Speicherseen, 2025
Stereograph cards, Indian Ink
Passato Presente, 11.4 – 9.6.2025, Helmhaus Zürich (CH)
The series Speicherseen consists of seven reworked views of alpine landscapes that would later vanish beneath artificial lakes created for hydropower. The photographs were produced in the late 19th century for stereoscopic viewing devices, which offered audiences around the globe a three-dimensional impression of distant places. In this sense, stereographs can be regarded as one of the earliest forms of photographic mass media.
Each card in the series has been partially overpainted with black Indian ink. The covered areas correspond to the current water levels of the reservoirs. The ink is applied in a mirrored fashion: what is obscured on one image remains visible on the other, and vice versa.
