MARTEN LANGE
GHOST WITNESS
Published by Loose Joints, 2020
Book size 23.3 x 34 cm
Softcover
Pages 168 pages with 127 tritone plates
OTA-bound embossed
ISBN 978-1-912719-20-4
China has a rich tradition of ghost stories and supernatural beliefs. There are tales of ghosts that can shape-shift, or turn into air, or pure or darkness light. In Ghost Witness , Mårten Lange tells the story of a country rushing towards the future with the past following silently behind, like a specter in the smog.
In his time in China, Lange visited urban metropolises that have expanded rapidly in recent years , as a result of hyper-accelerated growth and development. Walking through these megacities, Lange explores the bleeding edge between rationalized urban planning and messy everyday lives. Ghost Witness engages with the unique quality of light in the urban environment , where the sun filters through the polluted air and the vast arrays of LEDs twinkle in the rain – revealing the world indirectly, like a mirror.
The images in Ghost Witness inhabit and replicate the machine-like rational logic of the grid to interrogate overlaps and fissures between architecture, technology, surveillance and the future. Lange's precise photographs often describe those fissures: indecipherable codes, broken windows, decay and entropy within the order of glass and steel . Suspended in a liminal state between constant construction and expansion, Lange questions what it means for humanity to dwell inside environments that are planned, designed and repeated, with little recourse for history, transition and change.
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China has a rich tradition of ghost stories and supernatural beliefs. There are stories of ghosts that can change shape, or transform into air, pure darkness, or light. In Ghost Witness, Mårten Lange tells the story of a country hurtling toward the future with the past following silently behind, like a specter in the smog.
During his stay in China, Lange visited urban metropolises that have developed rapidly in recent years, due to hyper-accelerated growth and development. Traveling through these megacities, Lange explores the avant-garde between streamlined urbanism and disordered everyday life. Ghost Witness focuses on the unique quality of light in the urban environment, where sunlight filters through polluted air and vast arrays of LEDs flicker in the rain - revealing the world indirectly, like a mirror.
The images in Ghost Witness inhabit and reproduce the grid’s machine-like rational logic to interrogate the overlaps and fissures between architecture, technology, surveillance, and the future. Lange’s precise photographs often depict these fissures: indecipherable codes, shattered windows, decay, and entropy in the order of glass and steel. Suspended in a liminal state between constant construction and expansion, Lange questions what it means for humanity to inhabit planned, designed, and repeated environments, with little recourse to history, transition, and change .