Die Böhm. A Project. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER When the mail is littered with reminders and leaflets and not with the letter of a friend I've been waiting for, when I'm in a bad mood or "down and out", then Frau Böhm comes flying into my flat, bridging the troubled water, then I clear my armchair for the lovable girl friend, make coffee, put a record on, and delve into the latest episodes. With bated breath I take part in the inner dialogue of Frau Böhm, her changing monologues, her debates, presenting and confronting me with various blueprints. Sometimes her tales are full of ruptures, sometimes different levels of time and reality blend nicely into each other. These are whole bundles of stories, presented in an economic and laconic style, peppered with the unexpected. Using very few metaphors Frau Böhm describes complex situations and makes the world her own, makes statements as to its conditions and that of the human existence. I let myself be seduced by her stories with their subtle sense of humour which sometimes changes to a half severe case of melancholia. They have prosaic titles like Body and Soul, Paris etc. or Heroes and Demigods. Frau Böhm delivers marginal notes, passing remarks as well as precise statements. She successively creates a present world of things and beings where is viewer is asked to constantly speculate upon the situations he encounters. It is difficult to establish fixed criteria of order for all the different statements which have build up in the course of time. Im there is continuity within Frau Böhm then it consists of the tensions, ruptures and hooks. Diving into them at any point shows how varied these statements are: slices of cheese in polythene sheets, soccer grounds, backyards, misty meadows, miniature golf courses, park benches, practise rooms of chiropractors, motorway churches, interiors of hotel rooms, idyllic American suburbs, high rise residential blocks in Berlin, people waiting in the arrival hall of an airport, people looking at an empty projection wall, stone-faced policeman at a barricaded crossing; hockey playing youths in the twilight of a Paris suburb, masses of people at beaches freezing to abstract patterns of points. THE MAN COMES AROUND Frau Böhm goes into the kitchen ("Schöner Kochen") leaving the recipe behind, but she also likes to leave her kitchen. From Warendorf to New York, from Cannes to Chicago and back to Düsseldorf – that woman's been around quite a bit. Only too bad that she is not the next door neighbour, calling on me an telling me about her journeys. She does not come around in an apron but in a clear plastic envelope. Frau Böhm – meanwhile only Die Böhm – is the name of a magazine and is published by Oliver Sieber and Katja Stuke. It is a product in an exclusive outfit, delightfully designed, comes in a limited edition sheltered by plastic – an object of the collector's desire? With tongue in cheek the numbering turns into an ironic gesture towards the prevailing mechanisms of the art world. Art magazine, portfolio for photographic art – how should one define Die Böhm? The name, suggesting a conspiratory nearness to the reader, wants me to think of the term fanzine. Nearness is a basic characteristic of the fanzine and it is one of the main principles of Stuke and Sieber. The makers of fanzines devote themselves to commenting on their own role as a consumer and take the insider position of the enthusiastic cultural consumer. "I am the target group" could be the guiding line for both publishers. Fanzines organise themselves, they are non commercial, and they are linked to a certain scene. This spirit is shared by Die Böhm. A small edition is aimed at a small circle of friends and interested parties. Their main motive is their enthusiasm in always trying new things. Each individual issue bristles with formal and substantial experiments. Die selections of the contributions is the result of a democratic process, the various works can be connected to their respective creator. In poignant as well as seemingly incidental pictures the duo evokes the world they experience and with cool stubbornness informs us of their relevance. Sometimes aesthetic references and influences crop up. Sieber and Stuke are well aware of the framework of the medium of photography – and of the medium in which they present these things – and provide us with different strategies and varieties between the antipodes of f.i. strict documentary and storytelling, of minimalist portrait and film making. The thinking viewer is challenged to become an expert, but one can enjoy the magazine without being a specialist. Drift through the pages, let your eyes travel, embark on flights of imagination! FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE In Photonews 4/2000 Oliver Sieber was extensively portrayed by his series "skinsmodsteds". Katja Stuke is a freelance graphic designer and o,a. created the design for the German feminist magazine Emma. She also works