Virginia Heckert

Candida Höfer creates meticulously composed images of public and institutional spaces marked with the richness of human activity, yet largely devoid of human presence. Whether a photograph of a national library or a lounge at Volkswagen's headquarters, Höfer's images ask us to conduct distanced, disengaged examinations through the windows she creates. The collected images present a universe wholly constructed by human intention, unearthing patterns of order and logic imposed on these spaces by their absent creators and inhabitants. The Architecture of Absence examines Höfer's oeuvre and its relationship to the work of other noted students of renowned professors Bernd and Hilla Becher.