»Alles ist Skulptur« – From 3D to 2D and back

Fig.1: Rauschkolb 2020. The image »The Stars and Stripes Compound«, the virtual prototype of a photographic sculpture.

My last project about a sculptor and his studio made me interested in the relationship between photography and sculpture. I must say, at this time, I hadn’t made a sculpture by myself in mind.

With the work on my actual portfolio, a lot has changed: I discovered what fun it is to work with archival material as a part of the final image; I made the first steps into the use of Augmented Reality (see Oral Presentation and the WIP-portfolio). And; while working on the pictures, I started thinking about how my compositions would look if realised as three-dimensional objects.

In his last speech, german artist Josef Beuys said: »Also Skulptur, mit der Skulptur ist etwas zu machen!« and »Alles ist Skulptur« (»Well, sculpture, there is something to be done with sculpture!« and »Everything is sculpture«, Joseph Beuys – ‘Dank an Wilhelm Lehmbruck’ (Letzte Rede) 2013). These two quotes came to my mind, and I felt that he was right. Even a (printed) photograph has materiality and has to be seen as a three-dimensional object — incidentally an essential point in archival work. As an example, the backside of an old image can tell you when the picture was produced (handwritten titling, photographer stamp, watermarks of the paper manufacturer).

Fig.2: Rauschkolb 2020. The image »Religiosity in the city district«, the virtual prototype of a photographic sculpture.

But back to the story: After doing some sketches, I was looking for a method to visualise my ideas, try different materials and object sizes. I started working with Adobe Dimension (‘Adobe Dimension’ 2020). A simple 3D-tool, but the right one in my case. With the sketches and a clear plan in mind, I was able to construct the objects in a short time.

I must confess, that, as a photographer, I always had and have an ambivalent relationship to 3D software. I tried several times but never got happy with the results. Now the situation changed.

In a second step, as a proof of concept, I used the possibilities of augmented reality. Adobe Aero (‘Interaktive AR-Experiences erstellen | Adobe Aero’ 2020), which works well together with Dimensions, gave me the chance to try different sizes, walk around the object, and putting it into different environments.

The consideration of working on three-dimensional objects does not mean that the whole project will be realised as a sculpture. It is merely a different way of presenting the story and complements other media like pictures, books or film.

The next steps, besides photographing, are: Looking for ways to produce a physical object and how I can use augmented reality in my project to tell the story of the district in a new way, perhaps with more user engagement.

References:

Joseph Beuys – ‘Dank an Wilhelm Lehmbruck’ (Letzte Rede) [Film]. 2013. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqgNz8biM8 [quotes translated with deepl.com] [accessed 1 Sep 2020].

‘Adobe Dimension’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/de/products/dimension.html [accessed 2 Sep 2020].

‘Interaktive AR-Experiences erstellen | Adobe Aero’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/de/products/aero.html [accessed 2 Sep 2020].

List of Figures:

Figure 1: RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. »The Paprika Village« – Photographic sculpture 2 (The Stars and Stripes Compound) [Film]. Available at: https://vimeo.com/453745444 [accessed 2 Sep 2020].

Figure 2: RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. »The Paprika Village« – Photographic sculpture 1 (Religiosity in the city district) [Film]. Available at: https://vimeo.com/453743649 [accessed 2 Sep 2020].

»The Paprika Village« – WIP-Portfolio for »Surfaces and Strategies«

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In the last post, I showed my oral presentation for module PHO703 »Surfaces and Strategies«. In this post, I present three of the images of the corresponding portfolio. The complete portfolio can be viewed here.

Oral Presentation for PHO703 »Surfaces & Strategies«

This is my oral presentation for module PHO703 at Falmouth University.

References:

‘Ein Neuer Flächennutzungsplan Und Landschaftsplan Für Griesheim – Griesheim Gemeinsam Gestalten’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://griesheim-gestalten.de/page/fnp [accessed 12 Aug 2020].

GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh, 73 – 78.

METHLOW, Frank W. 2008. ‘“Stars & Stripes” Verlässt Südhessen’. http://www.fr-online.de/spezials/goodbye-gis–stars—stripes–verlaesst-suedhessen,1472874,2693894.html [online]. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080301/http://www.fr-online.de/spezials/goodbye-gis–stars—stripes–verlaesst-suedhessen,1472874,2693894.html [accessed 26 Jul 2020].

