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

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