Observatories
The design of urban landscape and man’s contemplation of it.
Man’s contemplation of the natural landscape in Japan has a long history in art dating back to Ando Hiroshige’s prints from the Edo period. Historically, the notion of contemplation or even meditation is imbedded so deeply in the Japanese psyche that it has been featured in landscape design, urban planning and also certainly in architecture. Therefore, when a Japanese architect designs a high-rise he will habitually consider space for contemplation. In reality, this means that most publicly accessible high-rises in a city such as Tokyo contain a designated viewing area solely for that purpose. These spaces in Japanese-English bear the misguiding title of Observatories.
Marco Bohr's work struck me immediately as a piece of work I liked. My design based creative background naturally enjoys the clean, straight on compositions which is why I think I like his work so much. The use of high contrast and the high brightness brings out the standing figures in a much bolder manner. From this viewpoint, it is almost looking at a group of shapes rather than people, which suggests his images are more about form than traditional social documentary. In a unique way it is social documentary in, to me, it's finest form. Stepping back completely from the hustle of daily life to capture how people move and the shapes groups of people form when their attention is focused elsewhere.
"Mori Tower, Observatories"
"Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Observatories"
"Fuji Building, Observatories"
