Paul Christener

In the early 1980s, the German news magazine *Der Spiegel* published a story about the then-successful management book *In Search of Excellence* by Tom Peters. His main point was that “human beings are the key to the success of companies, not money or equipment.” The stories in the book fascinated me at the beginning of my career in marketing. My head was full of ideas. I felt good. My job and my life made me feel like I was racing down an expressway in the fast lane.

Twenty years later, events beyond my control changed my life fundamentally. I first had to slow down and then reorganize every aspect of my life. During that time, I learned the value of quiet moments in a world that is getting louder and louder. I realized my deep need for silence, and I began to search for such moments and to capture them with a camera.

The idea of the ongoing photographic work “In Search of Silence” was born in 2014 during my first visit to Greenland. My wife and I trekked for weeks in complete solitude with minimal equipment. These trips have become an annual fixture. Today, offline moments are the luxury in my life and the focus of my photographic work.

In a Spotify interview about the song “This Place is a Shelter,” Icelandic musician Ólafur ...

Since 2018, my work has been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Barcelona, Milano, Bologna, Palermo, Venice, Florence, Berne and Zurich.