Iconic Geography

Images by the duo Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer – on show at Anteprima D’Arte Contemporanea, Roma – tell control technologies and the industrial paysage as part of the contemporary architecture’s beauty.

Andreana Scanderbeg e Alexander Sauer, Decommissioned Ams-Sxm, Mojave / Usa
The photographer duo Scanderbeg Sauer documents stranded attempts to tame and control technology.
They have explored places at the edge of civilization where mankind capitulates and gives up.
<b>Sopra, a sinistra</b>: Andreana Scanderbeg e Alexander Sauer, Busan, Korea. Courtesy The Artist. <b> A destra</b>: Andreana Scanderbeg e Alexander Sauer, Chavalon, Switzerland. Courtesy The Artist
Top: Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer, Decommissioned Ams-Sxm, Mojave, Usa. Above, left: Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer, Busan, Korea. Courtesy The Artist. Right: Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer, Chavalon, Switzerland. Courtesy The Artist

In aesthetically flawless images they conjured up the dazzling past of iconic airplanes that are stored in the desert. And in the new series Chavalon they captured the morbid beauty of our progress and pinpoint towards the loss of control.

Their earliest photographs and influences are the person who deeply shaped their opinion – besides the so-called Düsseldorf School – is a Swiss industrial photographer, Jacob Tuggener. 1943 he has made a book called Factory. While the Düsseldorf School of photography is very analytical and formal – you’ll find the man behind the work and you’ll find the emotional factor in his photography which is being the key issue.

In all the extreme oddness, you find the extreme beauty. Their idea of Sublime their strength is perhaps to find a beauty – even in the biggest mess.

<b>A sinistra</b>: Andreana Scanderbeg e Alexander Sauer, Chavalon, Switzerland. <b>A destra</b>: Andreana Scanderbeg e Alexander Sauer, Collombey, Switzerland
Left: Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer, Chavalon, Switzerland. Right: Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer, Collombey, Switzerland

They can be standing in a scrap yard, in facilities marked for clearance, coal mountains or a sausage factory – there is always a formality to discover and thus fulfill aesthetic requirements without this artificially beautified industrial images would arise. They also think a picture works much better the clearer it is – with the combination of high formality and geometric reduction.

This is certainly an ideal of their photography. In the 80s the happy worker has been shot while working at the bench with blue and orange light used. This is something that does not exist in their photography. If a customer wants to show working people in their factory, then we portray people, but we certainly do not put them behind the bench and let them pretend as if they are working. They think our world is honest and that makes it beautiful.

 

Andreana Scanderbeg (Los Angeles) and Alexander Sauer (Frankfurt am Main) are a photographic duo living in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2005, Scanderbeg and Sauer have produced a body of work that has seen them travel internationally. Their photographic work is primarily focused on the meeting of the corporate, industrial and personal, all characterized by a unique visual expression and consistent vision.


February 25 – May 5, 2015
Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer
Iconic Geography
Works 2005-2015

curated by Camilla Boemio
Anteprima D’Arte Contemporanea
Piazza Mazzini 27, Roma

Latest on News

Latest on Domus

Read more
China Germany India Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Sri Lanka Korea icon-camera close icon-comments icon-down-sm icon-download icon-facebook icon-heart icon-heart icon-next-sm icon-next icon-pinterest icon-play icon-plus icon-prev-sm icon-prev Search icon-twitter icon-views icon-instagram