Laurenz Berges (born Cloppenburg, 1966) is a German photographer. He is associated with the Düsseldorf School of Photography.[1][2]

Laurenz Berges
Born1966
Known forphotography
MovementDüsseldorf School of Photography
WebsiteOfficial website

Early career

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Berges studied communication design at the University of Essen from 1986 to 1993, where he graduated with a diploma. In 1988 and 1989, Berges worked as a photo assistant for the photographer Evelyn Hofer in New York. He studied photography at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, since 1992. He graduated as a Master Student under Bernd Becher, in 1996. Berges lives and works in Düsseldorf.[3][4] Berges' work is held in several important museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, in New York[5] and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[6]

Work

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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 Etzweiler, Berges focus on Etzweiler, the district of Elsdorf that had to make way for open-pit lignite mining.[7] He has photographed for years the wastelands in the de-industrialized city of Duisburg. Berges finds his subjects in the urban gray areas. He is particularly interested by the details from abandoned apartments, vacated houses, and overgrown gardens, 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

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Books of work by Berges

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  • 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

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Public collections

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Berges' work is held, among others, in the following public collections:

References

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  1. ^ Hoffmans, Christiane (19 March 2015). "Was von der Gemütlichkeit übrig bleibt". Die Welt. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  2. ^ Dirksen, Jens (10 February 2020). "Laurenz Berges' liebevolle Bilder von traurigen Revierszenen". www.wp.de. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  3. ^ Lange, Gabriele Conrath-Scholl and Susanne (20 July 2007). "Obituary: Bernd Becher". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  4. ^ Bischoff, Ulrich (5 December 2013). "Rooms Made out of Light and History". Laurenz Berges. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  5. ^ a b "Laurenz Berges". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  6. ^ a b "Berges, Laurenz". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  7. ^ Weckesser, Markus (2020-03-23). "In den Transitzonen". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 16. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  8. ^ Ulrike Westphal (October 2011). "Laurenz Berges: "Frühauf Danach" Zwischen Bewohnbarkeit und Unbehaustheit: Bilder vom Verschwinden" (PDF) (in German). Schirmer/Mosel. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". Die Zeit. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  10. ^ "The Düsseldorf School of Photography, Stefan Gronert (ed.)". Collector Daily. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  11. ^ Colberg, Jörg. "Review: The Düsseldorf School of Photography by Stefan Gronert". Conscientious. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  12. ^ "Comité Photo".
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