Created between 2017—19, Wolfram Hahn's series points to the continuities of these uses by combining his own photographs with other people’s private images from family albums and archives, as well as historical material such as maps and newspaper articles. A kaleidoscope of impressions is created: exterior shots of the buildings alternate with portraits of today's residents; a family poses in black and white in front of a grain field; a puzzle image featuring a tiger hangs on the wall in a hallway. The furnishings and architecture appear sparse and impersonal; this is not a home, but a place of transit. By deciding to take more individual portraits, Hahn underlines the impression of isolation, while at the same time undermining it by supplementing these with photos of the community around the campfire and smiling faces. He captures a double ambivalence: the residents settle in and yet find themselves only in a stopgap, living on the fringes of society while still being part of a community. Hahn has succeeded in gaining access to this fragile community and capturing the simultaneity of conflicting impressions.

Article/Review

“Burgbergstrasse in Crailsheim will become an international street gallery for two months. Wolfram Hahn will present large-format banners with photos from Burgbergstrasse, and David Grigoryan will present images from everyday life in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.” In conversation with Kathleen Günther: “German history compressed into one street”. In: Radio StHörfunk, 5 Sep. 2023.

“It seems hardly conceivable that a complex of buildings around a single street would encapsulate a large number of aspects of a country’s 20th and 21st Century history. And yet, that is exactly the case for the buildings at Crailsheim’s Burgbergstraße.” Jörg Colberg: Burgbergstrasse. In: Conscientious Photography Magazine, 23 Jan. 2023.

“There are various visual documents that communicate with each other throughout the book. He compiled them rather subjectively. When viewing them, a new image should emerge in the mind.” Ralf Snurawa: People in a place of constant change. In: Hohenloher Tagblatt,  8 Jul. 2022.

“His work depicts a piece of Germany that is also familiar from other urban outskirts: transitional areas, temporary use areas, fenced-in areas that look like demolition, abandonment, and ghostly life. They are like extraterritorial territory. By blending documentary and subjective representation, Hahn succeeds in taking a much broader view of the topic of refugees.” Doris Akrap: Temporary home. In: taz am wochenende, 15 Feb. 2020.