Anja Schlamann

Anja Schlamann (*1967 in Coesfeld, Westphalia) has been working as a freelance photographer since 2001. Within the frameworks of her work as an artist, she has travelled to, among other places, Cuba, Syria and Morocco. Her primary focus is the interaction between people and spaces. In her most recent series, this has lead to a staging of the self at special locations. Since 2008, she has been teaching Architectural Photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen. Anja Schlamann lives in Cologne.

“ENCANTO” – THE COLOGNE OPERA, 2012

In 2012, shortly before the refurbishment of the Cologne opera house, the photographer Anja Schlamann conducted an artistic analysis of the building. The opera house designed by Wilhelm Riphahn is one of the centrepieces of the Cologne cityscape featuring structures from the 1950s and an icon of German post-war architecture. The result of Schlamann’s analysis is a unique photographic portrait of the building.

“ENCANTO” uses the original state of the entire opera building complex shortly before its refurbishment as a unique architectonic stage. Fragmentary photos depict representative areas, as well as those normally closed off from public view. The sober perspective of the spaces is enhanced by moment of transitoriness through the inclusion of the figure of Carmen, who appears time and again sporadically and unexpectedly. Fleetingly, stepping out of the image, she creates a sense of imagination.