Vladik Scholz – 5am

Inspired by the work of Cologne-based photographer Karl-Heinz Hargesheimer, called Chargesheimer, who in his last illustrated book “Köln 5 Uhr 30”, published in 1970, portrayed his home-town of Cologne as a threatening concrete jungle in 64 black-and-white photos, always taken with the same focal length and tripod height, Vladik Scholz, Cologne resident by choice, also visited the streets and places in the cathedral city almost 50 years later. For him, however, a critical reckoning with the architectural sins of the city was not the main focus. Rather, he used its concrete bodies for his own pleasure. Wandering in the morning after the dead of night presented him, as it did for Chargesheimer before, with the now deserted places in the center of the otherwise so hectic inner city. During his excursions, he was accompanied by Hendrik Herzmann, who photographed a series of pictures for a Red Bull exhibition at the Photokina trade fair that show skateboarding embedded in an unusual tranquility.