The cities of the future, rather than being made of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanists, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic, cement blocks, and scrap wood.
Mike Davis, Planet of Slums, 2006
In their most recent works, Oliver Boberg and Peter Bialobrzeski, two artists at L. A. Gallery since many years, have both dealt with the topic of buildings in poor urban neighbourhoods of the Southern hemisphere. A juxtaposition of the two workgroups thus suggested itself, and is especially enlightening since the works bear motivic and formal similarities despite having originated in entirely different ways.
Peter Bialobrzeski, Case Study Homes
Peter Bialobrzeski shot the Case Study Homes series at the Baseco compound ("Bataan Shipyard Corporation Compound"), a squatter camp located at the mouth of the River Pasig near the Port of Manila, in February 2008. This neighbourhood, 300 ha of unsafe, unstable subsoil of a former dump site, is home to an estimated 70,000 people. Around 45 per cent of the more than 11 million inhabitants of Greater Manila currently live in such squatter camps and slums. ...
Oliver Boberg, Slums
Oliver Boberg, too, has photographed slum houses for his new series. Before that, however, he built them himself. In a long and elaborate process, Boberg develops pictures from pictures. An extensive collection of photos of urban slum dwellings from around the world provided the basis for his new works. Boberg examines and analyses the pictures to identify the typical features of such houses. He then creates sketches and designs which in turn are the models for actual buildings that will be photographed and sometimes featured in short film sequences.
Case Studies: Peter Bialobrzeski + Oliver Boberg Press Release as pdf-File 424 KB |
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