Kraftwerk - Photographs by Peter Boettcher
Peter Boettcher hails from Cologne and has been a well-known music photographer since the mid 1980s. In 1991 he photographed Kraftwerk's robots in the legendary Kling-Klang-Studio in Düsseldorf for the independent magazine SPEX. This was the beginning of a close and intense partnership that continues to this day.
His photos are not stereotypical examples of music or rock photography. Backstage photos, private portraits of the protagonists, snapshots of ecstatic moments in time, audiences going wild - none of this is to be found in Peter Boettcher's photos.
Boettcher's portraits of the robots and his photographs of the group's stage performances during concerts around the world capture the essence of the Kraftwerk universe. Through the reduced forms and colours, the graphical severity of the photos, and the consistent use of the central perspective for concert photos, Peter Boettcher captures Kraftwerk's image world in a congenial manner. In this way, he has created photographs of almost monumental clarity and concentration.