Lene Münch - Fotografie

The secret World of Fraternities

Lene — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:04:34 +0000

Even though active fraternity members are young students like me, I have never met them in the street or at the university. I just wanted to open the door to their secret world and look behind it. I wanted to find out the truths and falsities concerning the stereotypes and prejudices.

The Island of Riems

Lene — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:53:41 +0000

There is a certain place known as the »Island of Diseases«, the »Island of Viruses«, or even the »Mad Island« if you will. Regardless of its many titles it is officially called the Island of Riems.   

For about 100 years the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI) has been situated on this small island in the Baltic Sea. Behind two and a half meter high barbed wire fences, very well isolated from the outside world, highly contagious animal diseases are researched. Mad cow disease, bird flu and hoof-and-mouth disease are the better-known pathogens out of the many more strains of blight studied on this island.

  In modern laboratories of the highest level of security, the scientists of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute are developing vaccines against such killer viruses. The biggest part of the laboratories can only be acceded in aseptic protective clothing. The building is permanently under low-pressure to prevent anything from escaping. Therefore the researchers can only leave the building completely naked through a lock, where warm water is automatically sprayed on them for  several minutes. They call it the »showering out«. For animals, however, there is no escape. They leave the island only in a cremated state. Even the effluent of the animals is  heated highly enough to kill every last germ. The FLI is one of the most isolated research institutions in the entire Republic of Germany.   

The particular location of the institute on the island is due to the discoverer of the viruses: Mr. Friedrich Loeffler. When he was trying to find a way to contain hoof-and-mouth disease on the mainland during the end of the 19th century, the disease tended to disperse on many occasions to neighboring farms. Under pressure from the local population he was banished to the nearby Island to continue his research in isolation and safety.

The invented World – part I

Lene — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:56:31 +0000

In the present time where the everyday life is determined on stress and where everything is not always as easy as it should be, people love to flee from the reality: To places without crime and without violence. To places without dirt and without garbage. To places where people can forget their big and small sorrows for a moment. To places that feel like a fairytale world or a Hollywood movie.

I am talking about amusement parks, zoological gardens, water parks and the like. Artificially constructed worlds which were built by people for people and were established to attract visitors.

In Germany there are more than 75 amusement parks and more than 190 zoos.

My project is a photographic work which is still in progress. I would like to take pictures of amusement parks, zoos and other contrived sceneries under the point of view of the artificiality of these created worlds. I would like to see whether the visitors become a part of this big staging, whether they notice that these artificial worlds lack any authenticity or whether they simply acclimatise, adapt themselves to this fictitious world and get involved in the illusions.

The invented World – part II

Lene — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:02:49 +0000

I am talking about amusement parks, zoological gardens, water parks and the like. Artificially constructed worlds which were built by people for people and were established to attract visitors.

In Germany there are more than 75 amusement parks and more than 190 zoos.

Portraits

Lene — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:08:30 +0000

A collection of diverse portraits.

No Nobility – Multimedia

Lene — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:55:30 +0000

Quite some time ago in history there was the reality of the Nobility living on the other side of a chasm from the middle-class and poor. Deliberate separation was the rule until around one hundred and fifty years ago. Yet despite the years since the end of this rule a chasm still remains. There are currently seven hundred and twenty five noble families living in Denmark. We visited one of these noble bloodlines at their castle Clausholm in Jylland.

This multimedia project was realised together with the finnish photographer Henrik Malmström.