Surprisingly Beautiful Photographs of Dust

Dust as a by product of civilisation, the enemy of a sterile society, a constant presence hidden in corners, nooks and crannies. Also, a microcosm made up of multiple components, a combination of different colours, textures and structures, a construct reproducing itself. Every bit of dust is different, each space produces it’s unique type of dust, depending on its nature and its individual use.

Over the last two years Klaus Pichler had been looking for accumulations of dust, fluff and grime in various locations in and around Vienna. In commercial premises, factories, private properties, doctor’s surgeries, etc. It was important to him to offer a representative cross section of all basic functions of society, a kind of ‘typology of dust’ in its various shapes and forms. Pichler logged the ‘dust samples’ he had gathered in an archive and took photographs of them in a studio, all under the same conditions. The result was 99 photographs of dust which offer an insight into its surprisingly varied appearances.