Elmar Haardt
Topografien der Durchfahrt

Opening reception January 15th, 2010, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
January 16th – February 20th, 2010

Landscapes and people are the photographic motifs recorded by artist Elmar Haardt (born 1974) at the most diverse range of places and processed into serial works to form subtle recordings of the state of human existence. Within his photography, Haardt devotes himself to places that appear notable as a result of their less attractive but unusual geographic locations.

Without exception, the large-format images in the series entitled Topografien der Durchfahrt (Topographies of the Thoroughfare) - 2008/2009 - were taken in the Swiss Gotthard region, on both the Uri and Ticino sides of the mountains. The entire area is characterised by the atmosphere of a thoroughfare - evoked by the motorway and the Gotthard road tunnel, through which over 6 million vehicles pass every year on their way through the Swiss Alps.

The photographs not only take as their subject the imposing, alluring view of the Alps but rather also trace the feeling of confinement and forlornness in the valleys. Here, landscape is interpreted as a symbol of the human condition. Within the subjective juxtaposition of portraits and external shots of buildings and roads, Haardt visualises the paradoxical state of remaining in one place that everyone else drives past. The people remain within the confines of a valley, which permanently testifies to the vastness of the world. They remain in a region, which has changed so rapidly that it has become alien. Elmar Haardt works the question of this latent, everyday turmoil into his photographs and thereby creates an image reality of which the subtle tension transcends far beyond the purely documentary.

Ulrike Westphal