Middle Class Utopia
Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler presents a study on allotment gardens, limited spaces of greenery that are cultivated and modelled according to independent aesthetic and formal principles and standards defined by modern society. His staging is guided purely by the subjective and personal vision of the occupants.
The microcosm of the small garden is characterised by a particular morphology designed and created by the middle and working class. The photographic work describes how this utopia, this "non-place" according to its Greek etymology, adopts real character on the outskirts of large cities and metropolises. The ground and its cultivator are subjected to the internal rules of the world of small gardens. The aim of these ventures is to offer recreational opportunities, to promote communication within the community, to anticipate and guarantee times of relaxation, to allow for personal thriving...
The humour of Klaus Pichler subtly redraws the contours of a sometimes grotesque formalism, which is always very orderly as a result of a slightly pedantic domestication of nature, yet always carried out with love and skill.
Text: Annick Meyer
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© CDI 2014