A DAY OFF – An Exhibition of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation

With works by: Diane Arbus, Katharina Bosse, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt, Arthur „Weegee“ Fellig, Bruce Gilden, Nan Goldin, F.C. Gundlach, Esther Haase, David Hockney, Thomas Hoepker, Barry Kay, Peter Keetman, Barbara Klemm, Lisette Model, Martin Munkácsi, Martin Parr, Joel Sternfeld et al.

Leisure activities are a topic that constantly occupies us all. Just do nothing? Impossible! Our lives have become more hectic and intense, and not just since the coronavirus pandemic. We are confronted with ever more exciting, adventurous and exotic leisure activities everywhere. The pressure to keep up and supposedly have to is enormous. Leisure time has gone from being a time to relax after work to a clocked through mass phenomenon. At peak times after work, at weekends and on public holidays, beaches, swimming pools, sports studios, cinemas and parks are bursting at the seams. Everyone is striving for maximum relaxation, self-optimization and the greatest possible distance from everyday life.

A DAY OFF at f³ – freiraum für fotografie visualizes the manifestations of our leisure culture with a wink: people feast, sizzle, smoke, sweat and work out as much as they can. Some scenes are no longer imaginable today. Others are similar: then, as now, people soaked up the sun, watched the latest film in the cinema, danced or played bingo together. Through the lens of some of the world’s most renowned photographers, we gain an insight into how our leisure behavior has changed over the past hundred years.

The exhibition was curated by Natalja Aljasova. Concept: Natalja Aljasova and Jasmin Seck.

The F.C. Gundlach Collection
For many decades, F.C. Gundlach, himself one of the most important fashion photographers in the Federal Republic of Germany, collected photography and amassed one of the most important private photography collections in the country. The focus is the image of man in photography. Under this title, around 9,000 photographic works from the collection have been on permanent loan to the House of Photography in the southern Deichtorhalle in Hamburg since 2005. In addition, many other types and genres of photography were and are part of the F.C. Gundlach Collection, some of which can be seen as collection themes in their own right. Even after the collector’s death, the F.C. Gundlach Foundation continues to add large collections of individual photographers and archives, which are preserved and processed.

In cooperation with

Image: Fish and Chips with the Queen, London 2018 © Esther Haase
[F.C. Gundlach Collection, F.C. Gundlach Foundation + House of Photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg]