Cristoph Sebastian is 36 and wants to live in a world without cars. Sometimes…

MOSSLESS: What did you think of your professor at Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, Jörg Sasse?
CHRISTOPH SEBASTIAN: He showed me a new way to deal with Photography. The best thing that could have happened during my time at Folkwang Hochschule.

ML: How has life as a photographer been since you graduated in 2005?   
CS: “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna Rock’n’Roll”  —AC/DC

ML: What does your project Fahrzeuge tell us about cars? How are they “surrounded by an aura of irrationality”? 
CS: The starting point of my work is the fact that cars are (almost) everywhere. They have become an ambient noise of our everyday perception. But still we deal with them in a very fantasy-driven way like our pre-modern ancestors dealt with their natural surroundings. If you look at the history of the car you will find out that from the beginning various fantasies have always been projected onto it. the idea of self-mobility, the feeling of autonomy and the promise of freedom, just to mention a few. But “Fahrzeuge” is not about these cliches. What I want to find out is: How does this thing “Car” look like. The photographs presented in “Fahrzeuge” try to preserve the appearance of the automobile by displaying cars in different locations at a certain period of time. This way visibility is generated and comparisons are made possible.
Thinking of the future, I imagine somebody will find my pictures and wonder: what is this strange thing I see? Maybe my pictures could give him (and other people) an idea of the appearence of the automobile at the beginning of the 21st century. That would be great.

ML: How long did it take to collect the around 600 photographs for Fahrzeuge?
CS: I’ve been working on it since 2005 with interruptions.