People in the Elevator
5 Stunden und 35 Minuten mit der Kamera im Fahrstuhl eines Verlagshauses, 20. November 1969, 10.35 –12.30, 13.30 – 17.10 Uhr
Inka Schube/Heinrich Riebesehl/Sprengel Museum Hannover

On 20 November 1969 Heinrich Riebesehl goes to the premises of the Neue Hannoversche Presse. He intends to take photographs in the elevator, pointing his more or less concealed camera at the people he encounters there. The situation and set-up have rigidly defined parameters: a small space whose layout is virtually square, illuminated by cool ceiling lights, and a small-format camera equipped with a wide-angle lens and cable release. The whole shoot lasts 5 hours and 35 minutes and consequently features a cross section of all the social strata in the publishing house. A photographic genre painting that, like Walker Evans in his famous New York subway series, focuses on the conceptual task of photography, where the photographer retains control of the image. People in the Elevator is published in conjunction with the major 2016 summer exhibition at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover.