I’m a camera with its shutter wide open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed.

Hans-Peter Feldmann chose this quotation from Christopher Isherwood as the motto for his artist book GRAZ, published by Camera Austria as a contribution to Graz 2003: Cultural Capital of Europe. For the presentation of the book, Feldmann will show the roughly 370 black and white photographs from the book in an exhibition at Camera Austria Gallery beginning January 10, 2003. The idea for the artist book arose in 1999 ? the year in which the historical centre of Graz was registered as a UNESCO Cultural Heritage and Hans-Peter Feldmann was awarded the Camera Austria Award of the City of Graz. The photographs were taken in January and June 2002.

Isherwood’s quotation also stands for Feldmann’s methodology and attitude which are characterized by a non-judgmental view through the camera of the things of everyday life. Feldmann’s photographs propose an image of this city that corresponds to the view of its residents: their relationship to the city, marked by daily movements through its space and by their work. In this view, it is not the landmarks or grand vistas that are important, but rather the paths, houses and squares, which every single resident, in their own topography, conjoins to form their own image of this city.