© egbert haneke
Egbert Haneke, who teaches at the HFBK in Hamburg, is another Hamburgian photographer kindly brought to my attention by Eshan. Looking through his work, which I really liked, I couldn’t help thinking of Ralf Grossek and how these two seem to be soulmates, or at least they walk through the wondrous world of German architecture with a similar eye for absurd details. Another memory cropping up was of a comment made by a student of Kai-Olaf Hesse, quoted by Hesse in a recent interview with Joerg Colberg (I’ve extended the quote to keep it in context):
JC: Let’s talk about “deadpan” a little bit – supposedly the defining criterion of German photography, but as we have discussed earlier such a definition severely limits our understanding of photography in Germany. What are we to make of “deadpan” being so prevalent right now? What is it in “deadpan” photography that appeals to people so much?
KOH: You kow, that’s is a hard question. I mean, I am not a gallerist who sells this kind of imagery and I am much less someone who buys it. I would not describe the bulk of my own work as “deadpan”, which means ausdruckslos [without expression]. So, I don’t really know what to say here. As far as non-portraiture is concerned, I remember a comment by one of my former students, who used to say “Wow, when you see this you wonder who on earth decided that it (the world) looks that way; why does it look like this?” That is certainly something that a somewhat straightforward, documentary-ish photography can imply. You can start thinking about the reasons for why things are the way they are, which in effect brings you back to people again – because it’s people who produce these things and leave these imprints on the face of the earth.
“Wow, when you see this you wonder who on earth decided that it (the world) looks that way; why does it look like this?” – to me it seems the same kind of wonder is what is captured in both Grossek’s and Haneke’s work, albeit that this isn’t the only possible angle of approach to either photographer. Both their work is devoid of people, yet at the same time it’s so very much about the people and the decisions they’ve taken, that it is impossible for me to describe the work as deadpan or lacking soul. On the contrary, this kind of work hits a nerve in me in the way few portraits do.