Candida Höfer
[Photographer, b. 1944, Eberswalde, Germany, lives in Cologne, Germany.]
I do my work. My work is my statement. Generally, I think, there is too much interest in what an artist has to say. Or what she or he looks like, instead of what she or he does.
Spaces may or may not invite the image—if they do, they mostly do it with their spatial layers of time… It is then the image that takes the place of the space; the image in its own right.
I photograph in public and semi-public spaces that date from various epochs. These are spaces accessible to everyone. They are places where you can meet and communicate, where you can share or receive knowledge, where you can relax and recover. They are spas, hotels, waiting rooms, museums, libraries, universities, banks, churches and, as of a few years ago, zoos. All of the places have a purpose, as for the most part do the things within them.
