Industrie als Motiv : Industry as a motif

Industrial depiction plays an important role in the collection of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur. A selection of groups of works on the subject will be presented in the group exhibition that reflects the period from the late 19th century to the 1990s. In keeping with technological progress and developments in the area of artistic photography, light will be thrown on a wide range of aspects.

While Peter Weller, who stems from the Westerwald, approached the iron and steel works in the Siegerland under landscape-related, architectural points of view in the late 19th century, in many of her commissioned works for heavy industry Ruth Hallensleben documented key factories, including social institutions. August Sander's little-known portfolio Mensch und Maschine (Man and Machine) expands his typologically arranged portrait art by a reportage-like perspective. In the 1950s and '60s, industrial motifs were also increasingly included in experimental pictorial studies conducted by representatives of "subjective photography."

One photographic approach that was particularly relevant for and is exemplified by Bernd and Hilla Becher is the objective, conceptual documentation of entire facilities, in this case a mine. Claudia Fährenkemper's photographic series on the structure of a bucket-wheel excavator at the Hambach open-pit lignite mine falls into line with this very well in terms of style. Last but not least, Joachim Brohm's photographs from the Industriezeit (Industrial Era) series from 1990 present traces of and references to a past era in the Ruhr district that 100 years prior to that seemed to be firmly established and future-oriented. Source: photography-now.com