KALTENECKER, Krisztina. 2003. ‘Über Die Entstehung Der Ungarndeutschen Siedlung Sankt Stephan Bei Darmstadt. Eine Kommentierte Quellenausgabe’. In: Dr. Schwing, Josef (Red.): Suevia Pannonica. Archiv der Deutschen aus Ungarn. Jahrgang 21 (31) 2003. Chroma Verlag. Römerberg-Berghausen. S. 37-47 [online]. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/38970162/%C3%9Cber_die_Entstehung_der_ungarndeutschen_Siedlung_Sankt_Stephan_bei_Darmstadt._Eine_kommentierte_Quellenausgabe [accessed 4 Jul 2020].

KLETT, Mark. 2011. ‘Repeat Photography in Landscape Research’. in MARGOLIS, Eric and L PAUWELS. 2011. The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods. Los Angeles: SAGE, 114 – 131.

DE BLAUWER, Katrien. 2020. ‘Home | Katriendeblauwer’. [online]. Available at: https://www.katriendeblauwer.com/ [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

LACHOWSKYJ, Cat. 2020. ‘Greenfield. The Archive – Photographs Collected by Pablo Lerma | Essay by Cat Lachowskyj | LensCulture’. Lensculture [online]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/pablo-lerma-greenfield-the-archive [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

LACHOWSKYJ, Cat. 2020. ‘The Wake of Dust: Contemporary Ruins in the Age of Photography – Interview by Cat Lachowskyj’. LensCulture [online]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

‘Thomas Hauser’. 2020. [online]. Available at: http://www.thomashauser.fr/ [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

STRECKER, Alexander. 2020. ‘A Failed Entertainment – Interview with Alessandro Calabrese’. LensCulture [online]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/alessandro-calabrese-a-failed-entertainment [accessed 2 Aug 2020].

‘MOHOLY-NAGY FOUNDATION | ART DATABASE’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://moholy-nagy.org/art-database-gallery/ [accessed 12 Aug 2020].

RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. »The Paprika Village« Book Dummy [Film]. Available at: https://vimeo.com/440016217 [accessed 12 Aug 2020].

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Development of a street (Nehringstrasse) and the relicts of war.

Figure 2: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Old military building (Lilienthalstrasse).

Figure 3: Unknown maker. ca. 1900. Postcard showing soldiers at the military training camp. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 4: HACKMAN. 1982. Aerial view of the 32nd Combat Support Hospital. [online image] Available at ‘Darmstadt Army Airfield AAF, Germany’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.mil-airfields.de/germany/darmstadt-army-airfield.html [accessed 12 Aug 2020].

Figure 5: Unknown maker. ca. 1953. Newspaper article ‘Das Paprikadorf’. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 6: Unknown maker. ca. 1950. Grape harvesting. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 7: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Greenhouse for Asparagus

Figure 8: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The standard house, drawing and today. On the right: The settlement’s first Post office.

Figure 9: Unknown maker. ca. 1948. Corrugated iron housing in Sankt Stephan. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 10: Unknown maker. ca. 1948. Building the first houses. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 11: Unknown maker. ca. 1954. Settler Johann Berghardt opened his restaurant “Zur Paprika” in 1951. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 12: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. A block of flats at the place where the restaurant “Zur Paprika” was before.

Figure 13: Mark KLETT. 2002. Four views from four times and one shoreline, Lake Tenaya. [online image]. Available at: http://www.markklettphotography.com/yosemite-in-time [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

Figure 14: Unknown makers. ca. 1900 – 1980. A selection of pictures from the city archive Griesheim. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive images]

Figure 15: Katrien DE BLAUWER. 2019. Love me tender 169. [online image]. Available at: https://www.katriendeblauwer.com/ [accessed 30 Jul 2020]. 

Figure 16: Pablo LERMA. 2018. Spread from “Greenfield. The Archive”. [online image]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/pablo-lerma-greenfield-the-archive [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

Figure 17: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The wooden bell tower in 1950 and Sankt Stephan’s church today. 

