How do we live today? Around 100 world-renowned photographers document collective existence in our societies and the traces we leave on the planet.
In a panorama of impressive images, the exhibition offers a multilayered snapshot of our civilization. 
Progress, freedoms, conventions, and crises: Never before have so many people inhabited the Earth at the same time. In modern societies, our lives together are denser, more diverse, and more fast-paced than ever. Despite our varied lifestyles, there are key events, inventions, and experiences that connect us – whether consciously or unconsciously.
The exhibition Civilization captures similarities and differences in striking photographs. Viewed through the lenses of around 100 world-renowned photographers, it reveals a multilayered picture of contemporary societies and cultures heavily influenced by Western civilization. A selection of both artistic and documentary images display achievements as well as the darker sides of life today, shedding light on its defining aspects. Family, leisure, work, and consumption are juxtaposed with themes such as alienation, crime, environmental destruction, social breakdown, and war. The result is a familiar and yet surprising snapshot of our civilization, expressed in the language of photography.

The exhibition has been co-produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis / Paris / Lausanne, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, in collaboration with the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. 

Photographers participating in the exhibition:
Max Aguilera-Hellweg, US; Andreia Alves de Oliveira, PT; Lena Amuat & Zoë Meyer, CH; Murray Ballard, GB; Olivo Barbieri, IT; Mandy Barker, GB; Olaf Otto Becker, DE; Valérie Belin, FR; Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, CH; Priscilla Briggs, US; Edward Burtynsky, CA; Alejandro Cartagena, MX; Philippe Chancel, FR; Lynne Cohen, US/CA; Lois Conner, US; Cortis & Sonderegger, CH; Raphaël Dallaporta, FR; Alessandro Della Bella, CH; Gerco de Ruijter, NL; Richard de Tscharner, CH; Natan Dvir, IL; Roger Eberhard, CH; Mitch Epstein, US; Ruth Erdt, CH; Andrew Esiebo, NG; Adam Ferguson, AU; Vincent Fournier, FR; Andy Freeberg, US; Matthieu Gafsou, CH; Andreas Gefeller, DE; George Georgiou, GB; Christoph Gielen, DE; Ashley Gilbertson, DE; Lauren Greenfield, US; Han Sungpil, KR; Nick Hannes, BE; Sean Hemmerle, US; Mishka Henner, BE/FR/GB; Candida Höfer, DE; Hong Hao, CN; Qingjun Huang, CH; Jo Choonman, KR; Chris Jordan, US; Mike Kelley, US; Kim Taedong, KR; Irene Kung, CH/CA; Benny Lam, HK; Gjorgji Lichovski, MK; Michael Light, US; Mauricio Lima, BR; Sheng-Wen Lo, TW; Pablo López Luz, MX; Christian Lünig, DE; David Maisel, US; Alex Majoli, IT; Ann Mandelbaum, US; Edgar Martins, GB; Gideon Mendel, ZA; Jeffrey Milstein, US; Mintio, SG; Richard Mosse, IE; Michael Najjar, DE; Walter Niedermayr, IT; Simon Norfolk, GB; Cara Phillips, US; Robert Polidori, CA/FR/US; Sergey Ponomarev, RU; Cyril Porchet, CH; Mark Power, GB; Giles Price, GB; Reiner Riedler, AU; Tim Rod, CH; Andrew Rowat, CA; Gregor Sailer, AT; Victoria Sambunaris, US; Claudia Schildknecht, CH; Dona Schwartz, US; Corina Schwingruber Ilić, CH; Toshio Shibata, JP; Henrik Spohler, DE; Will Steacy, US; Thomas Struth, DE; Larry Sultan, US; Kaspar Thalmann, CH; Danila Tkachenko, RU; Amalia Ulman, AR; Penelope Umbrico, US; Carlo Valsecchi, IT; Cássio Vasconcellos, BR; Reginald Van de Velde, BE; Massimo Vitali, IT; Robert Walker, CA; Dougie Wallace, GB; Wang Qingsong, CN; Patrick Weidmann, CH; Michael Wolf, DE; Paolo Woods & Gabriele Galimberti, NL/IT; Xing Danwen, CN; Ahmad Zamroni, ID; Luca Zanier, IT; Zhang Xiao, CN; Robert Zhao Renhui, SG; Francesco Zizola, IT