WALTER NIEDERMAYR - RAUMFOLGEN

Walter Niedermayr was born in Bolzano in 1952 where he now lives and works.

The author has performed a survey in the area of the former San Lazzaro psychiatric hospital and the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital of Reggio Emilia. The project related to his work in progress entitled ‘Raumfolgen', like the alpine Landscapes, Rohbauten (on unfinished buildings), Artefakte (on Motorways) and Bildraum (on architecture).

"Raumfolgen" means a: "place after the other" or "spaces which follow on from each other" or again it could mean "the consequences that the places have on the persons who live there". Hospitals, nursing homes or prisons are spaces that tend to be isolated and of which we perceive little, if anything at all.

These places are strongly characterised by their functionality, have rigidity and effectiveness as their principal reason for being: the space seems practically to have no emotion. Even the colours, green, blue and white are common features in the majority of hospital buildings and even the furnishing, like the flower vases, at a certain point become white. All this involves a further standardisation and a levelling off that can be seen in every hospital.

The artist looks at the space with particular attention as regards the movement of the persons inside that space. The space, understood in this way, has a real activity, with its own way of being and own intrinsic status. For this reason it is very important for the author to perceive a person or traces of a person inside the space.

Walter Niedermayr in this project on Reggio Emilia, therefore investigates the presence, albeit minimum presence, of the persons in these spaces hidden from view, perceiving the fragments and the signs.

This is how the artist tells us about his project for Storie Urbane (Urban Stories):

"When I have to approach a project, first of all I ask myself how it could correspond to the other work I am developing. In this case I thought of the psychiatric hospital and of the hospital in general, because they are places and spaces that have already been present in my projects for about 5 years. These places pose the question, in social-political terms, of the space and the architecture, understood as the use of space and of the standardisation to which they are subjected.

The particular aspect of the former San Lazzaro Hospital area is of being a historical space, that was built around 1600, whereas, up until now, I have only worked on contemporary spaces and therefore on modern architecture. Therefore, the approach is necessarily different because these are spaces that already have an established history, and are strongly characterised by a history about the human condition.

As regards the theme of this project about the town of Reggio Emilia, the Limit and the Boundary, I can say that all my work focuses on the limit: I have developed this idea of the limiting photograph, of seeing or not seeing.

In fact, hospitals are very large buildings, characterised by different types of architecture that hide vast areas of the town from our view, and at the same time condition the flow of those who work in the hospital and those who are hospitalised. They are spaces that host hundreds of invisible workers, who work for the community.

I was strongly impressed by the '30s and '40s rationalist architecture of the area of the former San Lazzaro psychiatric hospital and also the sense of ‘a town within the town'. It feels like being in a small town, with buildings that could form a town, the church, the schools, even if today, all this has another function. Prisons and hospitals are spaces that are excluded from view and are not part of our memory, spaces that are excluded because they cannot be accessed, but also because no one wants to go inside. This can be sensed also by the way the spaces are structured, with architecture that has a certain standardisation in terms of the structures, as well as the furnishing.

The landscape, here at San Lazzaro, is striking because of its complexity, its extension; almost suggesting a sense of freedom. The space appears to be absurd in this context because normally places in this type tend to be closed and claustrophobic".

[Extract from the interview made for video-documentary entitled Molte città, Sguardi diversi (Many towns, Different views) produced for the European Photographic Week].

A number of solo exhibitions

• Galerie Gebr. Lehmann Dresden, 2005
• Galeria Suzy Shammah Milano (I), 2005
• Museion Museum für Moderne Kunst Bozen (I), 2004
• Kunsthalle Wien (A), 2003
• Kunstverein Hannover (D), 2003
• Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (D), 2003
• Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (D), 2003

A number of collective exhibitions

• 10 ans de commandes photographiques au Centre Méditerraneén de la Photographie Bastia Korsika, 2005
• Nach Rokynik: Die Sammlung Der Evn, Mumok Wien, Kat., 2005
• Montagne/Berg, Museé cantonal des beaux-arts, Sion (CH), Kat., 2005
• Bida 2005, Biennal of Sport and Art, Sevilla, Kat., 2005
• Sanaa 21sth Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa (J) Kat., 2005
• Multiple Raume (2) PARK Kunsthalle Baden Baden (D) Kat., 2005
• Metamorph 9° Biennale di Architettura Venezia, The Nature of Artifice (I) Kat., 2004
• Public record, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (USA) Kat., 2004
• The spirit of white, Fondation Beyeler, Galerie Beyeler Basel (CH) Kat., 2003 photogallery di Walter Niedermayr