The double exhibition by Andreas Horvath and Reiner Riedler takes us to the geographical East – to Yakutia and Ukraine. The “sleeping country” and the “country on the edge”, as these two independent republics are also called, illustrate their foreignness from our perspective.

Andreas Horvath – photographer and filmmaker – spent several months in the largest Soviet republic – Yakutsk – a country full of contrasts. Yakutsk is six time zones away from Moscow. In winter, temperatures drop to -60° C and the already short summer months reach up to +40° C. In addition to being the main supplier of mineral resources to Russia, Yakutia was also a safe place to completely isolate regime critics in the numerous GULAG’S in this region until the recent past.
Horvath’s photographs illuminate the various facets of this contradictory country. The traces of foreign corporations, harsh living conditions, the unbroken cheerfulness of the inhabitants, bitter poverty and a new spirit of optimism characterise it just as much as the people’s deep connection to nature, which only gives them a very short summer.

Reiner Riedler has documented his journey through Ukraine in the style of a road movie. The trip actually consists of eight journeys that took place over four years and lasted a total of four months.
Pictures of people in the “country on the edge”, which appears very open and friendly despite the economic struggle for survival and problems such as unemployment, alcoholism, drugs, AIDS. Pictures that make us smile because the people themselves can laugh a little about themselves.
The journey begins at the Carpathians – where the geographical centre of Europe is located – and leads on endlessly long highways to the East. A visit to the Crimea, the “Pearl of the Black Sea”, famous for the mild climate of its holiday resorts and the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Seemingly fleeting snapshots of a diverse and colourful country.