André Gelpke’s series Sex-Theater was produced in the 1970s and depicted performers from a number of different sex theatres in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district. The fascination that captivated me as a photographer came from the personality of the individual, from the performer who was prepared to realize in public the secret sexual fantasies of an inhibited society, simply in exchange for a fee. Sex-Theater was first published as a book in 1981 and quickly sold out. The edition produced by Spector Books together with cpress represents a new staging of the series: it includes an expanded selection of images and new texts, and is presented in a form that offers this collection of photos a contemporary framing. The era that is depicted here is over, and the decline of these clubs is documented in Sex-Theater.
Published by Spector Books/cpress. Edited by Christof Nu?ssli.
Amok is André Gelpke’s personal commentary on the absurdities of our lives. True to the artist’s motto, "Photography is a whore, never faithful, always feigning," Gelpke uses the medium to formulate his subjective view of the world. Without being explanatory or anecdotal, he examines, with the help of the camera, the small, naturally occurring settings of everyday life. Along with Michael Schmidt and Heinrich Riebesehl, Gelpke is one of the most important writer-photographers in post-war Germany. Amok brings together for the first time images taken over a period of twelve years, from 2002 to 2014. Co-published with cpress, Zurich.
André Gelpke: Amok