Industry.City.Image

In collaboration with the Chamber of Architects of Saxony, the ZfBK Saxony looks at the built industrial culture in our state in the unusual monumental perspectives of the photographer Jörg Dietrich. It is thus building on the Year of Industrial Culture 2020 and is bringing an exhibition project from West Saxony to Dresden for the first time, on loan from the Werdau City and Steam Engine Museum. "Industrie.Stadt.Bild" toured Reichenbach, Glauchau, Crimmitschau, Plauen, Zwickau and Werdau from 2020 to 2022, mainly as a window exhibition. In addition, the ZfBK is showing further industrial portraits by Dietrich from exhibition projects in Leipzig and Flöha, from the "Augen auf ibug" project, as well as new industrial panoramas that are being shown here for the first time.

Saxony is one of the nuclei of industrialization in Germany and was one of the most densely populated and industrialized, as well as most prosperous, regions in Europe at the turn of the century. It was a time when Chemnitz was called the German Manchester. The fact that history has since brought many challenges and setbacks for Saxony has had contradictory consequences for Saxony's historical architecture. On the one hand, the historical buildings have rarely had to make way for more modern buildings or have been built over by factory extensions. On the other hand, since reunification, many buildings have stood empty and are falling into disrepair or are being demolished. As a result, we see a variety of historical industrial architecture in the Saxon cityscape like hardly anywhere else in Germany. At the same time, after more than 30 years of reunification, this architectural heritage is more threatened than ever in many places.

Thanks to special technical processing, the building and cityscape perspectives in the exhibition provide an unusual view of industrial architecture (see online archive: panoramastreetline.de). Instead of depicting the typical view from one point of view, series of images were taken for the panoramas from several positions along the respective street front. Processed into a seamless panoramic view - the so-called streetline - the entire facade view of the partly oversized industrial buildings can be experienced, which otherwise cannot be viewed as a whole due to narrow streets, construction or the sheer size.

"Industrie.Stadt.Bild" is already the second exhibition project by Leipzig photographer Jörg Dietrich to be presented at the ZfBK. In December 2020, however, the cooperation with the Goethe Institute - "Germany Street Fronts" - could only be partially admired in the shop windows.

Opening: 5.12.2024, 6 pm
Welcome:
Juliane Naumann, Director of the ZfBK Saxony
Andreas Wohlfarth, President of the Chamber of Architects of Saxony and Chairman of the Board of the Foundation of Saxon Architects
Lecture presentation and insights:
Jörg Dietrich, photographer and curator of PanoramaStreetline