The Heidi Horten Collection is dedicating its second “Intervention” exhibition to the Viennese photographer Ouriel Morgensztern, who explored the house and its architecture in a very personal way. His approach is deliberately subjective: Morgensztern does not focus on the whole, but rather on the detail, which—altered by extreme framing and cropping, as well as by light and shadow—acquires a formal and aesthetic quality all its own. In doing so, Morgensztern always manages to strike a balance: the building’s architecture is both present and absent in his photographs. This applies equally to the visitors and the art for which the building was constructed. Despite their physical absence, they, too, are always present.

It is the duality of presence and absence that permeates Morgensztern’s artistic work. This also applies to one of his most recent projects, in which he photographically traces the Viennese filming locations of the classic film *The Third Man*: The title character, Harry Lime—believed to be dead—is absent for much of the film and yet remains a central figure in the narrative—just like the house in the Heidi Horten Collection: it is both present and absent at the same time.