soviet bus stops - poetry of the road. An evening with photographer and filmmaker Christopher Herwig

Welcome to an evening with photographer and filmmaker Christopher Herwig!

Christopher will share his work and experiences from projects in the former Soviet Union and recently Gaza as well as screen his documentary film Soviet Bustops, followed by a Q&A.

With 30 years of professional experience in more than 100 countries, Christopher Herwig is a Canadian-born photographer and filmmaker determined to find beauty and inspiration in all aspects of life. A firm believer that the thrills of adventure and discovery are still alive in the world has sent him hitch-hiking from Vancouver to Cape Town, across Iceland by foot and raft, and through Europe on a bike. Currently based in Copenhagen, his previous homes have included Sri Lanka, Jordan, Liberia and Kazakhstan. He has provided photos from some of the remotest regions of the world, from the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan to the rainforests of West Africa, for publications including GEO, CNN Traveler, Geographical and Lonely Planet. He has worked extensively with non-government organizations and UN agencies in some of the most challenging regions, to put a human face to their statistics and bring project proposals to life.

"Striking, original, often flamboyant and rich in symbolism, the bus stops provided an improbable, but valuable medium of self-expression for Soviet designers and architects." Alice Rawsthorn (Design writer for the International New York Times).

"Christopher Herwig’s obsessional project posthumously illumines the Soviet empire’s taste for the utterly fantastical. It restricts itself to one building type, the bus stop or shelter, which tends in Western Europe to be meanly utilitarian. There is a certain amount of that here. But it is atypical. The norm is wild going on savage. Just as follies were, in the 18th century, often try-outs for new architectural styles, so may some of these wayward roadside punctuation marks have been structural or aesthetic experiments; they certainly don’t lack grandeur and audacity. The shelters provide an adhoc social service. Further they have granted aspirant sculptors, builders and architects opportunities to flex their creative muscles. Not least they have given a fine photographer that most precious and elusive of quarries – a truly distinctive subject, one which he celebrates with an almost tangible warmth and with a fondness for the anonymous men and women who created them." Jonathan Meades

Where?

The Aula at Berghs School of Communication, Bobergsgatan 48 (entrance in the alley at the back of the building).

General information:

The talk will be held in English.

This session may be photographed for internal and external channels.

This event will not be streamed or recorded.

WELCOME TO AN EVENING AT BERGHS!