Tokyo Urban Space

In this exhibition catalogue Claudio Hils devotes himself to the Japanese world. Human beings in the architecture of central bank quarters are the focus of this selection as well as urban scenery with canals and parks, rivers and the tangle of high streets. The coloured slides and the subjects share the same clinical cleanliness.

Claudio Hils does not even attempt to explain his Japanese photographs or make them understandable. And it is wise of him to stick to his European structure of reasoning. Unlike most other countries, Japan locks up when one tries to achieve toughtfulness. He captures this wonderful, friendly and distant country as a foreigner, who takes notes, but does not rate or value. Amidst a colony of strangers, who put together flowers, write calligraphies, shoot arrows or attend aikido grounds and who are always belittled, he remains an observer. Most probably this is the reason why he is not being noticed as a photographer. "He's an alien, he's an alien", this is what one could say about him using Sting's lyrics, and that is why Claudio Hils remains invisible in Japan.

Ulrich Schneider, Director City of Aachen Museum

October 1999