The exhibition “Butoh Photography” sheds light on one of the most important aspects of butoh dance photography: the relationship between model and photographer, between documentation and staging. What significance does the relationship between the photographer and the dancer have for the special aesthetic of the photographs, which goes beyond mere documentation of the performances? Would it even be possible for Butoh to survive without a photographic legacy? The exhibition aims to show that photography is emancipating itself from performance.

With “Butoh Photography”, the Hans Peter Zimmer Foundation is fulfilling two key aspects of its mission, which have been a recurring theme since its establishment in 2009. On the one hand, this is the deep friendship with Japan and the promotion of the spread of Butoh dance, a modern Japanese expressive dance that developed after the end of the Second World War and turned against the Americanization and rationalization of Japanese society. On the other hand, it is an examination of the relationship between performing and visual arts. Works by Japanese photographers Eikoh Hosoe, Mitsutoshi Hanaga, Teijirou Kamiyama and Naoya Ikegami have been acquired for the current exhibition, providing a comprehensive overview of the development of Butoh dance since the 1960s. The pioneers Hosoe and Hanaga characterized a free, photographic view of the choice of motif and composition. The expressive images show the radical play with gender roles and our expectations in striking contrasts of light and dark.

The works of Nourit Masson-Sékiné and Helmut Steinhauser, who both lived in the Butoh scene for many years and accompanied it photographically, provide a further link: The West's view of Japan creates a link to the influences that German expressionist dance of the 1920s had on Butoh.

The themes of the mythical, the invisible and the unspeakable, which Butoh addresses, are reflected in the photography. By concentrating on the body both in the dance action and in the choice of photographic motif, the intellectual legibility of the photographs recedes into the background in favor of an expression that fascinates through the dimensions of darkness, shadow and horror. This depth of expression in dance is transported and preserved through photography. The photographs go far beyond conventional dance documentation: within the exclusive staging for the camera, both in the studio situation as well as in nature and in deserted, urban locations, dance transcends into photography and materializes anew beyond the performance. “Butoh Photography” opens our eyes to this intimate relationship between Butoh dance and Butoh photography.