Michael Wolf: Architecture of Density - Flowers Gallery

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #39, 2005

Michael Wolf's amazing photographs of Hong Kong, Architecture of Density, are at Flowers, Cork Street until 22 February 2014.

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #119, 2009

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #13b, 2009

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #75, 2009

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density, Scout #7

Michael Wolf, From My Favourite Thing

Michael Wolf, From My Favourite Thing

Michael Wolf - Flowers Gallery

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #77, 2006

Michael Wolf is, I think, one of the most interesting of contemporary photographers: his first solo show in the UK is at Flowers until 7 January, 2012. He first came to my attention when given an honourable mention in this year's World Press Photo Awards for an intriguing set of work drawing from the Google Street View project: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Google Street View (see below). However, this exhibition presents 3 groups of work: Architecture of Density, Tokyo Compression and Transparent City. Flowers describes the work as follows:

Architecture of Density is a study of Hong Kong’s high rise residential developments. The structures are photographed on large format in extreme detail without the context of sky or ground; Tokyo’s subway is infamous for its cramped conditions but the psychological effects of the uncompromising close human proximity experienced daily by thousands of workers are rarely depicted. Tokyo Compression captures the moment and reaction when individuals are forcefully sandwiched between their fellow commuters and the parameters of the carriage; Transparent City depicts the architecture of both domestic and office buildings in the city of Chicago - a place renowned for its iconic towers. The structures are composed and compressed into groups and surfaces rather than shown individually.

Michael Wolf, Tokyo Compression #1062009

Michael Wolf, Tokyo Compression #05, 2009

Michael Wolf, Tokyo Compression #92, 2009

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #111, 2006

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #1, 2006

Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density #25, 2006

Michael Wolf, Transparent City #12, 2008

World Press Photo Awards 2011

Jodi Bieber's photograph of Bibi Aisha (below), an Afghan woman disfigured as punishment for fleeing her husband's house, has been selected as World Press Photo of the Year, 2010. View a brief interview with Bieber, about making the photograph, here, and read David Campbell's blog comments and comparison with Steve McCurry's famous 1985 portrait of Sharbat Gula (better known as 'Afghan Girl'); see also Jim Johnson's blog comments: Category Mistake at World Press Photo Awards ~ Top Prize Given Not for Photojournalism But for Propaganda.

Category awards are made for  Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Portraits, Arts & Entertainment, and Nature and include some astonishing and horrifying pictures. See the World Press Photo: Winners Gallery.

I was particularly interested in the Contemporary Issues, 'Honourable Mention' to Michael Wolf for: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Google Street View.

 Wolf has produced a substantial body of work derived from the vast image bank produced by the Google Street View project. In an interview in the British Journal of Photography, Wolf explains his method: 
I use a tripod and mount the camera, photographing a virtual reality that I see on the screen. It's a real file that I have, I'm not taking a screenshot. I move the camera forward and backward in order to make an exact crop, and that's what makes it my picture. It doesn't belong to Google, because I'm interpreting Google; I'm appropriating Google. If you look at the history of art, there's a long history of appropriation. He speculates: I think a large part of our future will be the curating of all these images. Can you imagine the number of images stored in our world today? It's unlimited. In 100 years, there will be professions such as 'hard-drive miners', whose mission will be finding hard-drives in electronic junkyards and developing software to sort these images. And then there will be art projects and sociological projects created using images mined from electronic storages. The whole idea of curating this incredible mass of images that has been created has tremendous potential, and I've just scratch[ed] the surface with my Google Street View project.
Needless, to say there is some scepticism about the validity of his work as 'photojournalism' or even 'art' - see comments posted at the end of the BJP interview. Listen to Wolf talking about his response to the 'controversy' and his work.

Michael Wolf, selected images from A Series of Unfortunate Events: Google Street View