What role do images play for our memory? Which images become part of our collective memory? How do image politics define, how societal and oftentimes tragic events are being remembered and understood? The current power of images and policies, which operate on the social and aesthetic visual memory and contribute to the understanding of culture and current events, are at the heart of the show “Image Wars. Power of Images.” The exhibition explores questions concerning memory and collective perception with the aid of video-artworks. In the face of the flood of images that we are confronted with on a daily basis on- and offline, we would like to talk about the influence of images on society and culture from the perspective of photography. The photographer Florian Rainer has dealt with the power of images already in several photo-series. The series “Transitions” (2010–17) deals with the metaphoric power of images and the potentials of photography. In the series “Fluchtwege” (escape routes) (2015) he pointed his camera at those aspects of the refugee movement from 2015 that have mostly been overlooked; from a combination of photography, media reports and found footage from social media, he created a contemporary document of public discourse.

Florian Rainer (*1982 Leoben, lives in Vienna) is a photographer. He works as portrait and reportage photographer for national and international magazines. His works have been presented in numerous books. Moreover, he concentrates on his artistic projects. Rainer’s work is defined by his conscious dealing with photography and an often sociological view on people. Recently he has published the book “Grauzone” (gray area), which explores how people deal with existential crises along the frontline of the Donbass. His works were presented in numerous group- and solo-exhibitions in Vienna and abroad.