Biography of Candida Höfer
Candida Höfer (born 1944) is a German photographer, former student of Bernd Becher and lives and works in Cologne. Her work is well known for its technical precision and perfection as well as its categorical conceptual approach. In earlier works she explored the changes in German society brought about by Turkish migrant workers, later however she completely dispensed with photography of humans and turned her eye to public spaces such as libraries, railway stations, museums, and zoological gardens. With the lack of human presence in her pictures, she plays with structures and details of space – layers of actual use and historical change.
Candida Höfer has produced a variety of photography prints, for instance Spiegelkantine III Hamburg (2000, edition of 100), Trinity College Dublin Library I (2004, edition of 100) and Villa Borghese Roma XVIII (2012, edition of 6). Lately, Höfer has taken rather abstract photographs, one example being flights of stairs. The results are beautiful, dizzying pictures without orientation and feel for distance or order. With her 70 years, the artist claims that "there are still many more interiors to be curious about." Her first solo exhibition was in 1975 at Konrad Fischer Gallery, Dusseldorf; since then, Höfer has received critical acclaim in shows throughout Europe and the United States and participated at the documenta 11 in 2002.