Raumaneignungen – Lech 2015-16
18.12.2016 – 17.04.2017
After 2 years of work in the alpine region around Lech am Arlberg, this winter Walter Niedermayr shows the works realised in these surroundings at an exhibition in Allmeinde Commongrounds, Lech. In conjunction with the exhibition a book with the same title is being published by Hatje Cantz. The book contains 50 photographic series, an essay by Catherine Grout (professor and researcher, Ecole nationale sup?riore d?architecture e de paysage, Lille) and a conversation by Walter Niedermayr with publishers Katia and Gerold Schneider (Allmeinde Commongrounds, Lech) and Arno Ritter (aut, Innsbruck).
In order to realise this photographic series the artist and photographer has mingled with the ski tourists and hikers and let himself get inspired by the bustle in the alpine landscape around Lech am Arlberg. Where the mantle of snow uniforms the landscape, vegetation and topography disappear, only structures remain visible that offer visitors ideal conditions for winter sports. During the summer a completely different landscape becomes visible instead. Here, Walter Niedermayr has moved to similar places and points of view as in winter, bringing to expression the atmosphere and the movements of the landscape in his works. The minimalist and very vivid images attract the attention of the viewer through their aesthetics and, on closer inspection, make visible breaks, shifts and a certain irony which challenge a reflection on how to deal with landscape and its possible future perspectives.
WALTER NIEDERMAYR (*1952, works in Bolzano)
Since the 1980s Walter Niedermayr has been developing projects in which he investigates space as a reality occupied and shaped by man. Spatial perception and spatial atmosphere in both open and closed spaces have been recurring themes in his photographic and video works. He constantly revisits and explores such sites as alpine regions, urban, architectural, and industrial structures, as well as prisons and hospitals. This can be seen in the series of works Alpine Landschaften (Alpine Landscapes) since 1987, Raumfolgen (Space Con/Sequences) since 1991, Rohbauten (Shell Constructions) since 1997, Artefakte (Artifacts) since 1992, and Bildraum (Image-Space) since 2001. Niedermayr completed the series Iran between 2005 and 2008, and he has been working on The Aspen Series since 2009. In 2012 he started his new series Portraits. Between 2011 and 2014 Walter Niedermayr taught fine art photography at the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano.