The German photographer Candida Hoefer (born 1944) is often connected to magnificent interior images from historical buildings, libraries, national archives and theatres. Now she exhibits some of her works at Gallery K in Oslo.
Hoefer’s first solo exhibition was in 1975 at the Konrad Fisher Galerie in Duisseldorf. Since then, Hoefer has had solo exhibitions in museums throughiut Europe and the United States. She represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 2003. The first comprehensive North American survey of her works was shown uncder the title “Architecture of Absence” at Norton Museum of Art in 2006.
The exhibition “Spaces of Knowledge” in Oslo shows examples of her play with angles, dimensions and her interpretations of rooms. Sometimes she sees a room from the center, other times from a gallery or an entrance.
The exhibition includes images from the Library in Weimar, Biblioteca América Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Conway Library, London.
The Oslo exhibition displays also the great works taken by Candida Hoefer in Oslo mid 1990s, culimination with the decoration of the National Museum – Architecture in 2008. In addition to the large photograph Deichmanske Bibliothek Oslo in 2000 (152 x 456 cm), you may experience motifs including the Aula at the University.
Candida Höfer lives and works in Cologne. She studied under Bernd Becher together with Andreas Gursky, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth. They are representatives of the main direction in art photography in Europe, “Becher School”.
Hoefer is represented in major museums and collections worldwide, MoMA; N.Y, TATE; London, MET; N.Y, Centro de Arte Reine Sofia; Madrid, J. Paul Getty; L.A, Guggenheim Museum; N.Y, Centre Pompidou; Paris, Le Louvre; Paris.
In Norway Candida Höfer represented at the National Museum, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Nordea Kunstsamling, Storebrand Kunstsamling and several private collections. In 2007 she had a retrospective exhibition at Henie Onstad Art Centre.
Hoefer’s imagery has since the 1980s constantly focused on the depopulated interiors of institutional and geographical interiors, but the formal similarity among her images is their dominant organizing principle.
Feature image (on top), Viking Ship Museum in Oslo
The exhibition runs through March 8.