We are currently witnessing the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago. In the new age of the Anthropocene, humans have become a planetary force, massively altering the biological, geological and atmospheric processes of the earth. Industrial agriculture plays a central role in this: It is one of the main causes of species extinction and the climate crisis, but at the same time suffers massively from the consequences. In our media society, photography has a central role and responsibility in conveying information. It can contribute to enlightenment, touch, provoke and initiate changes. However, the majority of the existing images, which are intended to convey the urgent thematic complex of agriculture and biodiversity, revolve around a few simple and obvious motifs, which are repeated in variants and now appear clichéd and worn out.

The aim of the exhibition project "GIFT - Field Experiments on Agriculture and Biodiversity", which began in spring 2020 and in which eight students and alumni of the Neue Schule für Fotografie are taking part, is to break this cycle of images through an intensive content-related and visual examination of the topic and to create new, to find surprising perspectives. The resulting documentary and artistic photographic works are as complex and varied as the subject itself.