Egbert Haneke: Vis Motrix

With a text (German/English) by Harald Falckenberg
56 p with 30 coloured plates
240 x 320 mm, clothbound embossed with dustjacket

ISBN 978-3-936859-73-7

(out of print)

Material Photography

In his series of photographs »Vis Motrix« – »that don’t intend to be anything more than what they are«, according to Harald Falckenberg in the accompanying essay – Egbert Haneke has completed his yearlong research and developmental work. Together with his wife Bettina, he has technically re-vamped and perfected the dye transfer print process developed in the 1930s, without which the profound colour effect – ultimately the overall significance – of the work of one such as William Eggleston would be scarcely imaginable.  In contrast to the proponents and users of digital manipulation, Egbert Haneke consistently follows the path of formal reduction in his photographs, illustrating the obvious, unspectacular and trivial from the surrounding world with a sharp delimiting eye, printing them with richly facetted coloured dyes with three-dimensional spatial effect onto fibre base. Egbert Haneke’s locations, materials and compositions are endowed with an gravitational incisiveness and evident nature through the intense effect of the colours. This is carefully calculated in the actual taking of the shot, for neither the aesthetic design intention itself nor the representational function of the motif should be manifest more than an unavoidable minimum. As far as Egbert Haneke is concerned it is more about »perfect sculptures«. The carefully printed and produced edition is the photographer’s first publication.

Exhibition:
Horst Schuler Düsseldorf, 8/9–13/10/2007