From March 28 to June 6, 2026, Camera Work Gallery presents the group exhibition Peel off. With over 100 unique pieces by sixteen renowned artists, the exhibition is dedicated to the history of the legendary instant photograph. Among the works from the early 1970s to the present day, many of which were created on the sets of famous photo shoots, are rare large format works by Peter Beard, Michel Comte, and Olaf Heine.

Instant photography was significantly influenced by Herbert Erwin Land and the Polaroid company. Land introduced the first instantly-developable photographic paper system in 1947 and later made it known worldwide with the Polaroid company. The patented development process established itself in professional photography as an important creative tool and was crucial for checking lighting and composition on set. The visible development time of the image, which was completed manually by peeling off the development sheets, reinforced the perception of the photographic process and its performative character. Each instant image is a physically unique piece that remains directly linked to the moment it was created.

The exhibition shows instant images that reached their peak between the 1970s and 2000s as part of the artistic creative process before being supplanted by digital photography. However, they never completely lost their relevance. Works by Helmut Newton from the 1970s and by Arthur Elgort and Patrick Demarchelier from the 1990s demonstrate the importance of instant photography for the composition of a photographic work. In addition, the signs of wear and tear and the special aesthetics of the images are perceived as a characteristic stylistic device that reflects an intimate and more immediate atmosphere and documents the working processes of artists such as Eugenio Recuenco and Jean-Baptiste Huynh in a unique way. At the same time, instant photography developed as an independent artistic medium with which entire series were photographically realized. Since the 2010s, instant photography has been experiencing a renaissance that underscores a longing for analog, decelerated imaging processes. Thanks to its special artistic characteristics, instant photography has been a relevant subject on the primary and secondary photographic art market for many years, sometimes fetching top prices.