Malte Sänger is interested in the traces people leave behind in their lives. His latest photographic work, CHARISMA, is based on the discovery of a can of tinned fish. In addition to the standardized code of origin, he also found the name of the fishing vessel CHARISMA on it. It turned out that the batch from which the can came was the last one the ship brought ashore before any further trace of the vessel‘s whereabouts disappeared in the vast North Sea. Suddenly, the mass product of an exploitative consumption became the relic of the last signs of human life. 

In his work "Partition", which will be shown in its entirety for the first time in this exhibition, Malte Sänger shows photographs of 19 hard drives that he bought at commodity prices. Restored, the hard drives turned into a treasure trove for the private, for worries, hardships, e-mails, sexual fantasies, medical findings — information of an immense quality that fundamentally opposes the trivial materiality of the data carrier. 

Malte Sänger (born 1987) studied photography at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach with Martin Liebscher and philosophy and aesthetics with Juliane Rebentisch (Diploma 2018). He is a 2018/19 prize winner for "Gute Aussichten - New German Photography". In 2015 he received the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and HfG Award. For his book "Shifting Baselines" he was awarded the German Photo Book Prize 2018/19 in silver. 

Malte Sänger’s works can already be found in various collections, including the Art Collection of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and the Klingspor Museum Offenbach. He has also been awarded various scholarships and residencies, such as the Johannes Mosbach Foundation and the Frankfurter Künstlerhilfe, a catalogue grant from the Dr. Marschner Foundation, the second prize of the Marianne Brandt Competition, and the Casa Piccola Residency in Colloro, Italy, 2018.