The forthcoming exhibition by Viennese photographer Markus Krottendorfer is entitled “Phantom of the Poles“ and references the eponymous book by English scientist William Reed. The book is a 1906 treatise that set out to demonstrate that the Earth was hollow on the inside and that there could be life there with its own flora and fauna. This inner world was said to have two entrances, one at each Pole. The theory, while hotly debated in its day, was disproved by the successful polar expeditions only a few years after the book’s publication.

The exhibition explores different conceptions of the world, and while some are no longer up-to-date, they still shape modern society. The ideology of science fiction epitomises the sense of hope derived from belief in science and technology. Indeed, few are the constraints imposed on reveries about the future of humankind. During the cold war the zeitgeist was shaped by a mix of popularised science fiction and established science. Today this fascination with the belief in technology and progress is an outdated notion of the world. The exhibition at FOTOHOF, featuring three slide projections and photographic works, is a fantastical journey of discovery, describing what we perceive from our vantage point as we gaze out to unexplored regions, within and without, and across the universe.