Samstag, 30.06. 19 Uhr
"Perdidit Locis Proxime", a Photo Exhibition
From 1949-1990 the population of East Germany steadily decreased from 19 million to 16 million people. That is approximately 4 million people. This is the only country in the world to experience such a population shift. Not even Iraq during the Gulf War experience such a migration. When the Berlin Wall fell back in 1989, Eastern Germany lost yet another half a million people who just got up and left, sometimes leaving all their personal belongings behind. This exodus alone represented over 2 percent of the population. Whole streets and neighborhoods were left empty and deserted. 20 years after the Fall of the Wall, there were still over one million empty apartments in East Germany-- that is despite having torn down over a half a million apartments.
Leipzig's population went from 530,00 to 437,00 between 1990-1998. As of 2010, Leipzig still had around 45,000 empty apartments.
Eastern Germany was also a heavily industrialized nation which produced everything from tractors to to cars to porcelain. Most of the factories were closed down because they were deemed "inefficient" thus unable to compete with factories in the West. As of 2010, 26 % of the office space was empty, that is about 928,000 square meters.
However, since 2010, the landscape has changed tremendously. As more and more buildings disappear behind scaffolding, the empty space, which had been a playground for creative people is dwindling quickly. Perdidit Locis Proxime" pays homage to a time which is quickly which is slowly slipping into history. 5 Leipzig photographers present their take on this theme using empty, or lost places as the back drop. The actual theme, however, is something more artistic. Light, shadow, texture and color showing how decay and abandonment can be beautiful.
