special issue // breaking point

letter from the editor / special issue – breaking point. searching for change / i read on the internet this week that three quarters of all insects in germany have dis- appeared. they think it was pesticides. this would be an environmental disaster, if environmentalism had not become an exercise in carbon counting. but worry not. there is a man in america who promises to send us to mars. but who can afford the trip? we have allowed a poverty gap without precedent to grow – fuelled by the blameless algorithmic trading computers along with free interest money to the rich. we are in the era of the mega landlord. placing property ownership out of reach is the means we have nurtured to enslave one another. all the while technology continues to disrupt. they say driving, the number one job for men, will become unnecessary. i am all for auto- mating the monotonous and unnecessary, but do we pass these efficiencies on to the newly jobless? is our goal to build eden or a global slum? is there a goal? don’t think i am preaching. we are all the blame. until we all purge the contractions within us and do what we know in our hearts is correct, we are as vulgar as pesticides.

an era is ending at blow. this is our final issue. in future we will be pursuing new ways to express our insights and love for photography. for one, we hope to open blow’s editing studio up to work with festivals, galleries and artists. this special issue with triennial of photography hamburg is our first such collaboration. the theme, appropriate to blows new direction, is breaking point.

letter from krzysztof candrowicz, artistic director of triennial of photography hamburg / consumerism, capitalism, imperialism and nationalism. these doctrines have shaped the world as we know it. societies, economies and states are all driven by greed, ignorance and indifference. 200 years since the industrial revolu- tion and these creeds are still defining the status quo. something has gone terribly wrong. human abuse, genocides, extinction of species, devastation of nature, diseases and pollution are front-page news. how far can we go and who, in the end will pay the cost for our splendid industrialization? triennial of photography hamburg 2018 is focused on the undeniable necessity to change. the program will reflect on political, economical and environmental factors required for global transformation; an invitation to inspire and react in these turbulent times. art and particularly photography are powerful agents and democratic mediums. providing a source of exploration, and an expression of the complexity of human nature.

together with hamburg museums, galleries and numerous local and international partners we have been working on this inspiring theme breaking point. searching for change. unquestionably, june-september 2018 will be the time to visit hamburg.

spread the change.