Architecture of Density / Michael Wolf

非常感谢Michael Wolf将以下内容授权gooood发行。更多请至：Michael Wolf on gooood 
Appreciation towards Michael Wolf for providing the following description:
©Michael Wolf. Courtesy M97 Gallery 

前段时间分享了Manuel Alvarez Diestro拍摄的Distant natures，他的作品将香港这个世界级高密度大都市的楼宇与繁茂自然相碰撞之处展现给大家，其超现实场景让人印象深刻。而之所以给编辑留下了深刻印象，其中一个原因是因为这个系列的作品与早些年Michael Wolf 拍摄的Architecture of Density形成了鲜明对比。

Architecture of Density中，香港那令人震撼的密度以遮天蔽日令人窒息的形象向人扑来，淋漓精致揭示的背后也让很多人对这个全球最安全、富裕、繁荣的地区之一，香港，有了在密度上的重新认识。根据资料统计和引用得知：因历史、政治及地理环境等原因，整个香港土地开发率仅为23.7%，其中住宅用途的土地开发面积76平方公里，仅占土地总面积的6.8%。这样的土地开发限制导致市区707万人主要居住在高层住宅内。全港共有6588座高层楼宇，远超纽约的5818座，成为名副其实的“摩天城市”。

这样的结果不是疯狂开发造成的，而是香港”理智”的结果，根据资料显示”香港通过衡量高密度与低密度发展模式的利弊，决定采用高密度发展，把有限的土地资源做最高限度的利用，减少对郊外的城市化压力，提高城市运行的效率，形成多样化的整体都市面貌。在这个过程中，进行密度管制是约束和控制高密度发展建设标准的主要手段之一。”

因此在香港，既可以观赏到美丽的自然风光，又可以获得商业文明带来的种种享受；既有现代化五光十色的琳琅满目，也有旧时代的古物古迹和朴素生活方式。

如果密度管制就是香港魅力的秘密之一，一些低效和野蛮开发的城市应该有所借鉴。

In a diverse array of photographic projects Michael Wolf explores the complex cultural identities of China and Hong Kong, where he has lived since 1995. Wolf delves into subjects such as the formal and improvisational aesthetics of Hong Kong’s architectural forms, the often-overlooked human presence at the heart of international industry, and the idiosyncratic ways city-dwellers shape their surroundings in an “organic metropolis.”

Throughout these interrelated series Wolf draws into question notions of public and private space, anonymity and individuality, history and modern development. Attuned to the cultural and economic undercurrents of his adopted home, Wolf remains humanely attentive to the personal details as well. Kenneth Baker, critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written of the “formal intelligence and acuity of observation” evident in Wolf’s photographs, and while Wolf is meticulously and consistently observant, his photographs reflect a manner of working that is intuitive and fluid: from series to series Wolf assumes a range of viewpoints, intimate in some cases and removed in others, and alternates between approaches that are rigorously formal and playfully lyrical. Wolf’s photographs have been exhibited in Asia, Europe and the United States, and are included in the permanent collections of prominent institutions. His large-scale installation, ” Story”, was on view at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, in Chicago, in 2006. Wolf’s monographs include Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door, (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Sitting in China (Steidl, 2002).

 

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