Michael Schmidt: Irgendwo

Somewhere = Nowhere

Somehow, somewhere is always like nowhere. Michael Schmidt's photography is also characterised by this fact. He compiles series of photographs into books and exhibitions. His idea of photography, however, has little to do with labelling; rather, he documents a place, a non-place, its inhabitants, image by image. These are tentative movements that sometimes abruptly want to overturn the whole procedure because they are always characterised by a certain impatience. After all, there could be another place, other, equally interesting inhabitants. The almost epochally indifferent pictures and, of course, books such as "Waffenruhe" or "EIN-HEIT" have brought Michael Schmidt to the forefront of German photographers. He had the first ever solo exhibition by a German photographer at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; in the meantime, a second one has been organised and he has participated in a number of themed exhibitions. With his project "Somewhere", Michael Schmidt is aiming directly at the "dark heart" of Germany, if this Conradian metaphor is at all appropriate. Because here is the mass architecture, the homely, the absolute province, here people ... look no different from those in Berlin. And yet in Michael Schmidt's photos they exude an atmosphere that touches something deep and dark. If you then ask Michael Schmidt what has been on his mind, an anecdotal togetherness can suddenly emerge that dissolves all the dark moments in an instant.

Exhibitions:
Kunstverein Heilbronn, 4/2 - 10/4/2005
Oldenburger Kunstverein, 24/4 - 5/6/2005
Arp Mueum Bahnhof Rolandseck, 7/10 - 2/12/2005
Lindenau Museum, Altenburg, 5/3 - 7/5/2006
Art Museum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, 25/6 - 17/9/2006