When I photographed Labo Herzog, a striking amount was still in its place. A few footprints showed in the dust, but the laboratory looked far less disturbed than most abandoned buildings I had visited.
A measuring instrument labelled with americium-241 had also been left behind. I did not examine or measure the source. Above all, it was a clear reminder that an abandoned laboratory is not the same as an empty, harmless building.
The bottles still stand on the workbenches, and cylinders, each with its own colour, line another wall. In this room, material left behind is no harmless decoration. Nothing needed moving for the photographs. The order that remained already said far more than a collection of objects gathered especially for a shot.
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