Staudinger + Franke : The Vandenberg – Life below the Surface. A unique underwater exhibition by Andreas Franke

Andreas Franke, photographer and passionate diver, explored the wreckage of the abandoned war vessel USS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, which was sunk off the coast of Florida in May 2009 to serve as an artificial reef and attraction.

He returned to Vienna with pictures of the wreckage in his camera and even more new pictures in his head, where he turned his ideas into a surreal photography series in his studio.

When he was looking for a suitable exhibition space for the photographs, he quickly came to the conclusion that the best way to go about it would be to return the pictures to their point of origin – The Vandenberg. The exhibition presents twelve works, scenes of everyday life from bygone times. The pictures have been attached to the hull of the artificial reef with strong magnets, 30 meters below sea level and approx. 11 km south of Key West - an underwater exhibition of a world, which sees no distinction between the real and surreal.

After a good five months underwater, the works have found their way back up above the surface, bearing wonderful signs of their time under water and are waiting to be exhibited again – on land this time.

To find out more about this fantastic underwater world as well as a video of the installation, go to www.the-vandenberg.com.

During the Second World War, the ship served as a troop carrier. In tune with its area of deployment as a rocket observation ship in the cold war, it was named after the former head of the CIA. It gained fame in 1999, when it served as the location for the science-fiction horror thriller 'Virus'. The white paint and the Cyrillic lettering have been the wreckage's exterior trademark ever since.