Candida Höfer: Liechtenstein. In Dialogue with the Collections of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and the Hilti Art Foundation
Candida Höfer

A member of the Düsseldorf “Becher School”, the acclaimed artist Candida Höfer (b. 1944 in Eberswalde, lives and works in Cologne) has previously created a number of site-specific groups of images, for instance in Brussels or Düsseldorf. The photographs taken in Liechtenstein in the autumn and winter of 2021 follow on in this tradition. For the most part, Höfer photographed the subjects with a large format digital camera: interior and exterior views of the museum architecture, libraries or store rooms which serve cultural purposes in the narrow and broad sense.
Characteristic of Höfer’s photographic oeuvre is an objective, down-to-earth visual idiom, a pronounced interest in structures and orders of space, and remarkable attention to detail. To create her images she makes use of the light available at the various locations and spaces, not using any spotlights for illumination, which in many cases results in long exposure times. Höfer’s photographs are the opposite of snapshots. They are carefully planned and precisely executed. The subject matter bespeaks human presence and influence, even if most of the spaces captured by the artist are deserted.

Candida Höfer: Liechtenstein will be the first ever exhibition to span all four top-lit rooms of the Kunstmuseum and the three exhibition rooms of the Hilti Art Foundation. Candida Höfer’s photographs are juxtaposed in a dialogue with selected artworks from the two collections. By panning out expansive, atmospheric associative fields, Höfer’s photographic oeuvre can engage in a dialogue with artworks from different genres from the period of classical modernism to the present day. Conversely, the unfamiliar contexts allow visitors to experience the broad range of Candida Höfer’s photographs from a fresh perspective.
A production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and the Hilti Art Foundation, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll, Letizia Ragaglia and Uwe Wieczorek.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with numerous illustrations and adapted “logbook entries” by the extended curatorial team that document the process of developing the exhibition project.