TITLE_NAME :
11/15/2024 - 02/23/2025
Museum Folkwang
Museumsplatz 1
45128 Essen
The French journalist Marie-Claude Deffarge and the Luxembourger Gordian Troeller reported from all over the world in a trenchant, subjective and often controversial manner. They stand for political and critical journalism from the 1950s onwards. In view of today’s crisis in journalism, a new look at their work is of interest to society as a whole. Marie-Claude Deffarge (1924-1984) and Gordian Troeller (1917-2003) made their reports from over 70 countries around the world, preferably from the Middle East and the Global South. The couple reached a wide audience with their stories about revolutions, cultural struggles and human rights. The exhibition not only recapitulates the most crucial global political issues of the second half of the 20th century, but also presents the distinctive viewpoints of the two journalists, from the “senseless claim to objectivity” to the criticism of progress and ethnocentrism. At the heart of this presentation is the Deffarge & Troeller archive, which provides deep insights into their work and the media landscape of the time. Over 100,000 negatives, slides and prints as well as films, tapes and research material provide a diverse overview of the creation of the reports through to their reception. With the first comprehensive retrospective combining their photo and film reports, the work of these two journalists can now be rediscovered.
Museum Folkwang
Museumsplatz 1
45128 Essen
The French journalist Marie-Claude Deffarge and the Luxembourger Gordian Troeller reported from all over the world in a trenchant, subjective and often controversial manner. They stand for political and critical journalism from the 1950s onwards. In view of today’s crisis in journalism, a new look at their work is of interest to society as a whole. Marie-Claude Deffarge (1924-1984) and Gordian Troeller (1917-2003) made their reports from over 70 countries around the world, preferably from the Middle East and the Global South. The couple reached a wide audience with their stories about revolutions, cultural struggles and human rights. The exhibition not only recapitulates the most crucial global political issues of the second half of the 20th century, but also presents the distinctive viewpoints of the two journalists, from the “senseless claim to objectivity” to the criticism of progress and ethnocentrism. At the heart of this presentation is the Deffarge & Troeller archive, which provides deep insights into their work and the media landscape of the time. Over 100,000 negatives, slides and prints as well as films, tapes and research material provide a diverse overview of the creation of the reports through to their reception. With the first comprehensive retrospective combining their photo and film reports, the work of these two journalists can now be rediscovered.