Gursky was born in Leipzig, East Germany in 1955. Moving in due course to Dusseldorf, where he still lives and works, he studied under Bernd and Hilla Becher, who made such a significant contribution to the creation of a new type of objectivity in photography. However, he soon distanced himself from their approach, using not only color photography but also a large format. From 1992, he began to make use of digital technology for the production of his photographs.
The compositional aspect always receives careful consideration in his pictures.
Gursky depicts, in their absolute obviousness, urban and human landscapes, group scenes where the tiniest and most enormous objects are visible with identical clarity. His perspective varies enormously; he alternates between dizzying overhead views (Cairo I, 1992) with those taken from head height. Gursky appears to adopt an emotional disengagement from the subject of the photograph, despite always managing to avoid depicting a “mass”, thereby emphasising the wide-ranging role that collective dynamics have assumed in our society, such as the invisible movements of economic transactions that take place on the stock exchange (Hong Kong Stock Exchange, 1994), as well as the existence of geometric and serial forms that occur in nature and architecture (Fortuna, 2000; Shanghai, 2000).
In the same way, despite his acute sense of detail, he succeeds in avoiding any anecdotal intent. The flattening of surfaces in his photos instills in the viewer a sense of exclusion and the focus on details likewise creates estrangement. Gursky thus establishes a distance, making any participation impossible.
The exhibition will feature the photos Untitled X, 1999; Tote Hosen, 2000; Shanghai, 2000; Fortuna, 2000.
The artist will be present during the inauguration.
