Chris Dreier
dal 26/1/2013 al 22/2/2013
Segnalato da
26/1/2013
Chris Dreier
Laura Mars, Berlin
Industrial Solutions #1, DOEL. North of the Belgian City of Antwerp, surrounded by giant port facilities, there is a small village called Doel. Her photographic work revolves around the subjects of decay.
North of the Belgian City of Antwerp, surrounded by giant port facilities, there is a small village called
Doel - the last remaining one not given way for container terminals. Right next to a huge accident-
prone nuclear power station rows of one-storied houses sit behind the dyke of the river Scheldt near
the Dutch border. According to a government decision made in 1997 the 700-year old village should
have been completely demolished by 2009. Due to competition with Rotterdam the port of Antwerp is
in the process of expansion. Despite the newly built terminals not working to capacity the government
is still determined to liquidate the village. Apart from 10 houses all 400 buildings belong to a semi-
governmental estate company – thanks to years of attrition policy. The last 21 remaining residents
hold the fort and defend their small brick houses in long court battles.
Doel is a sad ghost village, one has the impression that its inhabitants have only recently moved out,
but the housing stock has already been severely damaged due to years of abandonment and
depredation.
Chris Dreier’s new solo show “Industrial Solutions” puts Doel in the center. Her photographic work
(exclusively pinhole camera images) revolves around the subjects of decay, loss and abandonment as
a result of change, crisis and war. Europe in the late industrial era features a number of large-scale
areas characterized by defunct heavy industry, for example in Belgium, in East Germany and in
Northern England. The capital, which created these complexes, has long moved on to countries with
lower wage standards and left behind vast wastelands dotted with ruins and dying villages. Following
her series “Souvenir de Verdun” and “The Grim North” she began in “Randlandschaften” to focus on
the remaining giant power stations, which present themselves with majestic beauty.
In her war landscapes series the visible – the apparent idyll – and the invisible – the former battlefields
– sometimes correlate. Doel’s abandoned houses still look fairly well preserved – some have been
repainted, nevertheless the place is lost, although the new terminal might never be built.
Opening on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 5 pm
LAURA MARS GRP.
Sorauer Straße 3 10997 Berlin
Opening hours Tue – Fri 1 pm – 7 pm / Sat. 12 am – 4 pm