Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Can a representational photograph do justice to the essence of a building, to its atmosphere? Drawing on the theories of the philosopher Gernot Böhme, Jonas Feige engages with the particular atmosphere of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld.

The German theorist Gernot Böhme calls for a new approach to architectural photography, one in which the goal is not the perfect representation of a building, but the rendering of its atmosphere. He describes atmosphere as the relationship between environmental qualities and human states of being. In an atmosphere, Böhme argues, an exterior encounters the interior of an individual. He therefore demands that photography should not merely produce images as representations. The crucial point of a new kind of photography, he writes, “lies in succeeding in bringing into the image the experience one has as a present human being in the vicinity of, or inside, architectural structures.” Architectural photography, he continues, only becomes interesting “when it grapples with something, when it must represent something about architecture that cannot actually be seen.”

This programmatic text by Böhme forms the point of departure for Feige’s engagement with the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. It is an attempt to make perceptible the Kunsthalle’s perceived atmosphere through photography. The resulting images come together in a kaleidoscopic view, in which light, color, material, and reflections are treated in a playful manner. The Kunsthalle appears fragmented through its architectural signatures—red sandstone, glass façades, hard and soft edges.