Tropical Island

Sven Johne
Falk Haberkorn

09/30 – 10/22/2005

Opening: Friday, September 30th 2005 at 6 p.m.

In October and November 2004, 15 years after the fall of the wall and in the year of the eastward enlargement of the EU, Falk Haberkorn and Sven Johne made a round trip through Eastern Germany by car. It was their aim to subjectively interpret the social, mental and economical situation on the spot and to then implement it artistically.They were not looking for it, yet found both: the fairy tale of "flourishing landscapes" as well as the "grey East of the frustrated".

By means of a newly interpreted photographic travelogue, Tropical Island sketches the image of a country undergoing massive changes in many respects.The situation observed is also an example of a development all of Europe will have to face in the years to come: loosing versus wining regions, islands of industrial high-tech production versus abandoned landscapes - these are the new parameters. Do only those stay who cannot move?

The consequences of society's long predicted polarization are presented in Sven Johne's work. It is not necessarily about East or West but about the lives of those who adapted and those who stayed behind. Johne's work uses artificial storytelling and melts truth and fiction, conflates the image's effect and power of the written word. And yet, in spite of his piercing glance and laconic sense of humor, he never looses genuine affection for his figures.

At first, his Ostdeutsche Landschaften seem to be ordinary views of farmland. The timeline of his images unveils the coming autumn and the much-invoked "flourishing landscapes" are only noticeable with a lot of good will.At next, the short, newspaper-like passages of text are caught by the beholder's eye; a journey into the absurd begins replacing the almost wistful calmness of the landscapes.

Falk Haberkorn took his photographs in a seemingly stoic calm during their journey. Exclusively while driving he shot the pictures out of the section of either windscreen or side window.Thus, a work consisting of 120 small tabloid plates came to life. All black and white, the images are unified in their overwhelming presence and subliminal emotionality. Goldrausch is a monolith of absolute artificial commitment.

Falk Haberkorn's approach to street photography adapts its traditional technique: like a 19th century "promenader" he finds his motives en passant.The section set by the carriage serves as picture frame and substantiates the images' claim for truth as being non-staged - what we see is the truth, it is possible to visit these places; even if passing these spaces becomes a journey through.This work makes the tension of diminishing distance to the motives and the state of being on the road tangible. In the end there's the search for home; a quest that in the face of the situation 15 years "later" rather deteriorates into a swan song.

The exhibition is accompanied by a subjective press review from both artists: created in the form of a huge collage called "Kaufkraft und Heimatgefuehl" (spending power and sense of home), their "wall newspaper" lets the material collected during their journey - being set next and against each other with no comment - speak for itself.

The exhibition runs til October 22th, 2005.