Lukas Hoffmann's photographic work only crosses territories in order to stop at their boundaries. In these indeterminate and subjective zones which draw a border with no landmarks or dividing lines, the artist produces his surveys. His photos do not focus on non-places or suburbs; they do not have the eloquence of images offered unreservedly, but they do call for a certain slowness if they are to be understood. Expectation is the sole condition of the visual experience. His photographs reinstate the timespan of a place, its forgotten life, caught up in the speed of everyday existence. They subtly illustrate a de facto state, often the more or less salient stage of a lengthy process. Trees and plants invade the architectures, lending all their weight, however, to their concrete walls; and express an organized world in the process of being extensively constructed. Here there is a tangible connection that does not contrast construction with nature, but rather presents them in this sharedness which represents their meeting point. The wasteland areas photographed by Lukas Hoffmann are not closed territories; they offer the potential of a side street, a promenade, a perspective.

Text © 2007 by Guillaume Mansart for Printemps de Septembre ‡ Toulouse and Jeu de Paume hors les murs