Whether it is magnificent, representative halls such as the auditorium of the Teatro Mercandante in Naples or the Teatro della Pergola in Florence or whether more intimate sites such as the Warburg library in Hamburg: Candida Höfer portrays rooms. And this in such a calm and factual way, as if it had to approach space and its specific character like a complicated person. He only reveals his multi -layered idiosyncrasies when you give him enough time and treat him with respect. In the Hessian State Museum of Darmstadt, Höfer’s interiors, which is one of the most renowned German photographers and enjoys international recognition, can now study over the years. Until August 24th, the exhibition “Candida Höfer. Photographs” with 53 works will be presented with a broad overview of the work of the artist that was born in Eberswalde in 1944. Their impressive large formats with the recordings of magnificent halls can be seen as well as newer photo series in which Höfer deals with provisional lighting bodies or trees. Höfers oeuvre has grown more than five decades, with which it belongs to the photographic avant -garde of the presence. The photographer living in Cologne exhibited nationally and internationally in important houses and has been awarded many times for her work. Most recently, in 2024 she received the Käthe-Kollwitz Prize of the Akademie der Künste Berlin. From 1997 to 2000 she held a professorship for photography at the University of Design in Karlsruhe. She was seen on the documenta in Kassel in 2002, a year later she represented Germany alongside Martin Kippenberger at the 50th Biennale in Venice. Provisional light: Candida Höfer, “Glühbirnen Köln VIII”, 2021canda Höfer/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 after an apprenticeship in the photo studio Schmölz-Huth in Cologne and the study of artistic photography to the Kölner Work schools was Höfer from Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf art academy, where she studied from 1973 to 1982. Like Andreas Gursky, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Jörg Sasse, she is one of the much -noticed representatives of the Düsseldorf photo school, the characteristic of which is an objective objectivity. Publicly accessible interiors, places of encounter, communication, memory and knowledge, but also relaxation and relaxation, which they have been visiting for their photographs since the eighties, libraries, lecture halls, concert halls, sports halls, cafes and museums, they are soberly absorbed, Frontal. This makes it possible for the viewer to deepen in structures and design of the rooms, to study their splendor and to think about their function. Initially, Höfer still photographed people, as for their documentation about Turkish migrants in Germany, she later refrained from doing so. It may be once again on the edge of a picture, but people are important on Höfer’s photographs, because they are not shown. All the deserted buildings with their often overwhelming splendor speak of their users, of their function and cultural importance: through the books on the shelves of old libraries, the lights over the tidy work tables, the empty rows of chairs in the lecture halls or, with an underground joke, through two old bean bags in a lounge in Los Angeles. After the large-format interiors in the skylight room, “Zoological Gardens”, “Flybules” (2021) and “Trees” (2021) can be seen in the smaller rooms of the Karl-Freund-Galerie Höfer. Here, too, Höfer’s masterful art reveals himself to raise questions with factually photographed motifs. In “Trees”, orderly landscapes can be seen in which horizontal and vertical lines result in a structured image composition. Everywhere people left their mark. “Candida Höfer. Photographs”, until August 24th, Hessisches State Museum Darmstadt, Friedensplatz 1