Figure 18: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Religion as a vital part of the settlement.

Figure 19: Thomas HAUSER. 2017. Module #15. [online image]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

Figure 20: Alessandro CALABRESE. ca. 2014. Yorgos. [online image]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/alessandro-calabrese-a-failed-entertainment [accessed 2 Aug 2020].

Figure 21: Alessandro CALABRESE. ca. 2014. Mina. [online image]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/alessandro-calabrese-a-failed-entertainment [accessed 2 Aug 2020].

Figure 22: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. From 1956 to 2007 the newspaper »Stars and Stripes« was edited and printed at the former airfield. 

Figure 23, 24, 25: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The first book dummy for »The Paprika Village«

Figure 26: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. AR mockup of a sculpture made from the rephotographed images

Figure 27: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The airfield was used for the most time by the military. Now it is a nature reserve and used by the University.

The places of remembrance

Freund. undated. Walter Benjamin in Paris

While researching for my project, I came across the transcript of a radio feature about Walter Benjamin and his »Places of remembrance«. 

I was interested because I like Benjamins’ style of writing and i know that he was a manic collector. I used parts of his speech about collecting (»Unpacking my library – A talk about collecting«, Benjamin 2011, Vol. II, p. 276 – 283) in a movie about a collector. 

What caught me about this article was the statement »Whoever has once begun to open the fan of remembrance will always find new limbs, new rods, no image is enough for him, because he has recognized it: he could let it unfold, the essential is only in the folds« (Opitz 2015). I read it and saw it as a metaphor for my work about the city quarter »Sankt Stephan«. I started with Hungarian refugees and old military buildings, but the more I researched, the more details and, for me, unknown stories came to light. The history of the quarter is so interconnected with other events in history that I have to be careful not to get lost in all these stories.

I have to quote Benjamin again: »In fact, if there is a counterpart to the randomness of a library, it is the regularity of its directory. Thus the existence of the collector is dialectically strained between the poles of disorder and order« (Benjamin 2011, Vol II p.277). In my case, the library is the internet, and my directory are the notebooks, Adobe Lightroom and Zotero (www.zotero.org). I collect all the facts and stories that I find, go out and look around if I can find traces of this or that story. It sounds exhausting, but I enjoy it.

I plan to work on this subject in the next module, too. At this time, I could tell only a few episodes, but there is more to show and tell. If I have luck, I find some witnesses whom I can talk to portray them.

Resources:

BENJAMIN, Walter. 2011. Unpacking my library – A talk about collecting [own translation] in Gesammelte Werke. Frankfurt a. M: Zweitausendeins, Vol. II, p. 276 – 283.

BENJAMIN, Walter in OPITZ, Michael. 2015. ‘Walter Benjamins Orte des Erinnerns – “In den Falten erst sitzt das Eigentliche”’. [own translation] Deutschlandfunk Kultur [online]. Available at: https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/walter-benjamins-orte-des-erinnerns-in-den-falten-erst.974.de.html?dram:article_id=327665 [accessed 22 Jul 2020].

BENJAMIN, Walter. 2011. Unpacking my library – A talk about collecting [own translation] in Gesammelte Werke. Frankfurt a. M: Zweitausendeins, Vol II p.277.

Figure:

Gisele FREUND. Walter Benjamin in Paris. undated. Available at: ‘The Long(Ish) Read: Walter Benjamin Unpacking His Library’. 2015. ArchDaily [online]. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/771939/the-long-ish-read-walter-benjamin-unpacking-his-library [accessed 15 Aug 2020].

The project evolves

Fig. 1: Rauschkolb 2020. As a reference to their religiosity, the layout of the main streets symbolizes a Christ on the cross when seen from above.
Second image: The church »St. Stephan« today and the improvised bell tower from 1948.

In many aspects, this project is a journey. Depending on which part I look at, the distances travelled, are sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. Starting with the easiest: The subject itself. It is near me, it is my surrounding, the place where I live. The longer part of the journey was (or still is) the approach. What started with the idea of rephotography developed to montages of new images with archival ones. In the whole process, I continued my research and walks through the area.

