Adam Broomberg

Adam Broomberg
Portrait of Adam Broomberg
Born	(1970-11-11) 11 November 1970 (age 54) Johannesburg, South Africa
Years active	1986–present
Known for	Artist and human rights defender[1][better source needed]

Adam Broomberg (born November 11, 1970) is a South African artist, art educator, and activist currently based in Berlin, Germany. He is the co-founder and coordinator of the NGO Artists + Allies x Hebron alongside the Palestinian activist Issa Amro.^[2]

Broomberg's work often explores themes of conflict, power, and the representation of truth in contemporary society. He is known for challenging existing power structures and using art as a means of fostering social change. His practice has been described as both provocative and thought-provoking, encouraging viewers to critically examine their perspectives and confront uncomfortable truths.^[3]

Adam Broomberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up during the Apartheid era, a time of intense racial segregation and political unrest. This politically charged environment profoundly influenced his worldview and later artistic practice. Growing up in a society defined by systemic inequality and oppression shaped his awareness of social injustices and fueled his commitment to challenging dominant narratives through his work.^[4]

Broomberg attended the University of Cape Town for his initial studies before completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art at the University of Witwatersrand in 1998.^[5]

His education in South Africa during the post-apartheid transition further informed his critical perspective on power dynamics and representation, themes that would become central to his artistic practice.^[6]

Broomberg has held various academic positions and continues to teach internationally.

From 2015 to 2021, he was a professor of photography at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg, Germany. However, his tenure ended due to his outspoken support for Palestinian rights, a stance that sparked controversy and led to his dismissal.^[7]

Broomberg is also a faculty member of the Photography & Society program at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, a course he co-designed to address the intersection of visual culture and social issues. His commitment to education extends beyond formal academia; he frequently leads workshops and lectures at international institutions, emphasizing art's role in fostering critical thinking and activism.^[8]

In the early 2000s, Adam Broomberg formed a creative partnership with fellow artist Oliver Chanarin, who was born in London in 1971.^[9] Together, they became known as the artistic duo **Broomberg & Chanarin**. Their work is celebrated for its intellectual rigor, technical innovation, and its ability to provoke meaningful dialogue about contemporary issues.

Their most notable achievement was winning the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2013 for their publication War Primer 2, a critical reworking of Bertolt Brecht’s original War Primer.^[10]

Their collaborations spanned over two decades, producing several critically acclaimed projects, exhibitions, and publications. Their work has been displayed in prestigious institutions, including Tate Modern, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Victoria and Albert Museum.^[11]

In 2021, they concluded their partnership with a retrospective exhibition in Barcelona, marking what they described as a "creative suicide".^[12]

At the age of 16, Adam Broomberg co-founded a political organisation called \"Linx\" in South Africa alongside other young students, including Yaël Farber. The group aimed to conscientise young white South Africans about the realities of Apartheid and foster political awareness among the youth.

In 2013, Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin \"spent a month in South Africa\" to highlight the racial bias in photographic technology during the Apartheid era. They used decades-old film engineered primarily for white faces to create their work.^[13] They employed Polaroid's vintage ID-2 camera, which included a \"boost\" button to increase the flash intensity, allowing it to photograph black people for the notorious passbooks, or \"dompas,\" used by the state to control their movements.

Another collaborative project with Oliver Chanarin, Spirit is a Bone, critiques facial recognition technology, particularly in Russia. The project examines how photographed faces, stripped of context and interaction, become mere digital equivalents of death masks, highlighting the dehumanizing effects of such technologies.^[14]

In 2016, ahead of the Brexit referendum, Broomberg and Chanarin designed and sold ethically made t-shirts bearing the slogan \"Baby It’s Cold Outside.\"^[15] The slogan, a reference to the 1940s eponymous Christmas song, served as a protest against a potential exit from the European Union. Reflecting on his global identity, Broomberg said, \"My family escaped Europe before the Holocaust, I grew up in Africa, I learnt to be an artist in Italy, and I’ve lived in England for 20 years. I feel at home in the world.”^[16]

In 2016, Broomberg criticised the art market for continuing \"business as usual\" following the election of Donald Trump. To counter modern fascism, he created \"Hands off our Revolution,\" a collaborative web-based art project involving artists, thinkers, and researchers.^[17] The project’s manifesto stated, “This time, the threat, in the form of Donald Trump’s ‘whitelash’ fascism, is not just apparent in the United States. Trump’s election has emboldened the right wing throughout the world.”

Founded by Broomberg, this initiative focuses on the surveillance methods used by Israeli authorities to monitor Palestinians in and around Hebron. Often dubbed \"Facebook for Palestinians,\" this surveillance relies heavily on facial recognition technology.^[18] The initiative repurposed this technology in a project called \"Counter-Surveillance: H2,\" which aimed to protect the olive harvest instead of surveilling Palestinian communities.^{[19][better source needed]}

In February 2023, Broomberg defended himself in an article in Die Zeit^[20] against allegations of antisemitism made by Stefan Hensel, Hamburg's commissioner against antisemitism.^[21] Broomberg expressed fears for his safety in Germany and defended his support for the BDS movement.

