go spazieren
go spazieren take a walk
WOLFGANG HASTERT
photographs and narratives
GO INTRODUCTION SPAZIEREN WITH TO COME ME Heimat seems so far away now. I am a foreigner here, yet it all feels so familiar. I share the images in this book with the reader who likes enjoying it alone, I will go spazieren and take pictures. That’s what grandma recommended. I will in quiet, by themself, and at length. This is the way I shoot the images ¬¬ in quiet, participate and conquer a story for myself. It is 5:35 pm, Pacific Standard Time. spending time alone to get a sense of the place I am working in. It is, in fact, The sun will set soon. I have to stay curious and follow my shadow until it is dark. just like spazieren gehen ¬¬ a time spent in contemplation and solitude. Heimat seems so far away now. I am a foreigner here, yet it all feels so familiar. However, I am often accompanied by my shadow. I let him enter the frame and I will go spazieren and take pictures. That’s what grandma recommended. I will lay him wickedly over the land in front of me that is not my homeland and where participate and conquer a story for myself. It is 5:35 pm, Pacific Standard Time. the places I explore have different coordinates than my birth place. My images The sun will set soon. I have to stay curious and follow my shadow until it is dark. are born out of curiosity for this country which I admired during my childhood, Heimat seems so far away now. I am a foreigner here, yet it all feels so familiar. looking West across the Atlantic. Over the years I have walked these two I will go spazieren and take pictures. That’s what grandma recommended. I will continents both of which I now call my home. Back in Germany it would be called participate and conquer a story for myself. It is 5:35 pm, Pacific Standard Time. Heimat ¬¬ a place that stands for much more than the physical space of The sun will set soon. I have to stay curious and follow my shadow until it is dark. hometown or fatherland. I keep photographing, confident that home and the idea of Heimat will continue to go spazieren with me.
A young man walks, slows down, and looks over his shoulder. Observing his shadow, he turns around and points his camera toward the ground. Before releasing the shutter, he says:
Now
One cannot return to the same place as the same person.
Heimat seems so far away. I am a foreigner here, but it all feels familiar. Though I am here, I am not part of this land. Wherever you find yourself stay curious. Grandmother would say, “Geh Spazieren ¬¬ go for a walk. Take pictures.” I will participate and conquer a story for myself. It is 5:35 pm, Pacific Standard Time. The sun will set soon. I will follow my shadow until the darkness comes.
A M E R I C A
New York. I am filming on Bleecker Street. Robert Frank steps out. We’ve met before. He recognizes me. He says, “Now... that I met you on the street... make sure there is no moment lost. You are on a beach. You dive into a wave.”
FA H R E N H E I T
CELSIUS
C r o s s i n g t h e b o r d e r, t h e we a t h e r i s t h e s a m e .
Yo u g i v e m e a n u m b e r. W h a t d o e s i t m e a n ?
A L O N G
T H E
B O R D E R
Tijuana. A man is at the market buying fruit for his family. He greets me with a nod. “Hey, companero.� The sun is low in the sky. He turns home. I watch him set out along the path, following his shadow through the desert until he is swallowed in darkness.
SUNSET
SUNRISE
S H A D O W
P L A Y S
Downtown. On the bus I meet a tall and curious man from Finland. He talks about the art of memory. We are traveling together to different places. As he leaves, he turns to me and says: “Remember... before you press the button, what happens inside your mind can happen inside your camera.�
S T A Y
C U R I O U S
Cape Cod. An older woman at the dump sees me taking pictures. After some time has passed, she finally speaks: “I’ve been watching you. You seem to be having fun. I sure hope you are finding some beauty in this mess.”
BREITENGRAD
49 Grad, 40 Minuten, 20 Sekunden, Nord
LATITUDE
32 degrees, 44 minutes, 32 seconds, North
LĂ„NGENGRAD
9 Grad, 40 Sekunden, Ost
LONGITUDE
117 degrees, 8 minutes, 5 seconds, West
E PI LOGUE
Heimat seems so far away. But now I understand. I have traveled far from home. From where I am now, I can see the clouds moving East across the Atlantic. The clouds will bring snow to my home town. It will be freezing cold. I will put warm clothes on when I go spazieren with my father.
Heimat
Heimat isn’t merely this piece of land with it’s narrowness and seclusion, this small and surveyable antithesis of the world and distance and life. The streams and brooks are Heimat, the ones that move through the land, the clouds are Heimat, when they spread over and above it, and the stars... are part of it.
Rainer Maria Rilke
THE ART OF MEMORY
For the time being, I prefer submitting myself to the limits imposed by pre-digital plastic camera technology. I happily trust that what happens inside my mind could also happen inside my Holga camera. I work on celluloid film, expose multiple negatives, and tell stories through combinations of frames as I advance the film by hand. I click the button just once and allow myself to prolong the decisive moment. When I record my memories, I capture the time that has passed, and the locales which have shifted during the multiple exposures of the negative. Funny enough, I am not just playing with my toy camera. I look beyond the one single frame to the next and then to the following. Never exactly knowing what kind of blurriness and inaccuracy will appear when I see the resulting image for the first time on my light table. I am happy to leave digital ueber-sharpness to others; I would rather focus on the art of memory as I take my camera for a stroll.
PLACES I WAL KED
in no particular order...
I would like to thank
Michelstadt, Germany, Auf der Mossauer Hรถehe
Charles Altschul
Desert Hot Springs, near Joshua Tree National Park
Howard Greenberg
San Miguel De Allende, Mexico, town square
Arno Rafael Minkkinen
New York City, Bleecker and Bowery streets the MFA faculty at Brawley, Imperial County, South of Salton Sea Maine Media College Calipatria, Southeast corner of Salton Sea North Truro, Cape Cod, near Provincetown
Shad Bee
South Truro, Cape Cod, near Fisher Beach landing
Agnes Eas Gooch
40 kilometers South of San Felipe, Baja California
Rachel Myers
Campo Indian Reservation, cemetery, East of San Diego Blair, Otto, and my family Bombay Beach, trailer park , East shore of Salton Sea here and abroad San Diego, Northpark, Morley Field
This edition of Go Spazieren is limited to ten copies containing a signed print. Each copy is signed by Wolfgang Hastert, This is copy
This book has been designed by Wolfgang Hastert, San Diego, 2010
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