Fig. 2: Rauschkolb 2020. Since the 1860ies, the area was used as a military training camp for the German army. Germanies oldest airfield, from 1908, is located here. The first world war saw it as a camp for prisoners of war. After 1918, the French army used it as barracks for their troops. In world war two, the german air force used the airfield. After the war, a part was still used for military purposes until 2007, this time by the US Army. From 1956 to 2007 the European edition of the »Stars and Stripes«-newspaper was edited and printed here in a building of the former airfield. Today the airfield area is abandoned and is waiting for a new use.

The research brought me more and more knowledge about the details I hadn’t heard of before. And it guided me to new, or as far as overlooked places. The difficulty: With diving deeper and deeper into the history, The danger of getting defocused is there — because »I am interested in what is interesting« to quote Ed Ruscha (Ruscha in Brouws et al. 2013: 6) …

Back to work. Whit combining archive images with my montages, I found that this will represent the mutation of the place at its best. I continued that way of working, and now there are ten tableaus on different aspects of the quarter ready to be presented. To create the final images, I entered new terrain again. Usually, I use Adobe Photoshop for this task and put them later on the pages of an Indesign document. In this project, I prepared the montages in Photoshop and did the final composition in Indesign. I always have a book for this project in mind. Maybe this is the reason for working in this way.
In my research, I found that there are factors of influence which repeatedly appear, in the archive material and in my images. These are military, religiosity, politics, architecture and agriculture. With this in mind, I designed the tableaus around these critical influences for the development of the area.

Fig. 3: Rauschkolb 2020. The change of a street (Nehringstrasse): From 1951 to 1962 to 2020. On the right: The remains of a bunker from the second world war were here until the eighties.

I presented a part of my work in last weeks webinar to my peers and my tutor Cemre Yesil. The feedback was positive, but one comment from Cemre made me think. She said that the work needs explanation through text to fully understand it. I agree with her, but I don’t think it is a problem. There are correlations that I can’t visualize with photography. Perhaps there are possibilities in infographics, but this is not relevant at the moment, maybe in a later stage of the project.

Mark Klett had written about this missing information in rephotography: »Rephotographs rely on a visual language that is almost universal. The ability to point out and compare differences between photo­graphs spans a very wide range of viewer interests and levels of experience. However, the ability to interpret these differences is not universal; because when two photographs, an original and a rephotograph, are paired together the combination may illustrate change and the passage of time, but neither image can explain the events that led to that change« (Klett 2011: 114).

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. As a reference to their religiosity, the layout of the main streets symbolizes a Christ on the cross when seen from above.

Second image: The church »St. Stephan« today and the improvised bell tower from 1948.

Figure 2: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Since the 1860ies, the area was used as a military training camp for the German army. Germanies oldest airfield, from 1908, is located here. The first world war saw it as a camp for prisoners of war. After 1918, the French army used it as barracks for their troops. In world war two, the german air force used the airfield. After the war, a part was still used for military purposes until 2007, this time by the US Army. From 1956 to 2007 the European edition of the »Stars and Stripes«-newspaper was edited and printed here in a building of the former airfield. Today the airfield area is abandoned and is waiting for a new use.

Figure 3: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The change of a street (Nehringstrasse): From 1951 to 1962 to 2020. On the right: The remains of a bunker from the second world war were here until the eighties.

References:

BROUWS, Jeffrey T., Phil TAYLOR, Mark RAWLINSON and Edward RUSCHA (eds.). 2013. Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 6.

KLETT, Mark. 2011. ‘Repeat Photography in Landscape Research’. In MARGOLIS, Eric and L PAUWELS. 2011. The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods. Los Angeles: SAGE, 114.

»Creating modern ruins« – inspiring work from Thomas Hauser

Fig. 1: Hauser 2018. Installation shot from the exhibition “Back to the Future,” FOAM, Amsterdam

Thomas Hauser combines found material with new photographs to build his photographic sculptures. He got his inspiration from an album of his late grandmother and »liked the idea of making these archives disappear within his own pictures« (Hauser in Lachowskyj 2020).

