The Zollverein colliery is the landmark of the Ruhr region's mining history and has since become an icon of industrial culture. Sunk in 1848, the former largest coal mine was the last colliery in Essen to be closed in 1986. This was followed in 1993 by the closure of the Zollverein coking plant, the largest coking plant in Europe. This marked the end of an important chapter in the industrial history of the Ruhr region. However, unlike many other industrial plants in the Ruhr region, the Zollverein colliery and coking plant were not demolished, but preserved as a monumental ensemble of the industrial age. Renovation and conversion of the individual buildings for a new use began in the early 1990s, first by Bauhütte Zollverein, then by the Zollverein Development Company and finally by the Zollverein Foundation. The preservation and conversion of the industrial monument were so successful that the Zollverein colliery and coking plant were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. After being awarded the title, Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture drew up a master plan for a location for culture and business. In 2010, the Ruhr Museum opened in the converted coal washing plant. Today, Zollverein is not only an important industrial monument, but also a successful transformation site for culture and education, science and business. Bernd Langmack accompanied this unique process without ever wanting to work through an explicit agenda, let alone comprehensively document the structural changes. Nevertheless, the initial interest has turned into 30 years of documentation. The recognition as a World Heritage Site and the progressive musealization of the site posed and continues to pose a particular photographic challenge, as the World Heritage Site is increasingly being visually pre-structured and in some cases already - as an image - structurally staged. Stefanie Grebe, Head of the Photographic Collection / Photo Archive of the Ruhr Museum, emphasizes: "It is always the personal concern that motivates a reality-based, documentary photographic work. It is clear that Bernd Langmack is less interested in aesthetic surface phenomena than in the social and cultural background of what he photographs." Bernd Langmack plans to continue photographing the World Heritage Site, but does not follow a systematic approach and remains true to what he calls the "flâneur principle" of his work. It was never based on a need to take an inventory. Instead, the photographer cites "curiosity, surprise, the search for aesthetics and the pre-visualized" as his motivations.

The special exhibition in Hall 8 showed over 120 photographs by Bernd Langmackdocumentingthe transformation of the Zollverein colliery and coking plant from 1992 to 2024 . Bernd Langmack photographed Zollverein for 30 years and thus created an impressive long-term panorama, which in three chapters bears witness to the abandoned colliery through to the living Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the chapter "The Zollverein Shaft XII Area", individual images and photo series show the large above-ground area, in which the winding tower inevitably takes center stage again and again. The now world-famous Doppelbock, the Eiffel Tower of the Ruhr region, is the landmark of the colliery, but also the symbol of work rationalization, production output, architecture and the desire for representation of the builders, the Vereinigte Stahlwerke and the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG. The typography of the "Zollverein" lettering on the shaft hall, which was changed under National Socialist rule using a broken grotesque font and has remained in place ever since, is still the subject of controversial debate and a political issue for Bernd Langmack - the original lettering was in a sans serif grotesque font typical of the time and based on the Bauhaus style. The aesthetics of Schupp and Kremmer's architecture are paid homage to by depicting it in sections and unusual arrangements; a particular tension is created when Bernd Langmack counteracts the timelessness of the architectural style with wild vegetation in front of or small signs of the ageing process on the functionalist façade.The chapter "The conversion of the coal washing plant" shows the transformation of the dilapidated coal washing plant into a public building, the Ruhr Museum. The perspective changes from the outside and the surroundings, to the interior and the roof, and back to the distance of the now renovated coal washing plant. The fascination with the building as a sculpture becomes palpable through heavily cropped sections. One sequence shows the workers and architects carrying out the conversion. The third chapter , "The Zollverein coking plant", contains photographs showing the coking plant shortly before its closure. The images convey the technical functionality in full view. The white side (the carbon plant) is in the center, the black side (coke production) is only shown in a few pictures. Both sides together form the functional unit of the coking plant. Conversions are not possible to the same extent as on the site of Shaft XII. There are a few buildings that could be converted for new uses, such as the mixing plant into another large exhibition building and the former salt factory, which has housed the Ruhr Museum's show depot since 2021. This is followed by photographs of facilities that challenge the viewer's technical understanding.

The illustrated book "Zollverein. Architekturfotografien von Bernd Langmack" presents the work of Bernd Langmack on 258 pages with over 120 images. In three chapters, the photographer accompanied the conversion of the former colliery and coking plant into the Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site over a period of three decades. The result is this volume of black and white photographs from 1992 to 2024, a fascinating journey through time to one of the most spectacular sites of industrial culture. The illustrated book "Zollverein: Architectural Photographs by Bernd Langmack" with essays by Achim Pfeiffer and Stefanie Grebe is published by Verlag Walther und Franz König and costs €48. During the exhibition, the illustrated book will be sold at an exclusive special price of €38 at Zollverein. (ISBN 978-3-7533-0709-1)

Bernd Langmack, born in 1951, has lived in the Ruhr region since 1969 and studied medicine at the universities of Bochum and Essen. Alongside his work as an internist and cardiologist in Essen, he increasingly turned to photography from the 1980s onwards. With his large-format camera, Langmack primarily documented the Ruhr area and other industrial regions in the style of Critical Realism. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including "RUHR-Ansichten" (2009) and "Was von der Zeche bleibt" (2018). Langmack has also published several photo volumes, including "STAHL und STADT" (2011) and "Was von der Zeche bleibt" (2018).

Langmack's own motivation for his Zollverein work developed over the course of the 30-year conflict. Initially, it was the will to photographically preserve, then the desire to express his respect for the architecture and the landmarks of the defunct coal and steel industry, and finally the harsh criticism of the power relations in the context of which the colliery was created and had an impact. Langmack describes this development in the following words: "I see photography as a process of cognition that develops dialectically. The object changes over time - the photographer too, his ideas about the object and his view of the world evolve and with them the photographic means used to achieve the set goals also change." The fascination that Langmack feels towards large-scale industrial buildings, in this case the colliery complexes, is expressed in his admiration for the technical and cultural achievements that led to the design and construction of the buildings. At the same time, however, he is aware that hard physical labor was indispensable for the construction, maintenance and continuous operation of a colliery. He has just as much respect for the workers who carried out the work as he does for the creators of the buildings. Technical buildings and complex works of art are of equal importance to the photographer, as they both bear witness to the same cultural development that created the conditions for this.

When Bernd Langmack began his work, he had no idea how long he would be dealing with the subject. His first visit took place in 1991 on the occasion of an opening to the public. At that time, the future of the site was not yet secure; a financially feasible concept for the future and a permanent sponsoring company were lacking. The photographer's interest was aroused and sporadic visits followed, as his profession as a doctor at the time allowed. The medium format pictures (6x6) were taken, which show the site still in an 'overgrown state' - but when the first clean-up work was already taking place, especially in 1991 in preparation for the exhibition of Ulrich Rückriem's sculptures as a branch of the 1992 documenta. When the photographer learned that the coking plant would run its last shift in June 1993, he wanted to take advantage of the last opportunity and take a picture of the plant "under steam". In doing so, he demonstrated the frequently encountered reaction of photographers and those interested in history to impending losses. The choice of his technical means varied over the years; from 2000 Bernd Langmack photographed in color in parallel with black and white film. Around 2005, he switched to digital photography for reasons of practicality, but decided to realize the present series in black and white.