For over five decades, Candida Höfer (b. 1944, Eberswalde) has been a leading figure in contemporary photography. One of the pioneering artists associated with the Düsseldorf School; Höfer studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1973 to 1982, initially focusing on film before joining Bernd Becher’s first photography class. In 1975, she had her first solo gallery exhibition at Konrad Fischer Galerie, marking the beginning of a longstanding relationship with the gallery.
Höfer's work focuses on architectural interiors that are typically defined by intense human activity, including libraries, museums, theatres, opera houses, universities, banks, zoological gardens, and railway waiting rooms. Rather than depicting these spaces in use, Höfer photographs them at moments when they are empty or appear to be so.
This decision is central to her artistic language. By withholding human figures, Höfer shifts attention to the structures, proportions, materials, and light of the space itself, as well as to the social, cultural, and historical frameworks that shape it. The absence of people does not imply neutrality; instead, it allows the functions, hierarchies, and expectations embedded in architecture to become visible.
Höfer has exhibited internationally at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Kunsthalle Basel; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Kunsthaus Bregenz; Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main; and Museum für Fotografie, Berlin. She participated in documenta 11 (2002) and represented Germany at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. In 2024, she received the Käthe Kollwitz Prize from the Academy of Arts, Berlin.