Georg Petermichl - Universal thoughts: Least common multiple

‍

Photography as a social instrument

In his exhibition, Georg Petermichl (born 1980 in Linz) focuses on photography as a social and psychological instrument. Starting with the smallest personal cosmos—his own family and circle of friends—he broadens his perspective to encompass larger contexts such as mass tourism, collective longings, and shared cultural practices. Central groups of works in the exhibition revolve around the family archive as well as photographic studies in which Petermichl explores leisure practices—for example, through photographs of tourist destinations where crowds move according to clear, almost choreographed patterns. He is less interested in moral judgment than in close observation: How do collective rituals arise? When does the individual emerge from the crowd?
Enlarged photographs from private photo albums reveal family not only as a biographical origin, but also as a projection surface for memory, authority, and closeness.

‍

‍

‍

‍

Photography as a social instrument

‍In his exhibition, Georg Petermichl (born 1980 in Linz) focuses on photography as a social and psychological instrument. Starting with the smallest personal cosmos—his own family and circle of friends—he broadens his perspective to encompass larger contexts such as mass tourism, collective longings, and shared cultural practices. Central groups of works in the exhibition revolve around the family archive as well as photographic studies in which Petermichl explores leisure practices—for example, through photographs of tourist destinations where crowds move according to clear, almost choreographed patterns. He is less interested in moral judgment than in close observation: How do collective rituals arise? When does the individual emerge from the crowd? Enlarged photographs from private photo albums reveal family not only as a biographical origin, but also as a projection surface for memory, authority, and closeness.

‍

Looking at the familiar in a new light

An exhibition unfolds across photography, film, objects, and installations, exploring photography as a medium for social relationships. The exhibition invites visitors to reinterpret seemingly familiar images as expressions of shared longings, common rules, and a "lowest common multiple" that connects individual experience with social reality. It investigates what motivates people, how memories are formed, and the role photographs play as vehicles of identity, projection, and social reality.