Markus Schaden – Here's to a beer at Café Lehmitz

Markus Schaden

July 21, 2014

"For many years museums just focussed on individual pictures. In the meantime, however, the photo book has become a significant means for presenting photographs... We founded the Photobook Museum to acknowledge this development in an appropriate manner."
You've just opened the Photobook Museum at Carlswerk in Cologne – for three months, visitors can enjoy 5000 square metres of space dedicated to the photo book. Why do we need a museum for photo books?

For many years museums just focussed on individual pictures. In the meantime, however, the photo book has become a significant means for presenting photographs. It's a long time since the medium was considered nothing more than a temporary fad. It has become well established for collectors, curators and scientists. We founded the Photobook Museum to acknowledge this development in an appropriate manner. We want to exhibit the medium in an innovative way – to bring it to life in a certain way.


Why is the photo book a suitable way to present photography?

It offers the best possible format to bring photographic works to the reader. It's also excellent for telling stories, as it makes use of an international language that is understood everywhere. In many respects, I consider a photo book to be like a window to the world.


Which among the photo books is your personal favourite?

My favourite photo book is the legendary Café Lehmitz by Anders Petersen; but What We Bought by Robert Adams also opened new galaxies for me.


Let's say you could open another museum that had nothing to do with photography. What kind of museum would you like it to be?

I think a museum dedicated to the plane spotting phenomenon would be lots of fun. However, you couldn't even consider it without some kind of pictures. As you see, I can't get away from photography that easily.


What's being served at Café Lehmitz in the Photobook Museum - beer from Cologne or Hamburg?

From Cologne, of course! How can you ask?



The Photobook Museum can still be visited up until October 12, 2014, at the Carlswerk in Cologne. Further information at: thephotobookmuseum.com
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Markus Schaden

Markus Schaden+-

Markus Schaden is a trained book dealer who founded Schaden Verlag (a publishing house specializing in photography) in 1995 and the Schaden.com photo book shop in Cologne in 1998. Since 2009, Schaden has been giving seminars at the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne, and also teaches at the FH Dortmund and the LichtblickSchool in Cologne. In 2012, Schaden closed the book shop to concentrate on the on-going development of the photo book. More

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Markus Schaden – Here's to a beer at Café Lehmitz

Markus Schaden