Academic Series
In the Course of Time
Nadja Labuda – Conversations with my Father (2006)
Nadja Labuda is a daughter of the photographer, graphic artist and sculp-
torWin Labuda. She studied art history, theatre and economics. From early
on, she has explored the theoretical basis of her father’s photographic work
and has written a number of essays on the subject (see list of references).
This interview, conducted on 26 June 2006, elaborates on the topics discus-
sed in these essays:
Nadja Labuda – In describing your photographic series
People Today
you once wrote that you show man as a “unique individual” – in con-
trast to Andreas Gursky, whose work shows man in the context of his
lost individuality. Is your approach to the theme of man based on a per-
ception of man’s individuality that is characteristic of your generation?
Or behind the emphatic gaze, is there a conviction – unrelated to gene-
ration – which imbues all of your work?
1 - Nadja andWin
Labuda, 2006
2 -Win Labuda,
Irish Light
1
Win Labud
a – To answer this question we need to place my generation in
the timeline of the development of art. I am a child of the first half of the
20th century. Thus; seen as a generation, I therefore still belong to the
vestiges of a cultural tradition which was determined by the idea of
genius. During my lifetime the development of art was accompanied by a
shift in political power. From the 19th century on until today, the
industrialised world has developed from a culture determined by the
artist’s genius to a culture of democracy. Art production is determined
less and less by the single genius acting alone but rather by collaborative
efforts, which are perceived as acceptable. Artist collaborations as are
represented today by Bernd und Hilla Becher, Christo and Jeanne-
Claude, Fischli-Weiss or Gilbert and George, to name some examples,
have been gaining in importance since the 19th century. This is also a
phenomenon that has first taken root with the increasing democratisa-
tion.
In many areas of art, this global democratisation has led in the last seven
decades to the involvement of social classes in the discourse and deci-
sion-making who do not yet have an elite consciousness fostered over
generations, whose taste is still being formed and who generally assume
anti-aesthetic positions. A levelling of art down to artistic banality is the
