BOOK:Candida Höfer in Mexico,Distanz Publications

Candida Höfer prefers to shoot semi-public spaces, most notably cultural and institutional architecture, in the absence of people, as evidenced in her ongoing Räume (Spaces) series that she began in 1980. The lack of visitors has allowed Höfer to concentrate her lens meticulously on the building’s design details and spatial qualities, and how they may influence human experience. In 2014, Candida Höfer traveled to Mexico, visiting the eight cities Ciudad de México, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tepotzotlán, Tlacochahuaya, and Tonantzintla, where she photographed old and new libraries, theaters and opera houses, churches and museums, poorhouses and palaces. Most of Candida Höfer’s photos are organized by symmetry along a central axis, a characteristic feature of her art, these works suggest her training with Hilla and Bernd Becher, other photos show a “new” Candida Höfer, old-fashioned offices, weather-beaten walls, and simple stores as well as a few expertly captured details of façades, floors, and interiors. The book contains an essay by the Mexican historian and economist José N. Iturriaga.-Efi MIchalarou