Book Review: Archive, Matrix, Assembly: The photography of Thomas Struth
Tokamak Asdex Upgrade Interior 2, Max Planck IPP, Garching, 2009 Chromogenic print, 141.6 x 176.0 cm © Thomas Struth
By Dani Martin
Spanning over forty years of work, Nana Last’s Archive, Matrix, Assembly chronicles the photographic history and influence of German photographer Thomas Struth. An impactful and significant influence in the photography world, Struth was born in Geldern, Germany, in 1954. According to Last’s new book, he is known for his diverse and unique portfolio, with images of “uninhabited urban streets… families in their homes, people viewing artwork in museums, expanses of untouched wilderness, the space shuttle, Disneyland rides, patients in the operating room… wires, gauges, pipes… decease animals at a zoological lab.”
Space Shuttle 1, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral 2008, Chromogenic print, 199.3 x 376.7 cm © Thomas Struth
A single genre or theme cannot define Struth’s work. Instead, its constant evolution proves his ability to continue to diversify his art and seek out the unknown throughout his career. Last refers to this phenomenon as “Struth’s larger project of nonseparation,” the idea being that his work is cyclical. It evolves in a way that continually identifies differences and similarities within his images, both past and present. In her book, Last tracks Struth’s photographic evolution through three stages: archive, matrix, and assembly. According to her, “the initial series can be seen to form discrete single subject archives, the matrix phase creates associations between the archives to produce an array of hybrid categories, and Struth’s most recent photography constitutes what [she calls] assemblies.” Regardless of chronology, all three stages inspire and reflect each other throughout Struth’s immense body of work.
Coenties Slip, Wall Street, New York 1978, Silver gelatin print, 66.0 x 84.0 cm © Thomas Struth
Struth initially began his photographic journey with streetscapes, capturing crisp black and white images of uninhabited, empty streets. These streetscapes became the foundation of his work and the beginning of the archives portion of his career. “The photographs within them share affiliated content, pictorial structure, and perspectives,” Last writes, and “their origins lie in Struth’s pristine black-and-white of unoccupied urban streets.” The archives also include Struth’s early work on portraits, other landscapes, and spectators at museums.
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo 1991, Chromogenic print, 184.0 x 241.3 cm © Thomas Struth
The “matrix” section follows and builds upon the foundational archives while still providing a different perspective. Last describes these works almost as a familiar paradox to the archives: “In this stage, the archives’ mutually exclusive topics of streetscape, portrait, museum, and landscape transformed into a set of charged relations: unpopulated/populated, outside/inside, urban/landscape, cultivated/wilderness.” The matrix utilizes the archives to propel itself forward, reiterating that these works are not isolated from each other.
Pergamon Museum 1, Berlin 2001, Chromogenic print, 197.4 x 248.5 cm © Thomas Struth
Last uses Struth’s images of museums to demonstrate this idea of intermingling. In the archives, he captured photos of museum onlookers from behind, watching them admire certain paintings. Yet, in the matrix, Struth flips the perspective in his series Audience, shifting the narrative to what Last describes as “group portraits.” Rather than observe from behind, the focal point becomes the expressions and facial features of the museum-goers.
Grazing Incidence Spectrometer, Max Planck IPP, Garching 2010, Chromogenic print, 115.1 x 144.0 cm © Thomas Struth
Finally, the assembly phase is born out of the matrix, taking inspiration from all Struth’s previous work to produce new images. This stage focuses heavily on industrialized and mechanical structures, and Last suggests it can be thought of as a “meta-matrix” as it “absorbs the matrix’s relational mindset, to take as content what the matrix employed as operation.” These photos take you into factories, laboratories, and construction sites of impressive buildings and structures.
Figure, Charité, Berlin 2012, Inkjet print, 89.7 x 131.4 cm © Thomas Struth
Forty years of work has compiled an impressive portfolio, and Thomas Struth’s renown is undeniable. Archive, Matrix, Assembly tackles Struth’s history and provides a system to explain his photography that illustrates the transformations and growth within it in an accessible manner. Complemented by his photos, Last deep dives into his work’s complexities and intricacies and manages to catalog a distinguished photographer’s impressive and lengthy career.
