Motorways are more than mere traffic routes - they are symbols of speed and mobility: in 1930s Germany they served propaganda purposes, today they are central infrastructures. In his photographs, Michael Tewes brings the roads, which are normally a short-term place where people stay on their way to a destination, into conscious awareness and shows them as an architectural building form in their own right.
With his pictures, Tewes approaches the essence of the motorway from unusual perspectives. Thus, the photographs challenge the viewer to take a position in this no-man's land. He captures the great promise of freedom of a place that carries its users towards the horizon without speed limits. For his project, Michael Tewes, who studied in Dortmund, Potsdam and Chicago, spent six years researching, collecting and photographing.
Hatje Cantz Verlag, 180 pages, German / English, 120 ill., hardcover, 48 euros, ISBN 978-3-7757-5170-4