Photography

Station 8 – a choir of queers, rewritten songs, photographer Rüdiger Trautsch

Rüdiger Trautsch, who was closely associated with the Café TucTuc from 1979 to 1981, studied photography at the Academy of Fine Arts during that time. For his thesis project, “Hardly Anyone Did It Out of Love!”, he staged scenes from the everyday life of an ordinary gay man (Martin Dannecker and Reimut Reiche). The large-format booklet feels substantial in the hand; with ample white space and a deliberately balanced placement of text and images, Trautsch gives his protagonist Reinhold—a middle-aged window dresser—the space he needs to stroll through the IGA wearing makeup, receive a visit from his aunt, cruise through parks and cruising spots, and dance through the nightlife in a grand evening gown. A touching portrait. ...