»Motifs of abandonment and oblivion«
DIE ZEIT
The Düsseldorfer Fotoschule is still one of the most influential artistic movements in photography today. Its representative Laurenz Berges was one of the last master students taught by Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie. The asphalt Festival is now showing the first institutional solo exhibition of the internationally renowned photo artist in Düsseldorf, with works from the past 25 years and a selection of completely new, previously unseen works. Laurenz Berges documents places that have been abandoned. He only uses natural light and resolutely avoids staging. His pictures are silent testimonies to social upheaval, in particular the structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia. Formerly vivid towns and communities are losing part of their population, important social, economic, educational and cultural centres are no longer in operation, private homes are often abandoned, first temporarily and then permanently, without a new generation moving in. People are almost never seen in Laurenz Berges’ photographs, but he uncovers the traces they left behind over the years before their disappearance. Amid the unique architecture of the KIT, a visual archive unfolds that makes the quiet echo of lived life visible. The exhibition is accompanied by extraordinary musical performances.
Laurenz Berges (*1966 in Cloppenburg) studied at the Folkwang University in Essen and at the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie. His works are exhibited internationally in museums and are part of major collections. Exactly ten years ago in 2016, asphalt held the exhibition »Epilogue« with his photographs on display at the Weltkunstzimmer. Laurenz Berges lives and works in Düsseldorf.
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What the press says:
»The photographic artist elicits from what remains and reports on how things once were (…) photographs of austere clarity that lead seamlessly into an enchanting melancholy.«
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Berges’ flair for composition and colour is striking.«
Photonews
»In his photos, it looks as if something is evaporating, something is vanishing. They capture a state between holding and fading.«
kultur.west
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A production by Laurenz Berges in co-production with the asphalt Festival, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of RKP »Democracy: Democracy!« and by Kunststiftung NRW
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Fotos: Laurenz Berges, Nils Hendrik Zündorf
