Today we go #IntheArchive with Candida Höfer – In Mexico, the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Internationally recognized for her meticulously composed, large-scale color images of architectural interiors, Höfer traveled to Mexico in 2015 to make this body of work as part of the cultural exchange program Mexico-Germany Dual Year, which brought different cultural, scientific, musical and educational projects to Mexican audiences in 2016-17. Her archetypal images capture the interiors of grand spaces including libraries, theatres, churches and museums—spaces of public congregation that in her photographs are rendered devoid of people. In describing her work and the role of these missing inhabitants Höfer observed, “I realized that what people do in those places – and what the spaces do to them – is more obvious when nobody is present, just as an absent guest can often become the topic of conversation.”For her first project in Mexico, Höfer traveled throughout the country photographing a diverse group of buildings that range from the Baroque extravagance of the Museo Nacional del Virreinato to the Neoclassical order of Palacio de Bellas Artes Ciudad de México, with its Art Nouveau and Art Deco interiors. Capturing over 600 years of architectural history from her precise perspective, Höfer’s photographs document not only the physical details of these interiors but also capture the spirit and essence of each space.