In its 200th anniversary year, the Kunstverein gallery in Hamburg plays host to a solo show by acclaimed German photographer Wolfgang Tilmans. The artist uses this exhibition to reflect on and build upon his art over the past thirty years and for the first time is not predominantly supported by photography, featuring a series of sound and video installations alongside a number of previously unseen large-format photographs.

Alongside his photography, Tillmans has produced a 4-channel sound piece specifically for the exhibition, which is based on his observation that “when I stand in the large hall, I always distinctly hear the outside world, the streets and train tracks, precisely for the reason that I can’t see them due to the high windows, but only hear them.”

The exhibition, titled Between 1943 and 1973 lay 30 years and 30 years after 1973 was the year 2003, acts as a retrospective with Tillmans recalling the different ways he has perceived and positioned himself as an artist and a photographer. The title of the exhibition reflects key dates in German history: 1943 and 1973 refer to two eras of German history, the German Reich and the old Federal Republic. For Tillman who was born in West Germany in 1968, these are milestones that have defined his own life.

In general, the number 30 plays a big role, since the artist looks back on 30 years of artistic work, discovering parallels and search movements, and recalling the different ways he perceived and positioned himself as an artist. The exhibition’s location itself completes a neat full circle, as Hamburg is where Wolfgang Tillmans exhibited for the first time at the Café Gnosa in 1988. He then began his first professorship at the HfbK Hamburg in 1998, after which the Deichtorhallen showcased his first survey exhibition in 2001.

Wolfgang Tillmans: 1943 and 1973 lay 30 years and 30 years after 1973 was the year 2003 runs at Kunstverein gallery, Hamburg until 12th November 2017.