Oct 11 – Nov 01, 2025
Projektbüro DFI e.V., Eiskellerberg 1, 40213 Düsseldorf

“Los Angeles, it is said, is the most photographed city in the world — but it’s one of the least photogenic. It’s not Paris or New York.”

This is how the voice-over begins in Thom Andersen’s film Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003). The city appears as a site of projection: Hollywood’s stage, the universal metropolis that on screen can pass for Texas, Switzerland, China, or ancient Rome. Andersen assembles sequences from a wide range of films — from Nobody Lives Forever (1946) through Blade Runner (1982) to The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) — while the narration continues: “Of course I know movies are not about places — they’re about stories. If we notice the location, we’re not really watching the movie.”

How does the built environment steer the photographic gaze — and how does photography shape the image of the city?

With the exhibition Towards the City by Katja Stuke, Oliver Sieber, and Ryudai Takano, the photographic image of urban space takes center stage. Works from Paris and Tokyo are on view.