Wall of Death by Florian Holzherr

In 2023, Clemens Schedler (Büro für konkrete Gestaltung) designed this book on the photographic work of Florian Holzherr, about the oldest travelling motordrome, or Motodrom in German. To contrast with this quite unexpected subject, he chose to work on a delicate layout. He played with black and a subtle tone of grey, to recall the black and white photographs. Schedler worked with BVH Bart Display for the titles and BVH Bart for the texts. He even used the alternate g in Roman styles and the alternates closed g and y in Italics!

From the website of publisher Hirmer:

Wall of death. Motodrome. The Oldest Travelling Steep Wall in the World. Since 1928

Donald Ganslmeier and his colleagues on the Wall of Death of the motordrome are amongst the last of their kind. Their art is threatened with extinction. The photographer Florian Holzherr has created a powerful memorial to the action-packed life around the boards that signify the world. His black-and-white photos of the daredevil motorcyclists and the accompanying texts show the myth of the Wall of Death in a fascinating new way.

For several years the Munich photographer Florian Holzherr accompanied the steep-wall motorcyclists around Donald Ganslmeier with his analogue camera while setting up the Wall of Death and riding and then dismantling it again, and then in their lives on the road. The result is images which show the story of an artistry that is threatened with extinction. In impressive, unfiltered black-and-white pictorial language accompanied by powerful texts, the volume enables the reader to learn of the fascination and passion, and also of the risk, as it provides an insight into the lives of the artists beyond the show.