Bosnien. 1994

Every period, in which Bertram Kober has moved in the last few years, has experienced powerful and violent changes. The consequences of the grenades in Mostar and the reconstructions in the main station are the ingredients that define the gas of our culture. It may at first seem brash to connect the cynical destruction of war on the one hand, and the rigorous clearing operations by gutting on the other hand. But culture, this subtle mixture, knows no shame, no mechanical or legal causalities. Things mingle in it to the point of being unrecognizable. It seems the connection between the right's aggressive gestures of contempt in Kober's automatic release activities and the destroyed toys (whose predecessors are shoes from Lublin) is clearer than in construction activities. You will find the core of Kober's earlier photographs exactly in this – not ostensible, but contemporarily remarkable – context.

Dr. Meinhard Michael
Excerpt from: Von der symbolischen Kraft des Alltaeglichen. Der Fotograf Bertram Kober. In: Leipziger Blaetter 31. 1997. Page 56

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