Laurenz Berges: Maintaining and Disappearing

Special places and changing living environments are the starting point of Laurenz Berges’ photographic works, which always follow a development process lasting several years. Since the 1990s, his documentary and at the same time poetic series of works have shed a remarkable light on abandoned or deserted areas around Etzweiler, Duisburg and parts of eastern Germany.

Mudersbach, the place not far from Siegen that was Bernd Becher’s second home in his youth, has long interested Laurenz Berges. Becher maintained a link with his grandparents’ house throughout his life. He loved the atmosphere in the small village. Following his interest in biographical stories, for the past four years, Berges has been photographing the half-timbered house in which nothing has been allowed to change.

The project is the starting point of an exhibition at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, which juxtaposes photographs of two Becher houses directly related to Hilla and Bernd Becher’s origins and living and working places in Siegen and Düsseldorf for the first time. More than could be achieved by a portrait, these photos show the circumstances of the famous artist couple’s work and life. They are supplemented by a selection of Becher typologies, previously unseen collages by Bernd Becher and personal collectibles from the Bechers’ house. Thus, the specific inner life of the half-timbered houses in the Siegerland that became famous with the Bechers also becomes exemplary of recent history in Germany.

Laurenz Berges (born 1966 in Cloppenburg) lives and works in Düsseldorf. He studied communication design at the University of Essen (1986-1993) and artistic photography in Bernd Becher’s class at the Düsseldorf Art Academy (1992-1996). He also spent a year assisting the German-American photographer Evelyn Hofer in New York (1988-89). Berges has participated in numerous national and international group exhibitions, for example at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Museé de l’Art Modern de la ville de Paris, Museum Kunst Palast Düsseldorf, Haus der Kunst Munich, Huis Marseille Museum for Photography Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Pinakothek der Moderne Munich or SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne. The artist’s most recent solo exhibitions include the Museum für Photographie in Braunschweig (2019) and most recently the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop (2020).

Curator: Thomas Thiel
Assistant Curator: Lea März

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive program of events and mediation consisting of talks, readings, events, guided tours and workshops. An exhibition brochure with an artist interview will also be published. A photo book of the same name has been published by Verlag Schirmer/Mosel to accompany the new and first presented series of works “Das Becherhaus in Mudersbach“ with an introductory essay by Hanns-Josef Ortheil.

Funded by Kunststiftung NRW (Arts Foundation North Rhine Westfalia)