Horst Hamann is an idiosyncratic artist – a photographer who combines an unpretentious, jovial, and down-to-earth style with a sparse, black-and-white aesthetic. Horst is best known for his vertical series coffee table photo books – starting with New York Vertical. It was his passion for football, however, that led him to create his more intimate works – a series of full height portraits of famous German football players, men and women, that bring out the warmth and uniqueness of each subject. Horst knows EMBL well, having been commissioned to create a book with over one hundred portraits of EMBL staff for its 40th anniversary in 2014 called ‘DNA’.

We are now pleased to present Horst’s artistic vision of EMBL Rome in the form of a short film. The film is a collaboration between Horst and his son Mateo, and was shot over three days last summer, in the wake of our 20th anniversary celebration on July 10, 2019. It reflects the perspective of an outsider who was carried away by the beauty of our host city and curious about life at EMBL. I believe it captures well the key features of the spirit of our institute – its collegiality, inquisitiveness, diversity, and energy.