In 2021, Broomberg spoke out in an article in taz^[22] against the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK), which ended its collaboration with him after he identified the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as \"apartheid.\" He also called on artists to boycott the Zabludowicz Art Trust, citing its alleged funding from Israeli arms industries.^[23][24]

In May 2023, Broomberg was arrested by German police at a Jewish-led Nakba commemoration in Berlin.^[25]

• The Late Estate Broomberg & Chanarin, Fabra i Coats Centre d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain^[26]

• Woe from Wit, Synthesis Gallery, Berlin, Germany^[27]

• Broomberg & Chanarin: Divine Violence, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France^[28]
• Fig-futures, WEEK 3 / Broomberg & Chanarin, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, UK^[29]
• Bandage the Knife, Not the Wound, Nogueras Blanchard Gallery, Madrid, Spain^[30]
• Bandage the Knife, Not the Wound, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa^[31]

• Not for Publication and Sale in Iran, Ag Galerie, Tehran, Iran^[32]
• The Bureaucracy of Angels (commission), Kings Cross St. Pancras, Art on the Underground – TfL, London, UK^[33]
• Trace Evidence, Lisson Gallery, Milan, Italy^[34]

• Don’t Start With The Good Old Things But The Bad New Ones, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany^[35]

• Every Piece of Dust on Freud's Couch, Freud Museum, London, UK^[36]
• Rudiments, Lisson Gallery, London, UK^[37]
• People in Trouble Laughing Pushed to the Ground, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, UK^[38]
• To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands^[39]
• Divine Violence, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa^[40]

• Humans and Other Animals (monograph), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Tate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-849763-67-7
• Spirit is a Bone (monograph), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, MACK, London, UK. ISBN 978-1-910164-18-1.

In addition to his collaborative projects, Broomberg has worked and has exhibited internationally. His photographs often evoke a sense of intimacy and vulnerability, encouraging viewers to confront uncomfortable truths and question established norms.^{[citation needed]} His solo exhibitions have been held in galleries and institutions worldwide, including the Tate Modern in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. His work is included in the collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Listed below are the most recent:^[41]

• (2022) Adam Broomberg "Glitter in My Wounds" @ Signs and Symbols, New York, USA^[42]
• (2021) Matthew Krouse, Kunsthallo, London, UK^[43]
• (2020) Bureaucracy of Angels (online), signs and symbols, New York, USA^[44]

• Anchor in the Landscape (book), with Rafael Gonzalez, MACK books ISBN 978-1-915743-55-5

• Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art (book), edited by Rebecca Morrill, Phaidon Press: London & New York ISBN 978-1-838665-57-9

• Rubin, Birgitta, "Fantasieggande vårprogram på Magasin III" (Imaginative spring program at Magasin III), Dagens Nyheter, March 1

• Ruka, Elīna, "The (art) world of Adam Broomberg," FK Magazine, October 6
• Phearse, Terrence, "Adam Broomberg: Rare and Bare", Musée Magazine, Issue No. 27, June 2022 signs and symbols | New York, New York | www.signsandsymbols.art
• Sanchez, Gabriel H., "The Camera Bag: Great Photography to See Now", PhotoSpark, January 25
• Glitter in My Wounds, signs and symbols, New York, New York ISBN 978-1-913620-36-3
• Capone, Emily, ”EXHIBITION REVIEW: Adam Broomberg with CAConrad and Gersande Spelsberg” Musée Magazine, January 12

• Glitter in My Wounds (monograph), Adam Broomberg + CAConrad + Gersande Spelsberg, MACK, London, UK. ISBN 978-1-913620-36-3

• Benjamin und Brecht: Thinking in Extremes (catalog), Akademie der Künste
• Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration (book), Ellen Mara De Wachter, Phaidon. ISBN 978-0-714872-88-9
• Das Gesicht: Bilder, Medien, Format (catalog), Deutsche Hygiene-Museum, Dresden
• In/Visible War: The Culture of War in Twenty-First-Century America (book), Rutgers University Press
• Photography And Collaboration: From Conceptual Art To Crowdsourcing (book), Daniel Palmer, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350008-31-1
• Yokohama Triennale: Islands (catalog), Constellations & Galapagos

• Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph (book), Geoffrey Batchen, The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and DelMonico Books – Prestel. ISBN 978-3-791355-04-7
• Il y a de l'autre (catalog), Julie Jones and Agnés Geoffrey, RM/JUMEX
• Watched: Surveillance, Art and Photography (catalog), Cornerhouse Publications

• Art & Religion in the 21st Century (book), Aaron Rosen, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500293-03-4
• Art in the Age of... (catalog), Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art
• COLORS: A Book About a Magazine About the Rest of the World (book), Damiani / Fabrica. ISBN 978-8-862084-24-6
• Perspectives on Place: Theory and Practice in Landscape Photography (book), J.A.P Alexander, Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-472533-89-0
• Rudiments (catalog), Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle

Throughout his career, Broomberg has received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the field of contemporary art.

• Photo Text Book Award at the Arles Photo Festival, Arles, France (together w. Chanarin)^[45]

• Infinity Award, International Center of Photography, New York, New York (together w. Chanarin)^[46]

• Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, The Photographers Gallery, London, UK (together w. Chanarin)^[47]

• Vic Odden Award, Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK (together w. Chanarin)^[48]

• Official website
• Collaboration with Oliver Chanarin