║ Laurenz Berges ║

© Laurenz Berges, Berlin – Karlshorts III, 1995

 

© Laurenz Berges, Potsdam V, 1995

 

“Several images in the series record the intersection of architectural elements with the ground in harmonious if unspectacular compositions, pregnant with the implication of what might have occurred or still could occur there. In others, architectural elements enter into timid competition with nature, the separation of the two realms symbolizing the psychical compartmentalization of experience in general. Like Berges’ earlier studies of Russian barracks, these images derive their impact from inherent contradictions; where a quality of quiet permanence suffuses the abandoned interiors of the earlier series (initially constructed for occupation by German troops during the Wilhelminian and Nazi periods, the barracks then housed Russian troops, which, since the fall of the Wall, the reunification of Germany and end of the Cold war, have remained unoccupied), the photographs in this series demonstrate an almost epic grandeur in the ordinariness of their reality and a topicality in the mild outdatedness of their architectural detail. It is not coincidental that a sense of place derives from the confrontation of built and natural elements, that memory depends on the interplay of past and present and that both occur in conjunction with one another.”