© Erik Niedling, Untitled #09, from the series Status, 2005
“Time of change. Germany, right in the middle. Everything seems new. And what a historic district! Only in one place things remain unaffected – as is generally known, a central location does not impair the public’s perception of a place as being marginal. Perhaps that is the nature of the matter. But now its time has come. And it has to be fast. It can still be seen (2005), which in two years at the most, no one will take for recent reality. Such moments are precious. […]
Niedling’s photographic exploration of the fragile situation not only stands on shaky ground; it turns this factor as such into a topic. Where are we? Is this a degenerated factory? An air raid shelter? Or is this an old city palace quite in need of renovation? Right next to the Rococo oven, there are white lacquered wall panels decorated with rocaille ornaments, gilded and painted in a delicate green; everything expertly packed in protective dust covers. Is it possible that they are dismantled? Which room do they comprise, to which do they belong? Maybe we are really in the spacious warehouse of a cluttered art shipping agency? Maybe. Who knows for sure?[…]”
Walter Benjamin, Zentralpark
More about this work and others can be seen here
N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 