Citizens and Leaders: A Century of Iconic Presidential Campaign Photography by The Associated Press

Elections today may be decided online in social networks, but ultimately it is not the verbal pleas, argumentative abbreviations and slogans used there that make a president successful; in the end - especially in the US presidential election campaign - it is images that decide. The always highly emotional spectacle of "presidential campaigning" is presented in a captivating and comprehensive way in this iconic picture show by the Associated Press. With a 170-year history and a record 31 Pulitzer Prizes for photography, no news organization has covered American politics and presidential campaigns as comprehensively as The Associated Press.
This exhibition, shown for the first time in Europe at the Carl Schurz House, opens up a view of an entire century of US politics. Between Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and Donald Trump in 2016, Calvin Coolidge can be found in a complete cowboy look, John F. Kennedy in a shower of confetti and Barack Obama, almost completely hidden, in the bath of the enthusiastic crowd of his voters. The title of the exhibition focuses on precisely this aspect and invites visitors to view the relationship between "citizens" and "leaders" in the USA from a historical perspective.

Free admission
Event language: German
In cooperation with The Associated Press & Longwood Center for the Arts at Longwood University, Virginia