Michael Collins

Michael Collins’ »Seascapes« and industrial complexes Three high-quality booklets in a concertina fold, published on the occasion of the joint exhibition »Witterungen« by Laurenz Berges (Dusseldorf), Michael Collins (London) and Paola De Pietri (Reggio Emilia) will be available individually and in a cassette. The photographic series presented examine the almost imperceptible, progressive change of landscapes and, concomitantly, of living environments. Laurenz Berges (*1966) focuses on places, buildings and remains in the industrial Ruhr region in Germany, scouring them for casual signs and traces of past eras; Michael Collins (*1961) presents two almost identical, panoramic seascapes, marshland shaped by wind and weather – industrial complexes visible in the distance – as well as interiors and close-ups of steel works and power stations; Paola De Pietri (*1960) has dedicated her series to impressive trees. Each tree, photographed in black-and-white, is standing singularly in the open landscape, revealing its unique form and shape of its branches. These three positions, brought together for the first time in this project, combine a sense and keen eye for both circumstantial as well as timeless realities – for facts, gradual transformations and the resulting rather specific aesthetics. With their elaborate compositions, the photographs by Laurenz Berges, Michael Collins and Paola De Pietri might evoke a sense of discomfort which stems from the discrepancy between urbanity and the natural landscape and / or the ambivalent notion of »unused« areas, which are either recaptured by nature, or returned to new use by man. Exhibition: Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, 2/3–8/7/2018