“In my view you cannot claim to have seen something until you have photographed it”, Emile Zola, 1920



.....Anyone can take photographs. After all, it’s something you can learn. Photographic art, in contrast, pursues ideas, conveys substance, consolidates perceptions beyond the craft.

Photographic artist Andreas Magdanz draws his photographic works from the interplay of photography as the medium and motifs delivered by distinctive, tension-filled places.

Numerous publications, including the massive “Dienststelle Marienthal” (Marienthal Gouvernment Bunker) underground nuclear bunker complex abandoned by the German Government, the homage to Marceline Loridan-Iven’s “Auschwitz-Birkenau”, the villages and countryside condemned to annihilation by the “Garzweiler” open-cast lignite mine, are places with a dreadful history or dubious future, making them favoured objects for his documentary photographic art. 2006 saw the completion of his photographic documentation of the Pullach-based headquarters of Germany’s foreign intelligence service. Last year, in several exhibitions, he presented his work on the former National Socialist “Vogelsang” training institution which, in a few months, will appear in book form.

Andreas Magdanz often works on his projects for years at a time, arguing with politicians and authorities, fighting for photo permits, financing in advance, looking for sponsors and acquainting himself in depth with the history, nature, architecture and social aspects underlying his works. This is the only way his art photography projects – most of which culminate in the publication of a book – are able to capture the entire aura of a place and preserve it for posterity.

Highly conceptional in nature, his work is expressed in image cycles.

Time and again, Andreas Magdanz has tried to change his formal approach in terms of technique, material, composition and expression to find a new visual concept.

The result is frequently a volume of photographs which, depending on the object before the lens, also picks up on different approaches, articulating distinct forms of expression in keeping with the subject.

From the aspect of theory, this means it is not a style that is important but the capacity to convey the widely varying forms of photographic expression.

A combination of lectures on contemporary artists/photographers and an introduction to basic techniques, partial involvement in ongoing projects, associated excursions and practical, personally selected exercises and projects provide students with the opportunity to work independently and spontaneously over predefined periods and elaborate their own position as artists.

The seminar ends with the production of a book which, in e-book and hardcopy form, gives those participating the opportunity to translate selected works into exciting photo galleries and thus create a small visual encyclopaedia of distinct yet varied positions.....

Excerpt from BiG, Chair of Visual Arts and Design, Event Information





As the first in a planned series of books, we are pleased to announce the completion of this work now published. Covering a wide range of topics, approaches and realisation techniques, it shows part of the creative spectrum that brings visual art and design to life and makes it so exciting.



Andreas Magdanz