For a hundred years, architecture has been recognized as an undisputable trademark of German photography. From Albert Renger-Patzsch to Karl-Hugo Schmolz and of course Hilla and Bernd Becher, many innovators of architectural photography are indeed German.

German photography has led the world into a new understanding of our relationship to the urban and man-made environment. It revealed how photographs of architecture are important, not only as art, but also as a testimony of time, trends and evolution, as documentary of buildings that have since been destroyed. Matthias Heiderich’s photos are not the exceptions to the rule. The influence of the German tradition is omnipresent in his work. With the same rigor and pragmatism as the Bechers, Heiderich also creates typologies of industrial buildings and structures. Just like them, he isn’t interested in the human form and yet each of his photos is full of humanity, emphasizing how each building is a product of human mind and skill.

“Material“ is a collection of Heiderich’s work produced between 2012 and 2016.