“Jim’s World” is a tribute to the Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006), who photographed under the pseudonym “Jim” for the legendary homosexual magazine “Der Kreis”. However, Weinberger only became known and honoured in old age through a monograph, which showed in particular his pictures of the thug and rocker scene (Karlheinz Weinberger: Photos, 1954-1995, Andreas Züst Verlag, 2000).
Photographer Gerhard Hintermann looked after Karlheinz Weinberger, his mentor and close friend, from 2001 to 2006. Immediately after Karlheinz Weinberger’s death, Gerhard Hintermann photographed Weinberger’s flat in Zurich Aussersihl. In the stairwell, rockers and muscular heroes on film and concert posters hang on yellowed wallpaper, and staid houseplants on crocheted blankets stand next to erotic photographs of men.
Hintermann’s pictures also tell of the inner turmoil and self-discovery of an artist of a generation that found itself confronted with an anti-gay and repressive environment and only wished to lead an open, normal and bourgeois life. Gerhard Hintermann complements his photographs with an installation of previously unpublished and never shown slides by Karlheinz Weinberger.