Kai-Olaf Hesse
Kai-Olaf
Hesse (b. 1966) lives as a freelance photographer and book designer in
Braunschweig since 2006.
Completed photographic apprenticeships in Hamburg, including freelance work for
daily newspapers, news supplements, sport picture and picture agencies. Worked
as a photo assistant before studying Communication Design at the University GHS
Essen; subsequently received a Diploma at the Hochschule für Grafik und
Buchkunst HGB in Leipzig with Professor Joachim Brohm. Worked at the Bauhaus,
Dessau before spending several years abroad. Worked from 1998 to 2006 in Berlin.
Has had numerous international exhibitions and publications and held various
teaching positions. He is a member of the German Photographic Academy (DFA).
His most recent book, 'Topograpy of the Titantic' (2007) has been
published by ex pose verlag and Belfast Exposed Photography.
Projects (selected)
Through the means of an art-documentary visual language, the work engages within
the area of 'social-historical landscape photography'.
City and topographical sited projects put an emphasis on questions, where
the conceptualisations are visually represented by means of referential
metaphors. These are often presented alongside the artefactual, including text
modules and/or historical pictorial material and represented in book as well as
exhibition formats.
2007 Twentysix
Gasoline Stations (revisited)
since 2005 SeeStücke – Mare Balticum (work in progress)
2005 1945 – Letzte
Schlachtfelder (work in progress)
2004 Periphery or
What?, Ostrava, Czech Republik
2002/03 Topography of the Titanic, Belfast
2001 67/89 :
Ortsbesichtigungen
2000–06 Depot_Bilder
1998–06 Bilder_in_Berlin
1995–98 65/66 – 24 views
1995–98 AfterImages from America
1995 An American
Space: The National Mall (with E. McNeil)
1995 Dawn to Dusk
Walk (with E. McNeil)
1994 Landing Zones:
Social Landscapes of D–Day
(with T. Krüger und E. McNeil)
1992–95 Bauhaus Dessau – Industrielles Gartenreich
(with A. Boesten)
1992 Braer-Oilspill
, Shetland-Isles (with A. Boesten)
Publications (selected)
2010
Ĉernā hvězda. Schwarzer Stern,
Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg
2006 Topography of the Titanic,
ex pose verlag, Berlin
2004
Within and Beyond the Wall, Toronto, Canada
2003/04 photosynkyria 2003 and 2004, Thessaloniki
2003 67/89, edition365,
ex pose Verlag, Berlin
2000 65/66, edition365,
ex pose Verlag, Berlin
2000 Berlin on the Move,
Goethe Institut Singapore
2000 Die Welt als Ganzes,
ifa/Hatje Cantz
1999 The Imperfect West
International Biennal Exhibition of Photography Torino
1998 photoFest 98,
Houston
1997 Contemporary German
Photography, Taschen
1996 Kunstpreis des
Landkreis Gifhorn
1996 Bauhaus Dessau –
Industrielles Gartenreich,
ex pose Verlag, Berlin (with A. Boesten)
1990 Polaroid Award Final
Art
Collections
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa), Stuttgart/Berlin
Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
Photographische Sammlung der Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin
Private Collections
Exhibitions in (selected)
Berlin, Dresden, Ostrava, Cobh, Toronto, Thessaloniki, Athens, Prague,
Singapore, Manila, Seoul, Torino, Houston, Leipzig, Munich, Cologne, Krefeld,
Dortmund, Herten, Bowling Green, Dessau, Essen, Braunschweig