aBe PaZoS SoLaTie

Dimensions of the City - Berlin exhibition

Sat Jul 1, 2006

Photo exhibition “Dimensions of the city: Urbanism” at Space Untitled, Berlin. July 2006.

Background

I was born in Finland. I spent most summers there in a city that blends with forests. Finland is a country where people usually live close to nature. Many inhabitants own a garden and harvest their own berries and vegetables, go fishing and picking mushrooms. I grew up in Mallorca, where I learnt to enjoy the sea and its waves, the sunsets, the coast and the mountains.

Concept

This project is inspired by life in Berlin, by a 3 day car trip from Sevilla to Berlin and by several boat trips through large industrial harbors. These experiences made me see how far from nature and from other people life can take place. Waves in the beach are replaced by cars lined up in asphalt. Life in the city goes forward without compassion, independently of what we do. Moments which seem unique are lived again by others, repeated. I discovered thousands of trucks driving continuously on European roads as blood inside veins, and harbors with supra-human machines quickly moving huge containers as a bird building a nest. These were invisible to me before and came as a revelation. It made me think urban life is pushing the system close to the maximum speed, and a failure in any of its parts could suddenly halt the whole organism.

This work has the goal of making the observer think about the way we live in cities and relate to each other. It’s not only about what the images show, but also about what’s missing in them.

Asphalt beach Sweet home iPod and kiwi mover New skin 1 Dead nature on concrete Urban life Repeated (10:35:20) Repeated (10:25:08) River under asphalt Asphalt girl Waiting for urbanism Asphalt workers Mobiliario urbano 2 Evangelizers Mobiliario urbano 1 Urban night 1 - Low probability attempt Urban night 2 - High probability attempt iPod and kiwi consumers Asphalt warriors Sea urbanism New skin 2 iPods and kiwis boxed

Categories: photo Tags: art exhibition Places: berlin