The Düsseldorf School of Photography is still one of the most influential artistic movements in photography today. Its representative Laurenz Berges was one of the last master students to teach Bernd and Hilla Becher at the art academy.
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 completely new, previously unseen works. Laurenz Berges documents places that have been abandoned. He uses only the light he finds and consistently refrains from staging. His pictures are silent testimonies to social upheaval, in particular the structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia. Formerly lively 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. In the special 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 Düsseldorf Art Academy. His works are exhibited internationally in museums and are part of important collections. Exactly ten years ago, asphalt showed an exhibition of his photographs: "Epilogue" was on display at the Weltkunstzimmer in 2016. Laurenz Berges lives and works in Düsseldorf. (Source: asphalt Festival gGmbH)
