«Industrious» - Marco Grob & hiepler, brunier,

Once again the Kunstmuseum Bern is providing its visitors with an opportunity to explore the world of photography. In contrast to previous exhibitions in the medium, with works by Balthasar Burkhard, Cécile Wick, Paul Senn and others, this year’s presentation is not restricted to purely fine art photography – that is, to photos for the sake of photography alone – but to works that evolved from commercial photographic assignments.

In them we can discern how the photographers succeeded in creating a highly individual visual language. Internationally renowned Swiss photographer Marco Grob selected unforgettable faces from over eighty-thousand Holcim Group employees. With his dynamic use of the camera, Grob involves his sitters as partners in a dialogue, giving insight into their lives and setbacks to observers.

The Berlin-based photographer duo Hiepler and Brunier communicates the arresting atmosphere of the industrial plants in images marked by an uncanny depth of field, illustrating reality in a way we otherwise would not be able to perceive at a single glance. With their accounts of reality the three photographers testify to their ability of establishing equality between art photography and truth.

The large-format black-and-white photographs display aweinspiring precision, while the staging of whole picture series increases the density of the ambience in individual photographs. The dialogue between “empty” spaces and the vitality of faces captures moments in time that are both moving and artistically vibrant.