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30/5/2008

Hans Scholten

Huis Marseille, Amsterdam

The future of the city: that is the theme raised by Amsterdam artist Hans Scholten (1952) in his photographic project Urban Future. For a number of years now, he has been photographing the urban landscapes of huge cities in Asia and the Middle East. There he captures scenes of rapidly growing neighborhoods, in which chaos and anarchy seem to arise due to a lack of organized city planning. Scholten concerns himself specifically with the way in which the inhabitants themselves shape and set up these neighborhoods: how political, cultural and economic developments determine the outward appearance of these cities. He points out differences and similarities, particularly in the uncontrolled pace of construction and the surprising swiftness with which decay sets in at the same time. Is this the future that awaits cities in the Western world as well?

Hans Scholten began as a sculptor, initially producing installations into which he also incorporated photography. Through the course of time, he came to concentrate solely on this. His background is expressed in the work’s spatial manner of presentation. The project Urban Future is, in fact, a photographic archive which continues to expand and serve as a basis for his development of new models of presentation. On the wall, in large formats, he gives emphasis to the monumental and sculptural qualities of the image, but also to the form of the photographed structures and spaces. In photographic notebooks unfolding across long tables, the images make up a filmic, sequenced account of a journey. The unique character of a specific city vanishes in these sequences; it is the universal image of the urban jungle that emerges. This is how his personal experience moreover becomes palpable to the viewer.

Huis Marseille
Keizersgracht 401 - Amsterdam

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