shashasha

“These photographs were taken during the years between 1998 and 2008 using six cameras made by four different manufacturers and films in four different formats. “Zokei” (created landscape), the title of this book, is derived from “paysagement”, a notion presented by a French geographer in his examination of the cityscapes of Tokyo and other megalopolises developing around the world since modern times. The current situation in which there is no model for what “paysagement” should aim at seems suitable to our time at a turning point of entire civilization, not to mention technology.”

• Seiji Kurata

Seiji Kurata's_Toshi no Zokei_marks the fourth installment in the photographic series published by Super Labo.Titled Super labo 32, the series of photobooksso far includes the published works of Masahisa Fukuse_Slaughter,_Daido Moriyama_Fukei_and Keizo Kitajima's_CAMP 1979._Found within_Toshi no Zokei_is a collection of Kurata's most recent works which presents a selection of photographs taken over a 10 year period. Documenting the urban landscapes of Tokyo,_Toshi no Zokei_is an examination of a megalopolis and exploration into the growing and shifting geography of the city space. Within, concrete structures dominate the landscape, construction sites lay open and bare exposing the bodies of burgeoning highways which swell and wind its way through the landscape. Here Kurata attempts to unify both the subject and photographer, assimilating himself with both machine and landscape into a body of work which examines both 'mimicry' and 'imitation'.

Seiji Kurata's_Toshi no Zokei_is available in three different covers. Each has been printed in a limited edition run of 250 copies.