As a “chronicler of the absent,” as the writer Thomas Weski described the photographer Laurenz Berges, the latter approached a deserted place, the Brenninckhof in Mettingen-Wiehe, which is still interwoven with traces of everyday life.  

Numerous photographs led to the sixteen-part series, which includes views of the building—inside and out—as well as of the wintry Westphalian surroundings. In the Draiflessen Collection magazine OPEN UP!, in a piece entitled “... only a commissioned work,” Laurenz Berges—a student of Bernd Becher—gives insights into his working methods in conversation with Dr. Corinna Otto. He touches on subjects ranging from the approach to an object to the lengthy development process in the darkroom, combined with the struggle for the right, the good picture. This intensive examination can also be felt in these photographs of the half-timbered courtyard, which—despite their documentary power—capture the magic of this place, the present in the absent.