Hélène Binet has co-operated for over ten years with Peter Zumthor and photographically recorded and artistically interpreted most of his buildings, including the Therme Vals, Switzerland (1996), the Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Germany (2005), the Kolumba Museum, Germany (2007) and the Steilneset Witch Trial Memorial, Norway (2011). Capturing the quintessence and nuance of the buildings, Binet simultaneously reveals a new perspective for a modern audience.
Swiss contemporary photographer Hélène Binet has photographed architecture for thirty-five years and co-operated worldwide with the most renowned architects such as Peter Zumthor, a renowned Swiss architect recognised for his pure and austere structures, which achieve symbiosis with the surrounding landscape of the buildings. His timeless and poetic architecture has earned him the Denmark’s Carlsberg Prize for Architecture (1998), the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale (2008), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2009) and the gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2013). The depth of knowledge of architectural history is manifest in the way Hélène Binet portrays her subject matter, and her intimate understanding of each building is evident in the way she conjures up the spirit of the space through light, shadow and texture. Her unique style of capturing the essence of architectural masterpieces has earned her the most prestigious awards, such as the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award of 2015 and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize of 2019 for outstanding contribution to the field of architecture. She was also voted to be one of the ‘Hundred Heroines: Celebrating Women in Photography Today’ by The Royal Photographic Society in 2018. The most recent milestone in her career was the solo exhibition ‘Light Lines: The Architectural Photographs of Hélène Binet’ at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from October 2021 to January 2022. The show featured around 90 photographs spanning projects across Hélène Binet’s career, focusing on her ability to capture the essential elements of architecture.
Ammann Gallery
Teutoburger Str. 27, 50678 Köln, Allemagne
10 juin – 15 juillet 2023