© Andreas Tschersich, Atlantic City, from the series 'peripher'

What about the places where you have grown up. Any memories?

Andreas Tschersich (AT): I grew up in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, a small working-class town, run-down for Swiss relations. Due to the oil crisis and the decline of the watch industry in the '70s, there was a lot of unemployment when I finished my studies in 1997. Growing up I was marked by the image of a city where the best days were over. Early on I was fascinated by so-called non-places or »terrains vagues« in the urban environment.

What about photography, when did you step into the visual world?

AT: My father used to develop black and white prints at home with red lights and everything. That's how I got in touch with the magic of analogue photography. Later on, during my graphic design studies at the local school, I did a lot of black and white series, too, already approaching the theme of urban places in my hometown.

© Andreas Tschersich, Voelklingen, from the series 'peripher'

How do you cope with fast interconnections and instant sharing? How this is affecting your practice?

AT: Not at all. I'm not sharing my work on social media. I'm working really slowly, rather than pushing the limit in the opposite direction. For example, I still have undeveloped films photographed in 2018 and 2019 at home and the latest work I produced was photographed in 2008.

How would you describe your approach to the medium? What does attract you to cities and urban spaces?

AT: I tried different media, especially painting. The theme was always there and eventually, color photography seemed to be the most appropriate for a realistic depiction.  However, here is a painting from 2006. peripher A (Red Road, Glasgow) is an approach from a different perspective. 

© Andreas Tschersich, 'peripher A (Red Road, Glasgow)', 2006, Oil on canvas, 170 x 220 cm

From time to time I have ideas to approach the theme differently, choosing the appropriate medium. Another thing is the fact we always generated our own imagery for our graphic design projects during the studies. This also has a big impact on how to approach photography, I believe.

Your series peripher was shortlisted for Urbanautica Institute Awards 2020. Can you briefly introduce what motivated you to start this project and to keep going for such a long time?

AT: I always wondered what those urban places were defined by. Isn't it more about what is absent than what there is or what can be seen? I want to translate this feeling into a (photographic) image, still struggling on knowing what makes a photograph become a »good« work and what is it depending on or influenced by.

Your peripher  commitment is a process of investigating the settlement condition. A reflection on urbanism and therefore on how to relate to space. What have you learned from your many observations?

AT: I really enjoy exploring new urban territories. Even if this kind of battle wrenching images from the built environment can be really exhausting sometimes. There are so many factors to be considered but can not be controlled. Of course, there is something generic about my work because it could literally be everywhere. The feeling is the same wherever you go. This is what "peripher" is all about. Being familiar with places you have never been before. Everybody knows those places and the feeling they evoke. It doesn't necessarily have to be located in the outskirts, it can also be in the town center. On the other hand, large format prints let the viewer experience the moment as if being there in person. The details you can explore are very important. They tell a lot of stories and locate the image.

© Andreas Tschersich, Detroit, from the series 'peripher'

© Andreas Tschersich, Linz, from the series 'peripher'

© Andreas Tschersich, Charleroi, from the series 'peripher'

Many scholars argue that the city has moved beyond its border, definition, conditions, to become a liquid state of mind that is spreading everywhere and modifying that same hypothesis on the basis of its historical origin. What have you observed in your urban pilgrimage over the years? How did you see the urban landscape changing?

AT: I didn't experience a change over the years really. The book published in 2016 could stand as a metaphor that time has stopped. It could be a walk through one city although it is showing places all over the world in a span of ten years. While town centers are getting more and more touristic, disposable, and only affordable for a few, most of the people are pushed to the outskirts. I don't think we are aware of those places of everyday life where most people spend their lives.

Light Sensitive – Photo Art from the Collection. Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau 2012 (Photos: Dominic Büttner)

Urban photography is often seen as an exercise in architectural composition, as an objective, rational observation. Yet as you well write there is something more. There is a need for the photographer to confront himself, to get lost in walking, to be surprised by the situation. Tell us about your »being«, and »existing« through photography. Your wandering through cities, life, time passing...

