If you had told legends like Lauryn Hill, Biggie or the Beastie Boys that hip hop would one day be featured in a museum, they probably would have laughed. How could a movement born from music, graffiti and fashion in the 1970s Bronx possibly be expressed within the confines of four white walls? Yet today, hip hop is a billion-dollar industry, and its story can be told through various media. This is precisely what the exhibition “Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious” sets out to do. The creators trace the rise of hip hop as a cultural form through images, texts and beats, all in an engaging and accessible way, without “museumization.”
The exhibition features over 200 photographs by renowned documentary photographers like Martha Cooper and Janette Beckman, showcasing industry icons — sometimes striking a pose, other times revealing their vulnerability. In Berlin, this traveling exhibition, previously shown in New York and Stockholm, will be expanded with a special chapter: visitors can discover who exactly made German rap big and what influences have persisted from past to present. The exhibition kicks off on 20.09.2024 with an opening party, where only the classics will be played.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Christian Witkin, Henry Chalfant & Jesse Frohman
Fotografiska Berlin, Oranienburger Str.54, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map
Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious presented by Fotografiska and Mass Appeal 20.09.2024–26.01.2025. Opening Party on 20.09.2024.
@fotografiska.berlin
