Peter Boettcher

Peter Boettcher hails from Cologne and has been a well-known music photographer since the mid-1980s. In 1991 he photographed Kraftwerk´s robots in the legendary Kling-Klang-Studio in Düsseldorf for the independent magazine SPEX.

This was the beginning of a close and intense partnership that continues to this day.

Backstage shots, private portraits or ecstatic snapshots - none of these are to be found in Boettcher´s Kraftwerk photos. Their title "Kraftwerk Roboter" points to the main Kraftwerk topic: the cooperation of human and machine.

Through the reduced forms and colours, the graphical severity of the photos, and the consistent use of the central perspective for concert photos, Boettcher´s photographs undoubtedly contribute to Kraftwerk´s image: pictures that get the observer to look more closely in order to make sure what he or she really sees: the musicians or their robots, which make him or her realise that this distinction is entirely insignificant.

In this way, he has created photographs of almost monumental clarity and concentration.