Theseus und Kentaur

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Leipzig photographer Frank Berger brings together two projects, 'Traffic Assistants' (Shanghai 2008) and 'Theseus and Kentaur' (Vienna 2007) in this handsome slipcased two-volume set accompanying a museum exhibition. Comprised of extensive series of photographic images taken in a single setting, both projects depict variations of mundane dramas in identical frames. Shot in high-resolution on reversal color slide film and exhibited as projections, the pictures do not capture a unique moment, but (in exhibition) are presented in an endless loop of similar but layered images, a method that perhaps can be described as a gesture of insistence. Human figures become heroic subjects of contemplation in 'Theseus and Kentaur', or Chaplin-esque figures in 'Traffic Assistants', in which police in Shanghai try to control local traffic. Whatever the subject, the insistent look of the photographer transforms each setting into a visual stage, in which the static scenery outlasts the cast of characters.