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What would happen if humankind were to disappear? What would planet earth look like without us? In his monograph The World Without Us, Rainer Zerback (b. 1958) shows us such a world—in quiet images, shimmering with heat but without any trace of apocalyptic bluster. Targeted image editing brings individual everyday items into sharp focus. We encounter only traces of human civilization: cars, electricity pylons, all kinds of different dwellings. What at first glance gives the impression of peaceful seclusion, is at second glance unsettling and disconcerting.

Rainer Zerback began Contemplationes at the end of the 1990s and continued the series until 2022. It comprises a total of sixty-nine works, fifty of which are collected for the first time in this publication. In her accompanying text, cultural scientist Lotte Dinse for the first time in reception history develops the interpretation of the series as a depiction of a ‘World without Us’.