Press

Media Responses to the Book and the Exhibition

* BOOK OF THE MONTH
" Shut Down" is the common denominator of the industrial sites that Christoph Lingg has added to our visual memory in a fascinating, ambitious project."
( PROFIFOTO, Germany, Nr. 12/07, December 2007 )

* " Majestic photographs of abandoned factories in deserted landscapes. Cathedrals
of decay "
( U_mag, Hamburg, Germany, 01/08, December 2007 )

* "... almost surreal views of crumbling architectural ruins, gracefully abstract and
with apocalyptic charm. ... to the beautifully conceived exhibition "Shut Down" "
( Falter 49/07, Vienna, Austria )

* Presentation of the book and the exhibition.
( Leporello, Ö1, Austrian Radio, 27.11.2007)

* Presentation of the exhibition and the book.
( a.viso, ORF 2, Austrian Television, 2007-12-09)

* Interview on the book and the exhibition.
( MDR-Figaro, Das Thema, German Radio, 2008-01-17 )

* "… the photographs are really impressive. Heading out in new directions
accompanied by decay. Simply beautiful."
( KURIER, Kultur & Medien, Vienna, Austria, 29. 11. 2007 )

* " Until January 7 the Leopold Museum in Vienna is showing impressive pictures
   of industrial ruins in the east taken by the photographer Christoph Lingg from
   Vorarlberg. ... The catalog, which is bound in rusty metal, is also a work of art."
   ( Salzburger Nachrichten, Kultur, Salzburg, Austria, 30.11. 2007 )

* "Shut Down" – a book and an exhibition like an elegiac warning memorial.
( WIENER ZEITUNG, extra, Vienna, Austria, 01.12. 2007 )

* " In the ruins of progress and prosperity. ... For three years the photographer
   Christoph Lingg traveled through the countries of the former East Bloc, tracking
   down the remains of heavy industry."
   ( Tages Anzeiger, Kultur, Zurich, Switzerland, 04.12. 2007 )

* " Highly impressive " That the Leopold Museum in Vienna, widely known for its
   extensive   Schiele holdings, for the first time gives room to contemporary
    Photography with the exhibition" SHUT DOWN - Industrial Ruins in the East "
    is not self evident at all. Elisabeth Leopold who represented her husband Rudolf
    Leopold at the press reception saw parallels between Schieles " Dead City " and
    the photographs of Lingg.
( derStandard.at, Kultur, Vienna, Austria, 2007-11-29 )

* " What is left when progress turns in another direction? Silence. Wind. Rust. And
powerful images like those currently on view at the Leopold Museum in Vienna."
( Die Presse, Quergeschrieben, Vienna, Austria, 05.12.2007 )

* "... the cropping, the perspectives, the deliberately (a)symmetrical compositions
   of exteriors and interiors result in a whole – in terms of both content and aesthetic
    power."
  ( Der Standard, Album, Vienna, Austria, 07.12.2007 )

* "...that show the melancholy downfall of a utopia. ... They have been "shut down."
   And in Lingg’s photography these words actually attain the status of final rest.
   Almost as monumental as the industrial ruins themselves is the book published for
   the exhibition"
  ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Feuilleton, Zurich, Switzerland, 08.12.2007 )

* " The authentic atmosphere that the photographs convey stems from the fact that
   Lingg foregoes subsequent manipulation. Instead, he trusts in what he finds – as it
   is, abstains from staged arrangments and does without sophisticated lighting. The
   documentary power of the subject is in the forefront, showing decaying architecture
   and the reclaiming forces of nature in a harmonic manner that pays equal respect to
both."
( kunstmarkt.com, Germany, 29.12.2007 )

* " Photographically perfect and demanding – Christoph Lingg is still an analog
  photographer working with a classic medium-format camera. In his large-format
  pictures he presents the aesthetics of decay and the melancholy aura of gigantic
  industrial sites that have become obsolete. … Completely robbed of their original
  purpose, Lingg’s industrial ruins now serve as symbols of futility and the failure of
  utopian doctrines for the producing economy...."
( VORARLBERGER NACHRICHTEN, Kultur, Schwarzach, Austria, 03.01.2008 )

* " Linggs pictures are still lives of an enchanted modern age. Besides the melancholy
of the decay they give off, first of all, the aura of a deep fairy tale peace, lead and
ramshackle: could not what rests here, in a moment awake to new life and
disintegrate to dust in the next? "
( FAZ, Literatur, Frankfurt, Germany, 09.02.2008 )