Metropia

Metropia is as much a sensibility as it is a topographically defined area. Temperatures, temperaments, expectations and spectacles are exaggerated in a densely packed can. Contemporary cities are sprawling, becoming conurbations. What frictions are generated by this culture of congestion where creation and destruction go hand in hand in this constant state of renewal? And is it only the surface undergoing renewal? It seems like the substructure is never far away.

In the following pages you will find exceptional designed environments and experiences that are idiosyncratic to Metropia, some in unconventional ways. If there is a unifying gesture in this eclectic spectrum then it is panache. Extreme panache.

Catalysing this creative cauldron are fragments of truth, moments in time. Lines, surfaces, textures, light and colours. Where light and weather metamorphoses steel, glass, concrete and asphalt into that one frame. Please join in on this photographic journey made through modern cityscapes. Monochrome, squared reflections made from behind the lens of an iPhone 4.

As you turn the pages, allow yourself to be free of life's ordinary motivations. Be drawn by your instinct, send your gaze upward, lower your eyes, have a look around. Let metropolis tighten its grip on you. You've probably seen it. Is it ugly or beautiful, or maybe both?

Can you hear the silence?

Gunn Elin Schmidt