Fig. 2: Hauser 2017. Module #15

When asked by Cat Lachowskyj what his work is about, he says, that it »is very much about the process of memory« (Hauser in Lachowskyj 2020). Reflecting on my project about »Sankt Stephan«, I would claim that statement for me too. It combines own memory of the cities’ history with memories and traces of others which I found in the city archive, on websites, in books and on the streets. With the combination of these materials, I create a personal view of the district’s history. Perhaps it is something similar to Hauser’s »invented, fictional memory of a moment in time« (Hauser in Lachowskyj 2020) he tries to create with his works.

Fig. 3: Hauser 2015/2018. Emma, from the series »Wake of Dust«

Another interesting quote is the answer to the question why he thinks photography is the appropriate medium to tackle these themes of memory (Lachowskyj 2020): »Because your memory is always going to be a picture in the end. You remember things, and you’re always making a mental image that courses throughout time. Everything and everybody is slowly turning into stone in this way, like petrified wood. This creation of a mental image is like creating ruins within a memory« (Hauser in Lachowskyj 2020).

»Modern ruins« – I like this expression.

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Thomas HAUSER. 2018. Installation shot from the exhibition “Back to the Future,” FOAM, Amsterdam, 2018. [online image] Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

Figure 2: Thomas HAUSER. 2017. Module #15. [online image] Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

Figure 3: Thomas HAUSER. 2015/2018. Emma, from the series »Wake of Dust«. [online image] Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

References:

LACHOWSKYJ, Cat. 2020. ‘The Wake of Dust: Contemporary Ruins in the Age of Photography – Interview by Cat Lachowskyj’. LensCulture [online]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/thomas-hauser-the-wake-of-dust-contemporary-ruins-in-the-age-of-photography [accessed 8 Aug 2020].

Looking closer at source material and a first approach

After having sorted the source material from the city archive and reading in the only book about the city district »St. Stephan« (Gromes 1989), I started putting it all together. I also went out in the district to take some photos, more to get a »sense of place« than to produce material. 

Fig. 1: Rauschkolb 2020. Groenhoffstrasse, St. Stephan

I tried different approaches on how to deal with the material, from working only with the old images to rephotography. I really like to look at the work of artists working only with found material like Katrien de Blauwer (De Blauwer 2020) or Pablo Lerma (Lachowskyj 2020). At the same time, I have the feeling that I am not quite ready to work with archive material only. I want to continue this way (and have an idea for a future project), but maybe I have to approach it step by step …

Fig. 2: Rauschkolb 2020. Moodboard and material

In the middle of the image are the first results: I combine black and white imagery with new pictures of the same location. Because I do not have information about cameras, lenses and camera position used in the past, I have to estimate how the images were made.

Fig. 3: Rauschkolb 2020. St. Stephan’s post office at 14 Donaustrasse

I started to transform/ distort the old photos to match them with the new one as close as possible. The starting point was a typical rectangular picture, but I expanded the base because the form of the distorted archive images should be seen in its entirety. For me, the images have something of these old 1920/30ies photomontages. What I like is the resulting graphic form of the distorted image.

Fig. 4: Rauschkolb 2020. The first belltower from 1948 and the new church from 1953

A side effect of blending the images is that they never match precisely on all points. In the beginning, this annoyed me, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. It could be seen as a metaphor for history, which is never absolutely precise. There are always factors like own opinion, interpretation, social context, which influence the historiography. Also, it forces the viewer to take a closer look to find out what part of the image is historical and what is contemporary.

For the planned publication, an old building permit and its folder from my private archive served as an inspiration. The plan is to produce it at home, and with this, the format will be DIN A5 (210×148 mm, landscape). The publication starts either with a map or an aerial photo of the city district. Then the pages with descriptional text and images follow. For the descriptional texts, I want to use onion skin paper as used in the past for copies of official documents. The advantage of this paper is that the images below will shine through. The book ends with an architectural drawing, showing the houses that were built in 1948 here.

Fig. 5: Rauschkolb 2020. »The Paprika Village» Book Dummy

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Groenhoffstrasse, St. Stephan.

Figure 2: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Moodboard and material.

Figure 3: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. St. Stephan’s post office at 14 Donaustrasse. [Digital montage].

Figure 4: Marcel Rauschkolb. 2020. The first belltower from 1948 and the new church from 1953. [Digital montage].

Figure 5: RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. »The Paprika Village» Book Dummy [Film]. Griesheim. Available at: https://vimeo.com/440016217 [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

Resources:

GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh.

