Frankfurt am Main
"Now I’m starting my life in Frankfurt. I really like it here and feel like this is where I’m supposed to be. I feel like there’s a protective presence by my side at all times…strange. WORK HARD, DON’T LIE, AND TRY NOT TO HURT ANYONE." Excerpt from Tony Rizzi’s diary (September 7, 1985) This quote frames the most comprehensive exhibition to date by the renowned American dancer, choreographer, and photographic artist Tony Rizzi, who has lived and worked in Frankfurt for 40 years. In 2025, he was nominated as Europe’s best dancer in the annual critics’ poll conducted by TANZ magazine. Curated by Prof. Celina Lunsford, artistic director of the FFF, the exhibition brings together early black-and-white photographs, Polaroids, large- and small-format photo collages, videos, and spatial installations spanning several decades of his career. Tony Rizzi’s works are characterized by a bold yet sensitive approach to the medium of photography. His Polaroid collages create unique tableaux exploring the passage of time, the human body, movement, and form—shaped by the same creative principles as his dance: adaptations of repetition, the impulse of intuition, technique, and lived experience. In both self-portraits and expressive, often ironic photographs of family members, lovers, and companions from Frankfurt’s dance and cultural scene, he explores questions of identity, belonging, and self-determination. The exhibition thus spans Rizzi’s entire photographic oeuvre to date: from early black-and-white photographs from the 1980s, through his characteristic Polaroid collages, to large-for
