Thomas Wommelsdorf, World Trade Center, New York, 1983

This collection is entitled DAUERZUSTAND. You would translate the term as “permanent condition,” but these photographs all share a juxtaposed proposition:There is no permanence.Look at the shot of theWorld Trade Center and nothing could be more self evident.This is obvious for obvious reasons. Or you might notice the boat in the distance skimming across the water, the grass growing at the abandoned parking barriers at Tegel Airport, the crowded beach in Spain, or the shrine in the center of Bangkok. Nothing stands still—the people, the water, the buildings, the grass, the sky. Everything is always changing.The moment the shot is taken there is change.We intuitively know this to be true, and tomwom’s intention is catch that moment and compel you to reconsider its (im)permanence.You turn away and look again, and it has changed. Because we change— without pause. In actual fact, there is no dauerzustand, or permanent condition. Tomwom recognised this as a child, and now his journey has brought him through a myriad of changes to present this assembly of work.