In addition to the Noorderlicht portfolio in GUP#30, The Metropolitan Issue, we bring you six chapters introducing fifteen photographers as well as the six featured themes for upcoming Noorderlicht Photofestival in Groningen, The Netherlands. Today the last chapter, chapter 6: Assembly.
It’s often the little things that spark a fleeting memory; the scent of a passer-by’s perfume takes you back to a faceless figure from your past, a song playing on the radio in a café releases an emotional trigger that rushes through your veins, a particular spice somehow vividly but briefly conjures up a sense of familiarity.
A wedding was celebrated at the rooftop. Nabil’s nephew kissed his wife and from the ramshackle balconies neighbours sang songs to seal their love.
Throughout history, photographers have turned their cameras on the extreme human conditions present within the populous urban core. Polluted and unhealthy, characterised by dangerous class divisions and social tension, the metropolitan area is a place of degeneration and decadence, and at many levels embodies society’s ills.
Our correspondent Simone Gork arranged an interview with Michael Najjar (1966, Germany), a pioneer in digital postproduction and manipulation in photography. By linking up realistic with fictive elements, he creates utopian (near) future scenarios that reflect upon contemporary technological developments. Michael Najjar is also featured in GUP #30, the Metropolitan Issue, with his series ‘Netropolis’. His work ‘Liquid City’ is currently exhibited at Noorderlicht Photofestival’.
Jon Rafman (1981, Montreal), an artist-cum-netronaut always on the frontline of our virtual expansion, is fascinated by Google’s panoramic views that support our insatiable need for navigation.
Machu Picchu was eventually abandoned by its inhabitants and consumed by the jungle. It is the ultimate fate of all cities to vanish. Or fade into the surrounding landscape.