Art and Construction: Herbert W. Franke and Gottfried Jäger in dialogue

From 16 October 2026 to 10 January 2027, the Museum Folkwang will be hosting the exhibition Herbert W. Franke / Gottfried Jäger. Art and Construction. The exhibition marks a major donation to the Museum Folkwang of photographs, prints, videos and computer animations from Herbert W. Franke’s body of work. For the first time, around 250 works by the two artists will be presented together in a dialogic format. The focus is on their artistic exchange between non-representational photography and early computer art, which began in the 1960s.

The starting point for this dialogue is the book Art and Construction by the computer pioneer, caver and science fiction author Herbert W. Franke, which the photographer Gottfried Jäger discovered as a student in the in the late 1950s. Franke’s reflections on the connections between science, technology and art became an important source of inspiration for Jäger’s own work.

The exhibition Art and Construction brings together key groups of works by both artists: Jäger’s generative and concrete photographs – including his extensive pinhole structures and works using photographic material – are juxtaposed with Franke’s mathematical visualisations and computer graphics, as well as his photographic and video works. Both artists share an interest in the apparatus, systems and processes that underpin the production of images. While Jäger explores the possibilities of photography through the conditions of the medium itself, Franke translates mathematical and computer-based processes into visual imagery.

Art and Construction reveals how both artists use technical systems, scientific models of thought and photographic processes as a starting point for new forms of visual design. Against the backdrop of increasingly automated image production, Franke’s and Jäger’s works take on new relevance. Both artists bring to light the conditions and processes involved in image production, thereby encouraging viewers to question not only their own perceptions but also their engagement with technical systems and existing visual cultures.

The idea for the exhibition arose following a substantial donation of around 250 works by Herbert W. Franke to the Museum Folkwang by Susanne Päch (art meets science – Foundation Herbert W. Franke). The donation comprises photographs, prints, videos and computer animations from various periods of the artist’s career, enriching the Museum Folkwang’s collection with important pieces from Franke’s artistic estate. Just over half of the works are on display in the exhibition.

At the same time, the Museum Folkwang is presenting Photography Masters, a selection of final-year projects by graduates of the Master’s programme in Photography Studies & Practice at the Folkwang University of the Arts. The two institutions are thus continuing their collaboration, which began in 2016 with the ‘Stopover’ series. The exhibition features works by Florian Fäth, Mara Fischer, Patrick Lohse and Nina Mokhtarbaf.

Information
HERBERT W. FRANKE / GOTTFRIED JÄGER
Art and Construction
16 October 2026 – 10 January 2027    

Press event: Thursday 15 October, 11 am at the Museum Folkwang
Opening: Thursday 15 October, 7 pm
Free admission

Further information at www.museum-folkwang.de