Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – After the decision in favor of the Düsseldorf location, work on setting up the German Photo Institute is now beginning. A founding commission should start work in January, a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Culture said on Thursday. The panel will set an agenda and timetable. It is about the construction, the organizational form and the content concept of the future photo institute. It is still unclear exactly where the Federal Institute is to be located in Düsseldorf.
After years of debate, it was decided in November that the photo institute should come to the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. Both Düsseldorf and Essen wanted to locate the project in their own country. An initiative had made a push for Düsseldorf and worked out plans – for Düsseldorf, funding in the millions was also promised by the city, state and the budget committee in the Bundestag. A commission of experts convened by the former Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters (CDU) then came out in favor of Essen as a location. A feasibility study commissioned by Grütters also recommended Essen.
According to the state, federal and city ministries of Düsseldorf, the founding commission includes selected “important representatives from the photography scene and from the museum and archival sectors”. This should ensure that the Federal Photo Institute “represents the scene as a whole”. Experts from Essen and representatives of renowned museums such as the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast and the Essen Museum Folkwang and other national institutions should also be involved in order to meet the high standards of the institute. The “Rheinische Post” reported first.
In the facility, also known as the Federal Institute for Photography, photographers’ estates are to be collected, research into restoration and conservation is to be promoted, and exhibitions, publications and events are to be organised.
