Christian Platz: Is it Lego or is it real?

Is it Lego or is it real?

Christian Platz visited Legoland in Billund, Denmark, for his project.

View from the elevated train to the Duplo playground / Legoland, Billund (DK) Photo: Christian Platz

Accidents, mishaps, coincidences: life surrounds us in all its mercilessness. Our forests are ravaged by pests, the dream of owning a house teeters on the financial brink, and uncertainty hangs over the Sunday outing like the sword of Damocles. Who knows what lurks around the next bend? Every attempt to plan the future turns into a gamble.

Legoland offers a way out of the dilemma. Here, Lego trees grow without bark beetles, Lego houses stand without land prices and Lego cars drive without punctures. Electric jeeps steer us safely through artificial savannahs. A few metres further on, we immerse ourselves in realistic miniature landscapes, where all sense of time and space dissolves. More and more often I ask myself: is it Lego or is it real?

Award winners

The Abortion Plot.

Noemi Ehrat shows abortion as an everyday practice. Her long-term project asks not why but how: matter-of-fact, calm and beyond the political headlines.

Award winners

My house wrapped in clouds.

Armina Ahmadinia returns to the Caspian Sea. Her photographic work tells of the retreating water, the loss of familiar places and a quiet longing for closeness and home.

Award winners

In the land of the white mountains.

Jasper Hill makes visible what a century of potash mining has left behind. Caught between food security and environmental damage, an industry faces a turning point.

Award winners

Dreamed for us.

Markus Heft portrays older queer people in Germany. Since 2022, he has been creating intimate portraits collaboratively, complemented by still lifes and places. The project preserves queer history and makes visible the double marginalisation of old age.