‘Sankt Stephans-Siedlung’. 2019. Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sankt_Stephans-Siedlung&oldid=193145931 [accessed 19 Jul 2020].

DE BLAUWER, Katrien. 2020. ‘Home | Katriendeblauwer’. [online]. Available at: https://www.katriendeblauwer.com/ [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

LACHOWSKYJ, Cat. 2020. ‘Greenfield. The Archive – Photographs Collected by Pablo Lerma | Essay by Cat Lachowskyj | LensCulture’. Lensculture [online]. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/pablo-lerma-greenfield-the-archive [accessed 30 Jul 2020].

Rephotography and working with an archive

The concept of rephotography, as discussed in our lectures, triggered the idea of working on a photo essay of my city district. I knew about this before; as an example, I mention Nicholas Nixon’s work (‘Nicholas Nixon’ 2020) but never did something by myself.

Fig. 1: Nixon 1975, 1986, 1994, 2015. The Brown Sisters

The first inspiration was the work of Mark Klett, especially »Yosemite in Time« (‘Yosemite in Time’ 2020). His method of rediscovering the American landscape and combining new photographs with old ones from Edward Muybridge, Ansel Adams or Edward Weston is a great and successful approach in my eyes to show the change over time.

Fig. 2: Klett 2002. Four views from four times and one shoreline, Lake Tenaya

Also, the »collaboration« between John Burke and Simon Norfolk is inspiring (‘BURKE + NORFOLK’ 2020). Norfolk uses the group shots John Burke took in Afghanistan in the 19th century as a role model to photograph people of today’s Afghanistan.

With this background, I visited Griesheim’s city archive. I planned to research images from three different eras to get a basis for my photographs. At this point, my tutor Cemre Yesil (Yesil 2020) helped me a lot when she told me to go more open-minded to the archive, not with fixed research targets. The visit should be seen as travel without a fixed destination.

Fig. 3: Rauschkolb 2020. First selection of archive images

I came back with an amount of ca. 200 images. I first thought it was 500, but there are some duplicate copies. It is a mix of street views, documentaries of events and people shots. I started sorting them in categories like portraits, shops, aerial shots to mention some.

What’s funny about it: When looking at the pictures and reading the captions, I remember childhood experiences and stories my parents told me. It is a travel through time.

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Nicholas NIXON. 1975, 1986, 1994, 2015. The Brown Sisters. Screenshot [from online images] Available at: ‘Nicholas Nixon’. 2020. https://www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org/en/collect/artists/nicholas-nixon.php [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

Figure 2: Mark KLETT. 2002. Four views from four times and one shoreline, Lake Tenaya. From the series ‘Yosemite in Time’. 2020. MARK KLETT [online]. Available at: http://www.markklettphotography.com/yosemite-in-time[accessed 27 Jul 2020].

Figure 3: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. First selection of archive images. Pictures were kindly made available to me by the city archive Griesheim. Available at: https://www.griesheim.de/bildung-kultur/stadtarchiv/ [accessed 4 Jul 2020].

Resources:

‘Nicholas Nixon’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org/en/collect/artists/nicholas-nixon.php [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

‘Yosemite in Time’. 2020. MARK KLETT [online]. Available at: http://www.markklettphotography.com/yosemite-in-time [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

‘BURKE + NORFOLK’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.simonnorfolk.com/burke-norfolk [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

YESIL, Cemre. 2020. ‘Hayal & Hakikat’. [online]. Available at: http://cemreyesil.com/ [accessed 27 Jul 2020].

Exploring my surrounding’s history with photography

Fig. 1: Rauschkolb 2020. Ruin of an old military building

As the subject for this module’s research and portfolio, I decided to take a closer look at the streets near my home and their history. Working on this subject is a plan, I had in mind for a long time but never work on it. Or, as Chris Steele-Perkins said in a workshop »it marinates in my brain« (Steele-Perkins, 2013). My studies at Falmouth University and the topics this module deals with were the triggers to start working on it.

But what is it about?

Fig. 2: Unknown. ca. 1949. Settlers admiring the first grapes.

