Survey of Photography in Germany in the Twentieth Century

German photography of the 20th century is at the center of the exhibition Typologien, a broad survey curated by Susanne Pfeffer and hosted in the Podium of the Milanese headquarters of the Fondazione Prada. The exhibition explores the concept of typology, a classification method born in botany between the 17th and 18th centuries and subsequently applied to photography as a tool for analyzing reality. Through a non-chronological path, but based on typological affinities, the exhibition brings together over 600 works by 25 artists, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky, August Sander and Wolfgang Tillmans. The system of suspended walls that divides the exhibition space suggests unexpected connections between authors of different eras and approaches, revealing the subtle balance between objective documentation and subjective choice in photography. As Pfeffer states, the juxtaposition of images allows us to grasp what is individual and what is universal, challenging visual hierarchies and aesthetic conventions. In the digital age, where the cataloguing and dissemination of images occurs in a few moments, Typologien invites a deeper reflection on our way of seeing and interpreting reality.