What happens when photographers and artists incorporate hobbies into their work as a means of challenging established practices and hierarchies? How do hobbyists represent their passions photographically, not least today in our era of digital communication? The Hobbyist is the first major exhibition to explore the relationship between photography and hobby culture, in connection both to the photographing of hobbies and to photography as a hobby. From the hippy cultures and avant-garde tendencies of the 1960s’ through the 1980s’ DIY movement to today’s maker movement, The Hobbyist explores photography’s engagement with a wide variety of lively, often quirky obsessions. The book, which appears in a magazine format, brings together interviews with artists, short anecdotal texts, and in-depth essays. The Hobbyist is published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at the Fotomuseum Winterthur (9 September 2017 – 28 January 2018). The exhibition The Hobbyist is curated by Pierre Hourquet, Anna Planas, and Thomas Seelig with artworks by Chris Burden, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, Stephanie Kiwitt, Mike Mandel, NEOZOON, Lotte Reimann, Bill Owens, and others.

Text: Thilo König, Evgeny Morozov, NEOZOON, Therese Steffen, a. o.