Landmarks

The Landmarks series is a conceptual documentation of architectural art objects on former mining dumps in the Ruhr area in Germany. The Ruhr area is one of the largest conurbations in Europe and has been significantly influenced by the development of industrialisation and mining in the last 200 years. In the Ruhr coal mining area, underground mining was carried out exclusively and inevitably with the coal extraction also largely unsaleable surrounding rock was mined. Most of this rock was dumped on artificial hills in the otherwise flat landscape. In total, the mining activities of the coal and steel industry in the Ruhr area have left behind more than 250 spoil heaps of slag and rubble, thus lastingly changing the region. Through a process of rewilding, and the erection of a number of art installations, some of these piles of slag and rubble have become unlikely tourist attractions. As such, they have been photographed many times. To offer a fresh perspective I decided to show the installations as mysterious objects, hoping to encourage multiple interpretations. The structures could be viewed as sculptures, giant toys, architectural models or just carefree points of longing in a man-made landscape.