About us

The Colour red stands for lust of life, energy, activity, solidarity and a particular political view. It also stands for opposition, protest and alternative views of life. Red stands for the movement of the working population, the historical labour movement and for a critical view of society. Red binds us together. In most European languages, red begins with ‘r’: rouge, red, rot, rosso, rojo. That’s why we have chosen the red, capital ‘R’ for our name – because it fits well with who we are. The red ‘R’ works with us as a modern archive for pictures and film.

We want to challenge the mainstream and the dominant picture industry. Arbitrary photography, spare time photography and photography for advertising are a gigantic form of self-deception. They distort the present reality, ignore the real stories of the human beings involved and delete their biographies. That’s why we want to instill a form of unease about the modern picture world in our readers.

R-mediabase is part of the tradition of critical analysis of society and wants to foster a counter-publicity. The aim of R-mediabase is to educate and participate in current political reality. It offers an forum for committed photographers and film makers to publish their work in an environment that is dedicated to political, social and creative photography and other forms of art. R-mediabase is a forum in which those who make media can focus on what is essential and do not get lost in the hype of what is available on the web. Media can be photos, collages, reports, films or exhibitions. Well-known researchers Susan Sontag once said that pictures can help verify the past which would otherwise end immediately in the normal course of time. They therefore become an ‘inventory of mortality’, sometimes even an ‘expert of cruelty’ regarding reality. It is intended that R-mediabase will be turned into a historical archive.

R-mediabase is committed to peace, freedom, equality, solidarity, self-determination, human obligations, and constitutional legality. It is firmly against fascism and the lack of basic and human rights. We publish social, critical and artistic works. R-mediabase rejects material that infringes the law, human rights, contains pornography or any form of discrimination.

R-mediabase provides free access to pictures, documentaries or expositions to charitable organisations, politically active groups, alternative movements and other non-commercial forms of use. The material can be used for commercial purposes so long as the authors benefit from this form of use.

R-mediabase is a charity recognised for tax purposes and a non for profit organisation. We welcome new members and donations.