Energy: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption

Energy: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption is the new exhibition opening at Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest from October 15 to November 26, 2023. It features a group show, an anthology of diverse photography projects focusing on energy, one of the most relevant and complex topics, which everybody has to deal with either as a private or as a public matter. The show comprising over 80 works produced by eight young photographers selected from the Futures European Photography Platform’s network, of which Capa Center is the only Hungarian representative in a network of some 20 European partners.

From personal stories to documentary and social approaches, to the exploration of the limits of photography as a medium seeking new forms of narration, each photo series and multi-media installations lined up in the Energy: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption exhibition could stand on its own as a case study, providing a condensed representation of the ideas associated with this multilayered topic. While some projects talk about the destructive forces of energy in warfare or in extractivist society (Tanja Engelberts (NL); Yana Kononova (UA)), others explore existing strategies as possible solutions (Dávid Biró (HU); Umberto Diecinove (IT); Antonio Guerra (ES)), exemplify desirable companionships (Yana Wernicke (DE)) and reflect on healing (Hien Hoang (VE/DE)). Finally, there is a perspective on how the colonial and capitalist structures shaped contemporary cities and how the energy of presence in these spaces could be a form of resistance (Marta Pinto Machado (CV/PT)).