
While in Europe the future of cities is discussed with controversy, in Asia they grow at a terrific pace. In the last 30 years many East Asian Metropolis grew as fast as some European cities did in the last three centuries. When Ridley Scott wrote his science-fiction thriller “Blade Runner” he was criticised for his futuristic vision of cities. Since then Blade Runner has become reality in Hong Kong and Bangkok: Skyscrapers with 80 floors, Highways crossing over the roofs of houses and baseball fields, in between malls and flats. Their inhabitants don’t necessarily have to touch the ground on their way to work. Peter Bialobrzeski has captured the vertical face of these megapolis in the twilight where daylight and the neon lights merge to a post modern fluorescent dream-like mix.
This exhibition features photographs by the Germany based artist Peter Bialobrzeski taken inside the "Tiger Cities," the name given to Asia's rapidly growing metropolises: Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur. These are pictures of a high-rise, high- density megalopolis, where architecture is in constant metamorphosis, and where its residents truly are living in the fast lane.
Bialobrzeski sets out at a snail's pace with a traditional tripod-mounted view camera to record what he sees as a hypermodern fantasy world. In stark departure from the soberness of the "Dusseldorf" school, Bialobrzeski forces us, through a seductive and romantic palette, to understand that these futuristic, almost utopian downtown scenes are quite real and very much part of a daily routine for the millions of people who reside in these dense cities.
If you are in Hamburg it is worth checking out - for those who can't make it you can look at some of his works and buy his book with all incredible "Tigers" works in it.