PHOTO:Candida Höfer-The Space, the Detail, the Image

After completing her training at the Schmölz-Huth Studio, Candida Höfer began studying under the influential photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher between 1976-1982. The key influence of the latter led her to evolve from the photography with a social emphasis that she had produced in the 1970s to images characterised by bareness, simplicity and objectivity, set in symbolic public spaces devoid of any human presence.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galería Helga de Alvear Archive

Candida Höfer began taking color photographs of interiors of public buildings, such as offices, banks, and waiting rooms, in 1979 while studying in Düsseldorf. Höfer specialises in large-format photographs of empty interiors and social spaces that capture the “Psychology of social architecture”. Her photographs are taken from a classic straight-on frontal angle or seek a diagonal in the composition. In her solo exhibition “The Space, the Detail, the Image” at Galería Helga de Alvear the artist presents large format series of library interiors, along with alleys and corridors of Austrian Benedictine abbeys and monasteries, along with an image from Landestheater Linz. The absence of the human figure means a greater focus on architecture. The apparent sobriety of the images hides a complex interpretation of architecture in relation to its current use and function. For the first time in her career and coinciding with the exhibition, two projections of photographs taken on the Madrid-Cáceres route will be shown. Her photographs are taken from a classic straight-on frontal angle or seek a diagonal in the composition. She tends to shoot each room from an elevated vantage point near one wall so that the far wall is centered within the resulting image. The exhibition puts together large formats, small ones (more abstract and focused on detail) and projections, all three under the common denominator of image. Despite the geographically specific titles of her photographs Höfer’s images of empty spatial constructions comment not on cultural differences but explore the universality of the built environment’s manipulation of human experience.

Info: Galería Helga de Alvear, Doctor Fourquet 12, Madrid, Duration: 21/1-16/4/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-14:00 & 16:30-20:30, www.helgadealvear.com