From Brexit to the presidential contest in the USA, elections increasingly lead to a vote that results in a stand-off. The prevailing attitudes among political opponents are often so entrenched that mediation is almost impossible. Living in homogeneous groups, as encouraged by segregation and social media, has caused our awareness of the social dimensions we inhabit to dwindle by masking the very things that constitute modern societies: diversity, friction, and the need for communication. In the exhibition and accompanying catalogue the 8th f/stop Festival for Photography Leipzig, curated by Spector Books’ publishers Anne König and Jan Wenzel, explores the question of how photography can be a medium of democratic and social mediation. 8th f / stop Festival for Photography Leipzig, Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig and various locations around the city, 22 June – 1 July 2018). Contributions: Paula Bulling, Forensic Architecture, Nicolas Giraud, Susanne Kriemann, Elisabeth Neudörfel, Andreas Rost, Andrzej Steinbach, Bertrand Stofleth, a.o.