Exhibition

Candida Höfer's exhibition takes viewers on an international tour of rooms, both public and private, in schools, palaces, operas, libraries and villas – empty of humans but full of dazzling design and decorative detail.  Even without people, the spaces have both a presence and energy – rooms await and anticipate – furniture stands-in for human expression and emotions.  Two armchairs in a corner of Residenzschloss Weimar XIV appear exhausted from the visual din around them -- seeking refuge or respite from endless bombardment by patterned borders, trompe-l’oeil wall paintings, stone and tile inlay, or the intricate geometry of wood parquetry. At the other extreme are the cool islands of file cabinets in Graphische Sammlung Zuriche – spare sea foam green slabs line up diagonally along a seawall of shaded windows with casings of the same pastel green.  Glowing light from over-head globes bathes the warm shoreline of herringbone flooring lapping at the feet of the cabinets. This soothing study room is like a sunny private beach awaiting bathers and footprints to vitalize it.  Höfer documents rooms but her photographs also reveal deeper, more expansive details for the mind’s eye.

Höfer’s solo exhibitions in the past two years include Kunsthaus Hamburg in Germany, Le Louvre in France, Henie Onstad Art Center in Norway, Museum Pescheria in Italy, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland, among many others.