Impressions of a Peaceful and Quiet Settlement

The exhibition Impressions of a Peaceful and Quiet Settlement by Lydia Schubert and Hauke Rehfeld shows the intermediate result of their socio-artistic examination of (sub-)urban space. One focus of their collaborative work is the question of making visual experiences visible within our built environment, which due to their seeming banality and everyday life usually receives little attention. For Rehfeld and Schubert walks, bicycle tours and research form important tools in the work process for their appropriation of places that are creatively translated here into photographs and video recordings.

This is how the photo series Impressions of a Peaceful and Quiet Settlement (2018) was created, each consisting of a picture of sixty-four different detached houses. The figure comes from the number of single-storey semi-detached houses found in a settlement street in Karlsruhe-Mühlburg with a loft and saddle roof of an identical construction type. The serial game inherent in the photographs, consisting of a strict repetition of an almost identical motif, opens up a view of the almost varied, which tells the story of past or present residents. The presentation of the photos on a seemingly never ending, 27m long wooden board lends itself to the serial effect and comparative view; the overall visual picture of the work only opens up when you walk the route.

The photo series is supplemented by the video work Settlement 2.0 (2018). The smooth shots subtly rocking up and down accompany Hauke Rehfeld on his eight-minute walk through a heterogeneous old Karlsruhe district; occasionally he comes into view in the form of his shadow. The sequence of the different city quarters underlines the approach of the actors: it focuses on the personal, spatial and temporal experience of the settlement areas and the transit between them.