ABSTRACT
Deadpan photographers show their subjects starkly, in high definition, with even lighting, from a substantial distance (if exterior), and without obvious narrative or personal cues. Individual experience and interaction is absent, removing subjectivity and sentimentality. Technological advancement in the form of digital manipulation and the ability to produce large-scale, highly detailed prints allowed Deadpan photographers to render apparent objectivity on a monumental scale in a way that has come to be associated with the 'contemporary sublime'. Deadpan images often verge on the abstract: Höfer's images of the interior of cultural institutions emphasise structural symmetry and linearity. Her work, like many of Hütte's and Gursky's landscapes, recalls the geometric abstraction of Minimalist painting.
