Zollverein Infrared II

This photographic base was shot at "Zeche Zollverein" - an industrial monument of a former cole mine and UNESCO world heritage site in Essen, Germany - with a modified Infrared Camera.

Printed on Fine Art Hahnemühle Hemp Natural Line 290 g/m2.

Each print comes signed and numbered. 

Unframed. With a small white border. Send in a tube.

Print size 90 x 75 cm - Edition of 10

Print size 60 x 50 cm - Edition of 10.

Print size 30 x 25 cm - Edition of 10.
Print size 10,5 x 14,8 cm (DIN A6) - Open Edition.

A Walk Through Logic, Where Reality Was Never Invited.

There are photographs that hit you in the face, and then there are those that lead you into another room with a polite, but slightly mocking smile. Thomas Haensgen's image from the Zollverein Infrared series is undoubtedly the latter—a composition that at first glance seems like a tribute to the sober symmetry of New Objectivity, only to then reveal a color filter that looks as though someone accidentally took control of an 80s Gameboy. It’s as if Bauhaus had spent a night with David Lynch, and this is their child.

The precise geometry of the buildings—these strict, almost schoolmasterly perfect lines—is transformed into deliberate absurdity by the ridiculous color palette. The ground is bathed in pink, a hue that normally evokes sugary childhood memories rather than heavy industry. But here, it’s not a soft, inviting pink; it’s a jarring, almost synthetic shade that forces the viewer to take a second look. And when you notice the solitary passerby in their perfectly coordinated outfit, you can’t shake the impression that this person is strolling through the image just to wink at you and say, “Yes, it’s strange, but you love it.”

Haensgen has created a balancing act here that feels like the sensation of cranking up the heater in the middle of winter while simultaneously leaving a window open. It’s irritating, but also kind of brilliant. Infrared photography here is not used as a scientific instrument, but as an ironic statement—a visual footnote that reminds us even technology can have a sense of humor. At the same time, it’s a subtle critique of the sterility of modern architecture, brought to life through color in a way that almost hurts.

In the context of art history, one might place Haensgen's work somewhere between the cool precision of Bernd and Hilla Becher and the color-rush experimentation of James Turrell. But that would be too easy. For where Becher focuses on documentation and Turrell on transcendence, Haensgen delivers an absurd mixture of both: the poetry of the functional, packaged in a visual joke you’ll only understand if you're willing to engage with it.