Thomas Struth (DE) opens International Photographers' Stage

Thomas Struth is the first guest at the new International Photographers' Stage series at The Black Diamond. The world-renowned artist will be on stage in the Queen's Hall in conversation with cultural journalist Anja Bo to talk about Struth's iconic photography: from empty photos of post-war cityscapes to works of human behaviour.

Humanity's technological achievements and the human itself

Thomas Struth began his career at age 19 at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he first studied painting with Gerhard Richter and then photography with Bernd and Hilla Becher at the same school as Thomas Ruff, Candida Höfer and Andreas Gursky, among others.

Here the foundations were laid for Struth's artistic vision: he wants to use photography to explore human psychology and cultural communities - since 2007, often through images of humanity's technological achievements.

Tight visual styles and conceptual approaches

The conversation will explore Struth's oeuvre from the series with human industrial achievements as motif to series on cultural, spiritual or religious rituals. Struth's early works follow strict principles: the black-and-white photos of streets and skyscrapers follow a symmetrical structure and are empty of people. The large-format photographs show the cities as themselves, without the eye being drawn to other subjects. Since then, Struth has visually explored man's ability to develop and build world-changing industrial structures such as shipyards and oil rigs.

Thomas Struth

Thomas Struth is a graduate of Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Struth's solo exhibitions include the Kunsthalle Bern, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo and Kyoto) and the Museo del Prado (Madrid). Thomas Struth lives and works in Berlin and New York.

Anja Bo

Anja Bo is a documentary filmmaker, television editor and journalist. She graduated from Roskilde University with a degree in journalism and social sciences. She has previously worked as a reporter for the Danish TV channel TV2.