The Palace by Marten Lange

SIGNED COPIES

Marten Lange’s latest photographic series, The Palace, is a profound exploration of architecture as a vessel for memory, history, and emotion. The project began unexpectedly in the summer of 2021, when Lange encountered Susanna Clarke’s novel, Piranesi. This 2020 novel is set in a sprawling, decaying palace—a labyrinth that gradually unravels one’s sense of self. Clarke’s story drew inspiration from Giambattista Piranesi’s Carceri d’Invenzione (“Imaginary Prisons”), 18th-century etchings that depict vast and surreal architectural landscapes that stretch infinitely, evoking both wonder and disquiet. It was this convergence of literature and art that sparked Lange’s fascination with the uncanny potential of architecture.

Influenced by these fictional and artistic visions, Lange began to view architecture not as static structures, but as spaces imbued with emotional and psychological depth. He was drawn to places that blur the line between the ordinary and the extraordinary—attics, basements, and neglected corners that hold a strange, almost magical quality. These are the kinds of spaces that seem to exist outside of time, carrying echoes of past experiences, hidden memories, and a sense of the surreal. This sense of wonder and unease, the way certain spaces make us confront the unknown, became the heart of his project.

In The Palace, Lange’s photographs transcend mere architectural documentation; they become a visual meditation on the layers of meaning embedded in the built environment. Inspired by the ancient concept of the memory palace—a mnemonic technique where spaces are used to structure thoughts—Lange captures buildings as complex narratives. His images, much like Piranesi’s etchings, ask us to reconsider how spaces can hold untold histories and emotions. By inviting us to dwell in these in-between places, Lange’s work creates a dialogue between architecture, memory, and imagination, revealing the stories that lie just beneath the surface of the visible world.