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Interview • 119 PH

Malte Uchtmann, ANKOMMEN

Leipzig, Germany

Please introduce yourself—what is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

Malte Uchtmann. I'm based in Leipzig, Germany. I work as a media artist and photographer and I am currently part of the Photography and Media Class and the Expanded Cinema Class at HGB Leipzig.

What is your relationship with photography, and how did you get into it?

I use photography and other image strategies as a means to examine the origins of our perception and social behavior. Working with and questioning the promises of documentary images, I reflect how concepts of knowledge, truth and reality are expressed and social order is created.

What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?

My work is most of the time based on extensive research and follows a conceptual line regarding the content and the asthetics. Still, when being at a place to photograph, that I chose beforehand, in the moment there is always space for intuition to find the fitting images.

What is the story you want your pictures to tell?

Instead of telling a story I usually want my images, to be a symbol, a semiotic surface, that is as much promising a reality than questioning it.

Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?

I like to work with what surrounds me in my daily life, looking at the ordinary that we take for granted and finding notions of biopolitics that affect our thinking and acting. Still I am very much interested to work in cities like e.g. Rome, Tokio, Dubai, New York or Shanghai for their historical or futuristic symbolism.

What is your personal relationship to cities, and how do you perceive them as places in general?

Cities for me are like a necessary evil. I enjoy every minute outside, but also could not live without.

Regarding your project ANKOMMEN: what was your intention, and how did you come up with the idea?

ANKOMMEN started with the observation that refugee accommodation looks different from other building complexes. It deals with the questions of where integration begins, as well as the extent to which architecture can have a discriminatory effect and whether it consciously excludes. The intention is to raise awareness of the impact of architecture for housing refugees and stimulate an exploration of the extent to which structural and institutional racism are embedded in our society and in architecture.

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Which project did you never finish?

Many. I start working on a lot of things, that often do not come to a form of presentation. Sometimes they merge into new projects or get to be part of something else. Sometimes I continue them after some time.

What do you prefer saying: «to take a photograph» or to «make a photograph», and why?

I would prefer to say «make a photograph», since it is not taken from something existing but created through various subjective processes. But as long as people don’t say «shooting» I am good with both.

If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?

My current pratice already includes many of my interests. Besides photography, this is media art, soziology, philosophy and media theory. But there are so many things I would be interested in doing and I would love to work less on the computer and more outside with my hands and body.

What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?

I am currently working on the book of our latest work The Perfect Crime created together with my dear friend Jan A. Staiger and on a interactive video installation on human interpretations of ant societies.

Thank you, Malte!

Editorial Notes

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Photography: Malte Uchtmann (2018–2019)
Locations: Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Hamburg, Celle, München, Braunschweig, Germany

Links: Website, Instagram, Kult Books