Hans Christian Schink from November at the MdbK Leipzig

Under the title "Über Land," the MdbK is presenting the latest series of works by renowned photo artist Hans-Christian Schink (*1961 Erfurt). The subject of the work is the landscape of the far northeast of Germany, which the photographer illuminates from different perspectives in three different sub-projects. From a visual perspective, "Über Land" is a multifaceted, contemporary exploration of the influential tradition of European and North American landscape depictions—particularly Romanticism. At the same time, the work sits at the intersection of current social debates about the transformation of the landscape in the wake of climate and structural change, the associated loss of biodiversity, and the impacts of these processes on people's experience of nature.

While his projects over the past 20 years have taken him to the most remote corners of the world, Hans-Christian Schink has been concentrating for the past few years on his immediate surroundings in the Mecklenburg Lake District. This region – shaped by the last Ice Age – is extremely sparsely populated and, more recently, characterized by increasingly industrialized agriculture. In addition to his intensive photographic engagement with the landscape, his latest work combines a natural history interest in the flora and fauna, as well as an exploration of the history of the landscape (both geological and human-made). The artist was guided by two fundamental questions: What defines this landscape, and how can its character be captured photographically, but also through other forms of expression?

Two of the three subprojects of Über Land (Hinterland and Unter Wasser) have already been published as books by Hartmann Books. On the occasion of the exhibition opening, the third subproject, Am Weg (On the Way), will also be published, featuring an essay by poet and writer Uwe Kolbe that captures the peculiarities of the place on a literary level.