Landesinnung der Berufsfotografen Niederösterreich

In theatres the safety curtain hermetically seals off the stage from the auditorium. An ultimate boundary that not even fire can cross. In the same sense we understood the political and ideological Iron Curtain that separated the two value systems in Europe for decades: the democratic states in the west, geared towards a market economy, from the dictatorships of the “real socialism” in the east, geared towards a planned economy. When -Hungary started to take down the Iron Curtain on 2 May 1989, the gate to freedom was open for thousands of GDR citizens. In June, foreign ministers Alois Mock of Austria and Gyula Horn of Hungary cut down the border fence between the neighbouring states in a symbolic gesture. Just over 30 years ago, on 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

Reason enough for the Lower Austrian Guild of Qualified Photographers to invite the photographer community to reflect on boundaries in their pictures. Not just on physical borders, but also on all kinds, even those in your head, on inclusion and exclusion, and so on.

To convey these boundaries even more clearly, we asked the photographers to use infrared photography. It uses light wavelengths that are longer than those of visible light. This means that delimitations of objects become more clearly recognizable than in visible light and has inevitably led to discoveries in places where everything seemed to be known already.

Since early March, certain goods, which we used to overlook mostly, have taken up a very special place in our lives: face masks, disposable gloves, disinfectants – or toilet paper. Most of the time the use we make of them is short. We go through enormous quantities of them, which then turn into waste. This simple description masks decisions about chemical and physical processes that last for centuries – or forever, as in the case of PVC. 

Photography apprentices from Lower Austria and Salzburg explored this situation visually. Not only did they develop creative interpretations to honour these objects, they also assessed the potency of these everyday objects for us and our environment.