The artist’s book deals with various sites of art and its transfer: from the exhibition space to photography; from photography to the medium of the book (as an independent format corresponding to an exhibition), from the work process in the studio, whose intermediate results are themselves photographs; finally from the conception or design of a pictorial idea back into the space of a book. In this process studio and exhibition, photograph and object, book and art institutions are considered to be on the same hierarchical level, with no site or medium being granted precedence.

“Christian Helbock focuses on various art spaces. His photographs of museums and other art institutions relate to exhibition practices and displays. Helbock shows great sensitivity in photographically rendering artworks and their institutional (re-)presentation in such a way that attention is directed not only to the exhibited works, but also to the circumstances accompanying the act of displaying. In principle, this is a matter of institutional research by means of photography.” (Barbara Steiner)