Echt Foto! Photography between Paper and Pixel

Preview: written before the show opened

For a 1959 programme booklet of the Berliner Stachelschweine cabaret, Heinz Hajek-Halke built a picture of Wolfgang Gruner out of a photographic print, watercolour and paper. Whether that still counts as a photograph is the question this show asks, up to pictures that look photographic but were generated by AI.

Most of it comes from the Kunstbibliothek's Photography Collection, laid out as a material history: copper plates, glass, paper, silk cloth, albums and magazines. Creases, tears and discolouration are part of the argument, because they show a photograph is a thing. You also get Willi Ruge's hand-coloured portrait of Elly Ruge from around 1947, and loans from living artists such as Eva Stenram, some back at work with photo papers and darkroom chemistry. Not one of the thousands of photos on your phone has ever been creased.

Once a month the curators bring out large-format albums and historical viewing devices. Entry is €12 (€6 concessions), €2 less with a same-day C/O Berlin ticket, and Thursdays run to 20:00.