the european biennial of contemporary art
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artists

Walter Niedermayr

1952, Bolzano / Bozen, IT Lives in Bolzano / Bozen, IT

Raumfolgen 20 (Space Con / Sequences 20), 2001 Photographs, diptych, 128 × 325 cm

BOLZANO/BOZEN

Raumfolgen_20_2001_opt

“Interior spaces of hospitals seen from canonical perspectives, the point of view not directed at any particular procedures or people but almost machine-like at the spaces. In this way the spaces take on the character of assembly halls, it’s as if people only appear in the frames by coincidence. The cool colors radiate a sort of uncanniness, similar to the impression one gets from modernist spaces on second glance. As with the mountain photographs, under-exposure fragments and simplifies the entire image. In art, landscapes and spaces always have a function of projection, they convey longing and thus, are places of repression. There are no longer projection surfaces, only artificiality devoid of soul; a laboratory that seems to operate on its own. Niedermayr presents his works as series, thus distancing himself quite consciously from the kind of photography that seeks to simulate the panel painting. No secret is made here about technical reproducibility, the medium itself takes on something machine-like, menacing. The photographs hold the knowledge that they are not a simple reality we can fill with our fantasies.” (From Martin Prinzhorn, The Sleight of Hand of Repression)
Since 1985, Walter Niedermayr has produced a number of large photographic series, often displayed as multi-panel works. Whether his subjects are Alpine landscapes or contemporary highways, his work questions the perception of space and invites the spectator to seek what is forgotten amid speed and achievement.


Location

BOLZANO/BOZEN

RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE: "THE REST OF NOW"

EX ALUMIX, VIA VOLTA 11, I-39100 BOLZANO/BOZEN, ITALY

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