Jürgen Berderow

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Structures of Power

My project started with an exploration of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planetary ecosystems. Concrete being an intersecting factor of several aspects within the Anthropocene. I am predominantly focusing on urbanisation and heterotopias.

Looking at urbanisation prompted questions related to why communities live like they do and, how was this determined? Germany, the country where I live, and South Africa, where I am from, became the focus of my enquiry. I found myself questioning the structures determining the design of buildings, the when, where and who of the matter. My role has partly been that of a surveyor, photographing the urban sprawl.

In both South Africa and Germany, totalitarian regimes determined community structures; in Eastern Germany, communism and in South Africa, colonialism and apartheid. The Brutalist language of the structures possess an inherently totalitarian presence. The structural ideas of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius are overwhelmingly evident in both countries. It was practical, efficient, suitable for large groups of people. In Eastern Germany it was the ideal communist structure; social and equal. In Apartheid South Africa, the format to house migrant workers. In photographing these spaces, I found this to be inaccurate, far less than 'perfect' and certainly not humane.

The histories of South Africa and Germany fascinate me. I find myself drawn to attempting to understand these particular forms of totalitarianism, why it happened and, importantly how people lived in these systems and continue to live in/with their legacies.

When making these photographs in both South Africa and Germany I am very often overcome by a deep melancholy. A sadness - which I hope to convey in the work. This history is not kind, and neither are the buildings and spaces I photograph. This lead me to experiment and change these dystopian heterotopias utilising photoshop, Inspired by the work of Stan Douglas, Filip Dujardin, Andreas Gursky and Beate Gütschow. In some images the changes are not recognisable and in other images I am creating a visual hyperbole. Keeping within the aesthetics of realism and only creating a parafiction.

I prefer working with large-format cameras. The cumbersome camera slows my approach in creating a composition. Using large-format view cameras and monorail cameras enables me to maintain the severity of the building’s straight lines without risk of distortion. I prefer the ground glass as the image appears to be two-dimensional and thus helps me create the minimalist composition of the Neue Sachlichkeit which influences my work.