Bernd and Hilla Becher could be described as curious. This artistic couple travelled all throughout Germany with their large-format camera to capture the objects of the photographic curiosity: endless rows of Fachwerk homes, gasometers, blast furnaces, hoist frames, cooling towers, and water towers. All meticulously documented in high-quality monochrome, ideally with an overcast sky. Discovering the astonishing variety among the seeming uniformity is a real treat. But let’s listen to a fictional conversation between Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Bochumer Zeche Hannover one cloudy day in 1974: “Look, Bernd, what’s this? It must be…” – “…not a hoist frame, Hilla.” – “Looks like it came from a sci-fi movie. Should we take a photo?” – “But hurry, before the aliens see us!” This is how (or approximately, at least) the photo of this mysterious structure could have come to be. It’s not a UFO, though – it’s a benzene tank. Benzene, a by-product of acquiring coke from coal tar and that is used to make special chemicals, was stored here. Because it is highly flammable and toxic, the stores were stored deeper below a futuristic, metal dome. The photo from the Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur shows what only few know: The Bechers weren’t just interested in the outer shell and industrial architecture on its own, but also in the life beneath the surface and the production, each individual step of which they also documented. Indeed, Bernd and Hilla were quite curious people – and we are as well.