Candida Höfer: Photobooks
Curated by Anne Elisabeth Toft

Through the medium of her conceptual photography, renowned German photographer, Candida Höfer (1944- ), discusses the European museological discourse, and thereby also history as a form of cultural construct. Höfer’s photographs show libraries, museums, archives and zoos, among other institutions – institutions that have all been tasked with preserving and disseminating our collective cultural heritage.

In large comprehensive comparative photo series, she explores the categories of the various collections, and, moreover, the underlying concepts they represent; concepts that not only point back to the conceptual framework of earlier times, but that also give birth to the epistemology of the future. The photographs also show the architectural buildings that house the collections, thus exemplifying a number of architectural typologies and spaces with a focus on exposing both their similarities and their differences. This exhibition, which compiles a representative selection of Höfer’s photographic works published in book form, sets out to celebrate and shed light on her production of photobooks.