Bernd & Hilla Becher im Gespräch

Published in 2016 by Schirmer/Mosel, this volume captures a series of comprehensive interviews conducted by art critic and author Ulf Erdmann Ziegler with the husband-and-wife photography team Bernd and Hilla Becher. The Bechers are globally recognized for their decades-long systematic documentation of industrial architecture, such as water towers, coal bunkers, and blast furnaces, which profoundly influenced the development of the conceptual and minimalist photography movements, most notably through the generation of artists known as the Düsseldorf School.

The book serves as a vital historical record of the couple's artistic philosophy, technical methodology, and the cultural context of post-war industrial decline in Europe. By positioning their work as objective typologies rather than traditional art photography, the Bechers challenged contemporary artistic conventions. Ziegler’s framing of these conversations provides a unique retrospective look at their rigorous, decades-long project, which earned them the prestigious Erasmus Prize in 2002 and solidified their legacy as pillars of twentieth-century documentary photography.