GRAZ.- Susanne Kriemann, in her radically expanded conception of photography, researches geological periods and challenges the politics of visibility: What could it mean to understand the world as a giant recording system, as a photograph?

Camera Austria’s exhibition space in the Eisernes Haus (Iron House) forms the backdrop for the project Hey Monte Schlacko, dear Slagorg (since 2024). In the contaminated, exploited landscape of a vacant site for mining ore, there are mosses and lichens interacting with other plants, regenerating the soils alongside rocks; echoing in the scenography is the exhaustion, resistance, and trauma of these anthropocentric geographies. This most recent work dialogues with Susanne Kriemann’s long-term research approach, which focuses on the vegetation of landscapes that uranium mining has left behind: the plants metabolizing these toxic soils bring color to the silk panels of Canopy canopy (since 2018); Wild Carrot, False Chamomile, Ox Tongue (Wilde Möhre, Falsche Kamille, Bitterkraut, since 2016) romp through heliogravures; the radioactive pitchblende (Pechblende, since 2015) exposes autoradiographs and photograms; and X-ray images show skeletons of plants like lupine, fern, and gorse bush (Lupin, fougère, genêt, since 2024). The “library for radioactive afterlife” (since 2015) offers publications with different narratives from the Atomic Age, and it expands Camera Austria’s library while also underscoring Susanne Kriemann’s book-making practice.

The exhibition is accompanied by an English-language reader published by Edition Camera Austria, which brings together authors who offer a frame of reference for Susanne Kriemann’s work: Siobhan Angus, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Zippora Elders, Daisy Hildyard, Bhanu Kapil, Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou, Lisa Rosendahl. Book design: James Langdon.

Susanne Kriemann is an artist and a professor at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (DE). Since 2010 she co-organizes ABA – AiR Berlin Alexanderplatz (DE) together with Aleksander Komarov. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including The Wattis Institute, San Francisco (US); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (AT); Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL); C/O Berlin, and MK&G Hamburg (DE); at the 2nd Diriyah Biennial Riyadh (SA), the 11th Shanghai Biennial (CN), the 10th and 11th Gothenburg International Biennials (SE), the 2nd Karachi Biennale (PK), the 5th Moscow Biennial (RU) and the 5th Berlin Biennial. She has authored eighteen artist’s books since 1998.