Elmar Haardt

The visible but often ignored result of set structures

November the 8th 2016 changed the world. It was as if the time was turned back. The last 50 years were wiped away. To wake up the next morning felt like a bad dream. This was the moment when I decided to do my second work on the United States. A country with whom a deep love connects me. My work of the last 15 years was always dealing with places and their special character. The scenes does not just have a documental purpose, but become an atmospheric, condensed and higher symbol of the situation perceived. The series „Land of Dreams“ understands itself as a parable on the riven country of the U.S.. Like in a parable nature and civilization seem to fight on territorial sovereignty. I am always looking for sites from mountains or higher standpoints, which gives us an overview over the situation, which unfolds the scenery in front of the viewer.

I am using a special technique to create my work. I compound my pictures out of four to six 8 x 10 inch slides (slides are sharper than negatives). After that I scan the slides and mount them together to one picture in Photoshop. Why I am doing all this work? The bigger the format of the slide/negative, the calmer is the picture, the world in front of the camera seems to be in a standstill. In addition I could set more than one sharpness-level, so that the foreground, the middle ground and the background are sharp. At the same time I have more than one exposure-level so that all areas of the picture are perfectly exposed. After that I print out the photographs together with picture editors in several days at a laboratory in Duesseldorf.

Through these old technique with analogue film material which takes a lot of more time, Los Angeles comes to a standstill in front of my camera. It seems as if you can see how Phoenix was planned and Las Vegas was created in the desert. I am looking for views were a city like New York shows its essence, its history and division. Urban space and its surrounding landscape is always a socially informed, defined space, i.e. it is always a product of society. The higher view from the mountains, were the time comes to a standstill, leads me to the center of my work: I am interested in the standstill the concentrated look at the visible but often ignored result of set structures.

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

I love it to be alone, when everything comes to a standstill.

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

Listening to the raindrops, that fall on the roof window. The smell of the wood oven. Looking on the backyard.

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

I am loving to work with analogue film material. Especially 8x10 inch. Especially diapositives. To work in the labaratory, after a lot of work was done in front of the computer. To see results on paper and after that mounted. Finally to be at the framers workshop and to smell the wood.

What themes do you pursue?

I like to make visible those unseen characters of a place

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

To find yourself, think for yourself.

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

On a billboard on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

Thomas Struth, El Capitan

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

A writer

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

The Isar River in Munich, San Gabriel Mountains Los Angeles

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