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A Photographic Essay on the Genesis of a Building

The internationally renowned Austrian artist Elfie Semotan (b. 1941; lives and works in New York and Vienna) also works as a photographer, creating portraits of models, artists, landscapes, studios, and other motifs. "Wien Mitte" is her first portrait of a building. The office and shopping complex above an underground railway station is the largest new structure built in central Vienna in over a century. The core of the book consists of 121 photographs Semotan took during the unusually long period from the start of construction in 2009 until the completion of the extraordinarily complex project in 2014. Defying the conventions of traditional architecture photography, Elfie Semotan traces the building´s genesis with the characteristic keen eye for ambivalence and incongruity that has distinguished her work for leading fashion magazines and designers like Helmut Lang.
The resulting photographs capture moments in which the unequivocal quality of the scenery is upset: the monumental and archaic construction process work reveals its evanescent and delicate aspects; what is unprepossessing and ugly presents a fascinating and beautiful side as well.
The photographic essay is accompanied by conversations between Elfie Semotan and the art historian Max Hollein, the architect Laurids Ortner, and the architecture theorist Bart Lootsma, as well as an interview with the real estate developer Thomas Jakoubek by the journalist and critic Kimberly Bradley. Designed as a classic artists´ book, the volume will be of great interest to readers curious about Elfie Semotan´s multifaceted oeuvre as well as audiences concerned with the future of the European city.

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The Austrian artist Elfie Semotan (b. 1941; lives and works in New York and Vienna) also works as a photographer, creating portraits of models, artists, landscapes, and studios that have earned her international renown. "Wien Mitte" is her first portrait of a building. The office and shopping complex is the largest new structure built in central Vienna in over a century. The core of the book consists of around 150 photographs of Semotan took during the unusually long period from the start of construction in 2008 until the completion of the complex in 2013. Defying the conventions of traditional architecture photography, Semotan traces the building´s genesis with the characteristic keen eye for ambivalence that has distinguished her work for leading fashion magazines and and designers like Helmut Lang. The resulting photographs capture moments in which the unequivocal quality of the scenery is upset. The photographic essay is accompanied by converstaions between Elfie Semotan and Max Hollein, the architect Laurids Ortner, and Bart Lootsma, as well as an interview between the journalist Kimberly Bradley and the real estate developer Thomas Jakoubek.

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Elfie Semotan, geboren 1941 in Wels, lebt und arbeitet in New York, Wien und Jennersdorf (Südburgenland). Sie hat zunächst als Model gearbeitet und entdeckte Anfang der Sech-ziger die Fotografie für sich, die sie seither mit außerordentlichem Erfolg vor allem auf den Gebieten Mode, Werbung und Porträt ausgeübt hat (Vogue, Elle, Esquire, The New Yorker etc.). Sie war mit Kurt Kocherscheidt und Martin Kippenberger verheiratet.

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