Laurenz Berges (born Cloppenburg, 1966) is a German photographer.[1][2] He graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf as Master Student under Bernd Becher in 1996.[3][4] Berges' work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York[5] and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[6]
Work
Berges' photographic work focuses primarily on transience. Between 1991 and 1995, Berges photographed the interiors of East German barracks that had been abandoned by the Red Army after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In his book Etzweile, Berges documented Etzweiler, the district of Elsdorf that had to make way for open-pit lignite mining.[7] For years, the artist also photographed wastelands in the de-industrialized city of Duisburg. Berges finds his subjects in the urban gray areas: It is details from abandoned apartments, vacated houses, and overgrown gardens that interest him and that he makes the subject of a poetic, yet strictly documentary pictorial composition. In view of these photographs from the no-man's land between use and decay, recent past and foreseeable future, one could almost speak of the photographic equivalent of Arte Povera.[8]
Publications
Books of work by Berges
- Fotografien 1991–1995. Schirmer/Mosel, 2000. ISBN 978-3-88814-931-3. With a text by Ulrich Bischoff.
- Etzweiler. Schirmer/Mosel, 2005. ISBN 978-3-8296-0176-4. With a text by Michael Lentz.
- Frühauf – Danach. Schirmer/Mosel, 2011. ISBN 978-3-8296-0538-0. With a text by Thomas Weski.[9]
- Cloppenburg. Kunstkreis, 2010. Edited by Barbara Hofmann-Johnson. ISBN 978-3-96098-526-6. Texts in English and German.
Publications with contributions by Berges
- The Düsseldorf School of Photography. New York: Aperture, 2010. Germany: Schirmer/Mosel, 2010. Edited by Stefan Gronert. Includes work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Berges, Elger Esser, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Simone Nieweg, Thomas Ruff, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Struth, and Petra Wunderlich; a foreword by Lothar Schirmer, an essay by Gronert, and summary biographies, exhibition lists and bibliographies for each of the photographers. ISBN 978-1-59711-136-2.[10][11]
Collections
Berges' work is held in the following public collections:
- Museum of Modern Art, New York: 2 prints (as of December 2020)[5]
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California: 2 prints (as of December 2020)[6]
References
- ↑ Hoffmans, Christiane (19 March 2015). "Was von der Gemütlichkeit übrig bleibt". Die Welt. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ Dirksen, Jens (10 February 2020). "Laurenz Berges' liebevolle Bilder von traurigen Revierszenen". www.wp.de. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ Lange, Gabriele Conrath-Scholl and Susanne (20 July 2007). "Obituary: Bernd Becher". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ Bischoff, Ulrich (5 December 2013). "Rooms Made out of Light and History". Laurenz Berges. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- 1 2 "Laurenz Berges". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- 1 2 "Berges, Laurenz". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ Weckesser, Markus (2020-03-23). "In den Transitzonen". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 16. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- ↑ Ulrike Westphal (October 2011). "Laurenz Berges: "Frühauf Danach" Zwischen Bewohnbarkeit und Unbehaustheit: Bilder vom Verschwinden" (PDF) (in German). Schirmer/Mosel. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ↑ "Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". Die Zeit. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ "The Düsseldorf School of Photography, Stefan Gronert (ed.)". Collector Daily. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
- ↑ Colberg, Jörg. "Review: The Düsseldorf School of Photography by Stefan Gronert". Conscientious. Retrieved 2020-12-27.