Geri Winkler
In the 1990s he ascended Popocatepetl in Mexico and Muztagh Ata (7546 m) in China. In the summer of 2001, he climbed Elbrus in Russia, the highest mountain in Europe. In the winter of 2002 and 2003, Winkler climbed Aconcagua in Argentina, the tallest mountain in South America.
Michael Najjar
For “high altitude“ (2008–2010) Michael Najjar climbed Mount Aconcagua whose 6,962 meters (22,841 feet) make it the highest mountain on the planet outside of Asia. In the Andes Najjar photographed mountain ridges whose petrified zigzag curves served him as a representation of the monumentality of financial markets. He patterned the shots he took on the expedition rigorously on the fluctuations of international stock exchange indices. What he shows are the ups and downs of the markets, and how market reality and simulation are so intertwined as to be almost indistinguishable. What we see are the movements of the tectonic plates of the global economy over the past twenty to thirty years in whose course new peaks are thrown up and earthquakes and erosion are inevitable. Najjar shows the sublime in an age when information technology has become all-powerful.