Griesheim, the town where I live, has only one city district, »St. Stephan«. It is named after the first king of Hungary (Kaltenecker 2003: 38 and Gromes 1989: 17). The neighbourhood was founded in 1948 as a settlement for refugees from Hungary, which had german roots (Kaltenecker 2003: 42).

The ground in this area is sandy and difficult to cultivate. Reasons for the government to settle the Hungarian people here was: They were farmers and knew how to grow wine on sandy soil (Kaltenecker 2003: 37). 

Fig. 3: Unknown. ca. 1900. Drawing of the military camps business area.

Another aspect of this area is that it was used since the 19th century for military purposes (‘Truppenübungsplatz Griesheim’ 2020). As an army training camp, later as a camp for POW’s. Since 1908, the oldest german airfield is located here (Aerodynamik 2020), initially used for civil purposes, then used by the German air force. From 1945 to 1992 it was called »Griesheim Army Airfield« by the US Army and the headquarters of the editorial office of »Stars & Stripes« (Methlow 2008). Today it is a nature reserve and used by Darmstadt’s University (Aerodynamik 2020). 

Fig. 4: Rauschkolb 2020. Typical house of the settlement

Back to 1948: The regional government planned to found a village in the style of a Hungarian community. Only farmers should live here. Nearby a similar settlement with Hungarian artisans should be built.

Darmstadt’s construction director Professor Grund and his team developed a standard house, based on Hungarian homes. The layout of the main streets has its origins in their religiosity and wartime experiences: They were supposed to symbolize the Corpus Christi from above (Knapp 2020).

Fig. 5: GRUND. 1949. Plan for »St. Stephan«

The settlers had to deal with the resistance of the people in the nearby town of Griesheim and german winemakers who feared competition (Kaltenecker 2003: 46 – 47). The plan to grow wine failed, and they switched to asparagus – for which our town is famous until today .

In the following years, St. Stephan and Griesheim grew closer together. In 1977 the settlement was moved out of Darmstadt and incorporated into Griesheim. New people moved in here; the old houses were rebuilt or replaced with new ones. As mentioned above, the era of military use ended in 1992 when the American forces left the airfield.

Today there are still traces of the area’s history visible. From an old building of the army camp, the original houses from the 1950’s to the bungalows for American soldiers.

Fig. 6: Rauschkolb 2020. Abandoned bungalow of the American army

The goal of this project is to give an insight into this place with photographic means. It will consist of archival and new images, documents and text.

List of Figures:

Figure 1: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Ruin of an old military building, Lilienthalstrasse, Griesheim.

Figure 2: Unknown. ca. 1949. Lene Radnai (Rückert), Lorenz Heger, Mrs Anna Hahn (Weber) and Kati Weimann (Birli) admiring the first grapes. (own translation) Collection G. Gromes at Stadtarchiv Griesheim. Available through: https://www.griesheim.de/bildung-kultur/stadtarchiv/

Figure 3: Unknown. ca. 1900. Drawing of the military camps business area. Collection G. Gromes at Stadtarchiv Griesheim. Available through: https://www.griesheim.de/bildung-kultur/stadtarchiv/

Figure 4: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Typical house of the settlement, Donaustrasse, Griesheim.

Figure 5: Peter GRUND. 1949. Plan for »St. Stephan«. Collection G. Gromes at Stadtarchiv Griesheim. Available through: https://www.griesheim.de/bildung-kultur/stadtarchiv/

Figure 6: Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Abandoned bungalow of the American army, Nehringstrasse, Griesheim.

Resources:

STEELE-PERKINS, Chris. 2013. ‘Magnum Masterclass conducted by Chris Steele-Perkins’ [Workshop, own notes]. Heidelberg, 12 – 15. September 2013.

GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh.

KALTENECKER, Krisztina. 2003. ‘Über Die Entstehung Der Ungarndeutschen Siedlung Sankt Stephan Bei Darmstadt. Eine Kommentierte Quellenausgabe’. In: Dr. Schwing, Josef (Red.): Suevia Pannonica. Archiv der Deutschen aus Ungarn. Jahrgang 21 (31) 2003. Chroma Verlag. Römerberg-Berghausen. S. 37-47 [online]. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/38970162/%C3%9Cber_die_Entstehung_der_ungarndeutschen_Siedlung_Sankt_Stephan_bei_Darmstadt._Eine_kommentierte_Quellenausgabe [accessed 4 Jul 2020].

