sophie-Charlotte Opitz

Dr. Sophie-Charlotte Opitz is an art historian and curator.
Her research has focused, among other things, on the mechanisms of contemporary war and conflict photography, and she has worked in international photography programs and institutions. Since May 2024, she has been a curator at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg; previously, she directed the Museum Villa Rot (Burgrieden) and worked in international photography programs and institutions. Starting in March 2026, she will be a professor of media studies at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences.

Salvatore Vitale

Salvatore Vitale (b. 1986, Palermo) is an artist and editor based in Switzerland.
He studied Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Vitale is a professor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where he heads the Transmedia Storytelling program. His works on power, security, and visual politics are exhibited internationally.

Ute Mahler

Ute Mahler is a photographer and co-founder of the photography agency OSTKREUZ.
After studying at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, she has worked as a freelance photographer since the 1970s and has had a significant influence on German documentary photography. Her work is represented in major collections; she also served as a professor of photography for many years.

Akinbode Akinbiyi

Akinbode Akinbiyi is a photographer, author, and curator (Nigeria/Germany) and has lived in Berlin since the 1990s.
He is internationally known for his work on everyday life and urban transformations in African cities. In his photography and curatorial practice, he mediates between perspectives, places, and cultures—often with a focus on streets as social archives.