Bernd Nicolaisen: Restlicht. Photographs - Tableaux - LightboxesIceland 2004-2015

Glaciers, volcanoes, and caves-places of solitude, tranquility, and melancholy. At the same time places of tremendous sublimity. Since 2004, the Swiss photographer Bernd Nicolaisen (*1959 in Aarberg) has been drawn time after time to Iceland, the land of glaciers and geysers. Equipped with a large-format camera, he sets out on fascinating expeditions deep into the bowels of glacial caves in search of fabulous images. Neither man nor animal has ever set foot in or their eyes on the frigid halls of mirrors, in which the space is dominated solely by bizarre ice and rock formations that magically refract the light. Viewed from a distance, Nicolaisen’s photographs gain form and depth, while up close they disintegrate into crystalline structures. Due to the extreme light conditions, the residual light that penetrates into the caves, each of the images in the catalogue takes readers on a truly spectacular discovery tour.