‘Truppenübungsplatz Griesheim’. 2020. Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Truppen%C3%BCbungsplatz_Griesheim&oldid=196135963 [accessed 4 Jul 2020].

METHLOW, Frank W. 2008. ‘“Stars & Stripes” Verlässt Südhessen’. http://www.fr-online.de/spezials/goodbye-gis–stars—stripes–verlaesst-suedhessen,1472874,2693894.html [online]. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080301/http://www.fr-online.de/spezials/goodbye-gis–stars—stripes–verlaesst-suedhessen,1472874,2693894.html [accessed 26 Jul 2020].

AERODYNAMIK, Strömungslehre und. 2020. ‘Geschichte’. Strömungslehre und Aerodynamik – Technische Universität Darmstadt [online]. Available at: https://www.sla.tu-darmstadt.de/windkanal/einrichtungen_sla/flugplatz_sla/geschichte_fp_sla/index.de.jsp [accessed 4 Jul 2020].

KNAPP, Karl. 2020. ‘St. Stephan: Griesheim’. [online]. Available at: https://www.griesheim.de/unsere-stadt/historisches/st-stephan/ [accessed 26 Jul 2020].

A »Pilebrary«

My »Pilebrary« | © Marcel Rauschkolb

»Pilebrary« – a funny word, created by one of my tutors at Falmouth University. Our task was to create a pile of useful/interesting/inspiring books. Why? To get (again) a sense of the physical and tactile quality of different books – how they are made, what paper was used, in which way is it bound. Also a good way to go through the bookshelf and see whats there …

I have chosen twelve books to build the tile. For three, I will describe the reason why they were selected:

Rene Burri’s »Die Deutschen« (Burri and Enzensberger 1986) was my first photobook. I had the chance to meet Burri some years ago in Frankfurt, a wonderful person and (in my eyes) still an inspiration.

Nick Knight is a photographer I am following for years. Even though he’s been in the business for a long time, I have the feeling he never stands still, always finds a new subject or a way to photograph something familiar in a different way (Knight and Cotton 2009).

Great help for anybody interested in making books is the book on the pile’s top »Bookbinding: The Complete Guide to Folding, Sewing & Binding« (Morlok and Waszelewski 2017). 

References (from top to bottom):

MORLOK, Franziska and Miriam WASZELEWSKI. 2017. Vom Blatt zum Blättern: Falzen, Heften, Binden für Gestalter. 2. ergänzte Auflage. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt.

GNAUDSCHUN, Göran, Göran GNAUDSCHUN, BAUTZNER69 and HAUS AM LÜTZOWPLATZ (eds.). 2014. Alexanderplatz. neue Ausg. Ausstellung, Salzburg, 2014, Salzburg: Fotohofedition.

SOTH, Alec, Patricia HAMPL and Anne TUCKER. 2017. Sleeping by the Mississippi. London: Mack.

GHIRRI, Luigi and James LINGWOOD. 2018. Luigi Ghirri: The Map and the Territory. London: MACK.

HIDO, Todd and REFLEX MODERN ART GALLERY. 2015. Khrystyna’s World.

WEBER, Donald, Larry FROLICK and Teun van der HEIJDEN. 2018. War Sand. First edition. Edited by Paul Carlucci. Canada: Polygon.

EVANS, Walker and Gilles MORA. 1989. Walker Evans: Havana 1933. 1st American ed. New York: Pantheon Books.

CORBIJN, Anton. 2002. Star Trak. München: Schirmer/Mosel.

HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold van BRUGGEN. 2013. The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus. First edition. New York, N.Y: Aperture Foundation.

BURRI, René and Gerrit CONFURIUS. 1986. Ein amerikanischer Traum: Photographien aus der Welt der NASA u.d. Pentagon. Nördlingen: Greno.

BURRI, René and Hans Magnus ENZENSBERGER. 1986. Die Deutschen: Photographien, 1957-1964. München: Schirmer/Mosel.

KNIGHT, Nick and Charlotte COTTON (eds.). 2009. Nick Knight. New York, NY: Collins Design.