Lucia Moholy: Exposures - Exhibition by Prof. Dr Jordan Troeller at the Kunsthalle Praha

Over the course of her career, the Prague-born writer and artist Lucia Moholy published more than 600 photographs, microfilms, letters, articles and books. She was involved in the Bauhaus movement of the 1920s, had to flee Berlin in 1933, found a connection in London by founding a portrait studio, worked for UNESCO as a "technical specialist" in microfilm in Turkey and became a central figure in art in Zurich in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Her career spans seven decades," explains Jordan Troeller, "and deals with issues of photography as well as cultural heritage and library science. But this breadth is very often reduced to the now iconic photographs she took during her five years at the German Bauhaus. Together with my co-curators Jan Tichy and Meghan Forbes, we wanted to make this range of achievements accessible to a wider audience. Much of her work anticipated challenges we face today, including the role of libraries in the digital age, the dissemination of information through technology and the fragility of historical memory, particularly in the context of war and migration."

The innovative aspect of the exhibition is the embedding of works by contemporary Czech artist Jan Tichy. "This is the element that distinguishes this exhibition from many other presentations of her work: By including film and installation by Jan, we can address material absences as a result of Moholy's exile and the conditions surrounding the fate of her archive. In this way we mobilise artistic practice as a form of curatorial practice. This is an extremely exciting approach to art education, which we also emphasise with students here at Leuphana. Curating under conditions of loss - when material is simply no longer there or has been lost - is an enormous challenge today, as more and more overlooked practitioners are finding public recognition."

The exhibition is organised by the Kunsthalle Praha, in collaboration with the Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur, where it will run from 8 February to 1 June 2025. The exhibition is accompanied by a wide-ranging catalogue, edited by Jordan Troeller, which includes scholarly essays and is published by Hatje Cantz.

Jordan Troeller is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Art History, Aesthetic Practices at the Institute of Fine Arts, Music and Education.