Michael Wolf: The Transparent City

In 2005, Michael Wolf visited Chicago for the first time to participate in a group exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Photography. As he rode an elevated train from the airport into the city, he began to envision photographing Chicago. For the previous decade, Wolf had been living and working in Hong Kong, attempting to capture the sheer density of people living on the two small islands that make up that city. Wolf examined the endless ranks of residential housing complexes in Hong Kong by removing the horizon line and flattening the space to a relentless abstraction of urban expansion. He noticed, however, that Chicago had an entirely different feel. While Hong Kong is built of endless rows of structures designed and built in a nearly identical style, Chicago has more experimental, unique buildings of many different styles. (Natasha Egan)

About the photographer:

Michael Wolf is known for his large-format architectural photos of Chicago and primarily of Hong Kong, where he has been living for more than 15 years. To date, Wolf has published 11 photobooks: China im Wandel (Frederking und Thaler, 2001), Sitting in China (Steidl, 2002), Chinese Propaganda Posters from the Collection of Michael Wolf (Taschen, 2003), Hong Kong front door/back door (Thames and Hudson, 2005; Steidl, 2006), The Transparent City (Aperture, 2008), the two-volume set Hong Kong Inside Outside (2009), Tokyo Compression (2010) & the companion book Tokyo Compression Revisited (2011), Real Fake Art, fy, and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2011).

Publisher: Aperture/MoCP (November 1, 2008)

Language: English - 112 pages

13.5 x 10.8 x 0.7 inches