The last month or so has been a tough one for photography. Rather than dwelling on the deaths of John Szarkowski and Bernd Becher, I want to draw some attention to a young photographer who has been adopting terminology made famous by the Bechers for one of his most recent projects.
Mark Luthringer photographs the future artifacts and humble infrastructure–which he terms “monuments”–of post-industrial culture, which he then arranges into grids for display. His use of the word “typologies” to describe his series (serieses?) is a direct reference to the Bechers, who meticulously photographed water towers and other architectural structures and arranged them in similar grids. (See the black and white image below.)
The similarities end there. The Bechers produced their typologies as part of a complicated psychological response to life in postwar Germany, whereas Luthringer simply foregrounds the ubiquity of our contemporary mongrelized design. (For a great brief summary of the mission of the Bechers, and their lives, see the entry on them at 5b4.) Luthringer’s attitude toward this design is ambivalent, open about some forms and critical about others. The Bechers began with an idyllic attitude towards their subjects, and their presentation–always consistent in a way that Luthringer’s is not–was starkly emotionless.
In case it isn’t obvious, I don’t think that Luthringer’s adoption of the term “typologies” is completely fair. It feels like he’s trying to place himself within a tradition that doesn’t really gibe with his work, and his cultural critique is too common, too easy, and too Puritanical. That said, I admire Luthringer for the coherence of his artists’ statement–he’s clearly an intelligent photographer wrestling with important issues–and for some of the design elements he highlights in “Ridgemont Typologies.” In particular, the front doors of homes in developments presents a depressing look at the bland similarity of these objects of middle-class desire. My favorite subject of his would have to be the mall roofs, something your average suburbanite sees every day but never really examines (see below). Isolated, they make you wonder: are these architectural forms meant to be benign amalgamations of older forms we’re already familiar with? They’re sort of chameleonlike, familiar but totally unplaceable–structures designed for transparency. 
Top illustration © Bernd and Hilla Becher. Bottom illustration © Mark Luthringer.
Post a Comment