AT: I'm still very much fascinated by the difference between the imagination of the place when taking the photographs and its resulting depiction. It's very much about expectations. The closer it feels in the imagination, the farther away is the emerged image, usually. Sometimes it takes quite a while to realize which images are working out. It's also about time and getting used to the images. When producing an artwork I schedule one week for retouching and creating the digital montage. Therefore I spend a lot of time with the place I have photographed, much longer than it took me to take the photographs. This engagement with the place makes it become a part of me. They have kind of grown on me. This is the reason I try, whenever possible, to revisit them to see how they are going. Normally the places have become worse or are completely gone. I seem to have the right touch for disappearing places…

© Andreas Tschersich, Kawasaki, from the series 'peripher'

© Andreas Tschersich, Kawasaki, from the series 'peripher'

You wrote "I make use of technology not to falsify reality, but to cling to it as closely as possible", can you develop this concept and your methodology...

AT: As explained in the text you mentioned all images consist of a digital montage technique of several medium-format negatives invisible to the viewer to form one big picture in order to portray larger sections without distorting the perspective, which would be inevitable in a mechanically constructed single-shot exposure using a large format camera. This allows me to keep as close as possible to the "human gaze", the experience of an instant. This technique allows me to stay closer to the human eye instead of having an image completely generated by a machine. It also kind of anticipates the human ability to unconsciously assemble different images into one whole image.

No use-by date. Gift and Loans of the Sammlung Migros Aare. Kunstmuseum Berne, Berne 2019 (Photos: Lucas Ziegler)

Urban photography has grown over the decades, has offered different interpretations, has shown possibilities for investigation. From a personal point of view, what attracts you now to the city? What are you searching for? How this relationship is evolving?

AT: Maybe I'm still looking for this feeling I grew up in. It leads me to places where I think I might find it. It can be close, it can be far but it will always be different. Images emerge that are surprising and images that are disappointing. I might never know why. Some images will become "good" works, some won't. Some images are growing over the years. Within this arc of suspense, my artistic work can be located.

© Andreas Tschersich, Philadelphia, from the series 'peripher'

You also made a book in 2016 of peripher. What have you learned from this experience?

AT: I never intended to make a book. For a long time, I felt I would need a wider range to fill a book or to have a representative overview. By coincidence, I had the chance to publish with Edition Patrick Frey. As I didn't know whether there was enough material for a book, it was a great opportunity to work on older material, a lot of stuff I had never worked on. So it was nice to rediscover photographs I almost had forgotten about.

When we started with the project I was still working on the material I brought back from Japan. It was the first time I had such a big coherent block from one country and for a while, I struggled to introduce this imagery with the older works from Europe, the US, and Canada. At the time it was kind of split into two bodies of works: the "older" ones and the latest from Japan. As the book project advanced we decided to still consider photographs taken after Japan. It worked out very well to integrate some of the Japan series as the attention would slightly go away from them.

© 'peripher', Andreas Tschersich. Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich, 2016

© 'peripher', Andreas Tschersich. Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich, 2016

© 'peripher', Andreas Tschersich. Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich, 2016

Working on the edit was really tough, as there was enough material and it was quite a long selection process with a lot of ups and downs. When the book was released a lot of people asked what I was going to do next. I was bewildered because I never considered it as finished. I actually believe it will never be finished. It's kind of chasing imagination and as the result is always different it's impossible to completely accomplish. This is how I feel about it, at least, and this is the reason I'm pursuing it… On the other hand, the book marks a caesura, of course, and there will be a before and an after the book. As there was material to make at least two books the published book can not show my work comprehensively, even if from the outside it might look like a complete investigation. After all, it was a great experience because within the process you are forced to look at your work from a different point of view questioning different aspects of the work.

© Andreas Tschersich, Biel/Bienne, from the series 'peripher'

© Andreas Tschersich, Antwerp, from the series 'peripher'

© Andreas Tschersich, Oxelösund, from the series 'peripher'

Could you mention 3 books that are meaningful with respect to the project and your work in general? 

Uncommon Places, The Complete Works, Stephen Shore, 1982, Aperture
New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape, Reprinting, 2009, Steidl
A New American Picture, Doug Rickard, 2012, Walther Koenig

Andreas Tschersich (website)
Book peripher 
Urbanautica Institute Awards 2020