Polish-born photographer Andrzej Steinbach is currently showcasing his latest work at the Museum for Photography in Braunschweig, Germany, presenting what he calls "extended human portraits" that challenge traditional documentary photography. The exhibition, titled "Andrzej Steinbach: Here," runs through November 30 and features a comprehensive selection from the artist's 13-year body of work, including the German debut of his newest series "Extensions" from 2024.
Steinbach's approach to photography has consistently been characterized as strict and methodical, deliberately resisting immediate interpretation. His earlier black-and-white photo series, including "Figure I, Figure II" from 2015 and "Society Begins with Three" from 2017, featured strong, serious-looking individuals positioned as neutral figures rather than emphasized individuals. These generic representatives would change their clothing or position within carefully arranged, neutral spaces, with accompanying publications offering no explanatory text whatsoever.
Born in Poland in 1983, Steinbach grew up in Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) in East Germany, completed his photography studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig in 2013, and currently lives in Berlin. While he describes his photographic approach as documentary, his work deliberately moves away from the narrative density of traditional portraiture and avoids documenting social milieus or the societal status of personalities. Instead, he recognizes that the era of homogeneous social systems that once motivated reference figures like August Sander or Walker Evans has given way to modern pluralism and fluid, fragmented social structures.
Steinbach's aesthetic ambition involves reducing elements as much as possible, testing whether anything can still be seen at all. He references Walter Benjamin, who characterized Sander's portraits as "an exercise atlas for the eyes." By contrasting the clarity of his photography with a wide interpretive space for what is seen, Steinbach leaves meaning entirely to the viewers. This philosophical approach became even more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented him from continuing to arrange human figures in his studio.
The pandemic period marked a significant evolution in Steinbach's work as he began exploring how people could be represented through objects that reference their work - what he terms "extended human portraits." He disassembled his old mechanical typewriter, which he calls "a meaning-making apparatus," and photographed its individual components in 14 shots. These included delicate arms of the type carriers and mysterious objects that revealed themselves to be the understructure of the space bar. The staging is conceived as an open, artisanal system where viewers can see the edge of the photograph, and large-format prints hang loosely in their frames.
Steinbach also discovered macro photography, typically favored by amateur photographers, for a series focusing on tools. He exploits photography's wealth of detail, charging old pliers or nails like fetishes with their erotic character, working in color for the first time. The current Braunschweig exhibition presents these tool photographs alongside his human figure work, creating a dialogue between different approaches to representation.
The museum's exhibition marks the first time in Germany that excerpts from Steinbach's latest work group, "Extensions" from 2024, are on display. In this newest series, serious figures reappear in relationship with objects such as craftsman's tools or computers - extensions of human capability. Steinbach operates playfully with art historical references, including images like a bicycle rim on a stool that viewers might find somehow familiar, suggesting connections to art history while maintaining his commitment to open interpretation.
After its run in Braunschweig, the exhibition will travel to Kunsthalle Erfurt and Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, bringing Steinbach's unique approach to documentary photography to international audiences. His work continues to challenge viewers to find their own meaning in carefully constructed yet deliberately ambiguous photographic scenarios.
