City of saints and madmen

The 'City of Saints and Madmen' is Taranto in Puglia. People settled there as early as the Stone Age. It was founded around 1,000 years before Rome and became an important harbour city in ancient times. Today there also is ILVA, Europe‘s largest steel werk. By its central location the industry complex is not only visually dominating the view of Taranto. There is always something in the air. This omnipresence produces a feeling of circling a sleeping dragon. The German word would be Lindwurm which is a dragon without wings. Despite the high environmental impact, ILVA so far has kept Taranto safe from gentrification... Tamburi is the quarter in Taranto next to ILVA. It‘s cemetery is visible witness of the rusty dust painting angels red and filling cheap graves by cancer and leukaemia. Paolo VI is a satellite town of Taranto. It was realized in the late 60s for the steel workers and their families. But even the small towns around Taranto, such as S. Giorgio Ionico, are characterised by a peculiar blend of contrasts: history and present-day desolation, ruinous poverty but nevertheless there is a fascinating beauty all of their own.

Holy Shit: Digital print on Baryt, 90x110cm, 2023-26

DUX: Digital print on Baryt, 2023

Tamburi: Digital print on Baryt, 90x110cm, 2026

Taranto: Digital print on Baryt, 90x110cm, 2026

Paolo VI: Digital print on Baryt, 2025

Dux means Duce. During fascism in Italy Mussolini was responsible for a lot of architectural activities, in Taranto among others these storage halls at Porta Napoli. There‘s a bus station now.

ILVA and Friends: Digital print on Baryt, 90x110cm, 2023

Tamburi: Digital print on Baryt, 2023

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