Frank van der Salm

NOWHERE shows a world in which Instagrammability is first and foremost, in which the new reality is dictated by the seductive image that may (later) be made from it. Architecture, design, and urban landscape are directed by the mechanisms of global big business, and the same antiseptic beauty exists all over the world. NOWHERE—Imagining the Global City presents the work of Dutch photographer Frank van der Salm from the past twenty-five years. Designed by Irma Boom, the book shows a consumer-oriented, imaginary metropolis. Images, sometimes deliberately upside down, challenge the reality they represent. Seen together they form the image of a city that suddenly seems to be simultaneously everywhere and nowhere: both here and now and nowhere. The essays by Shumon Basar, Aaron Betsky, and Urs Stahel link Frank van der Salm’s oeuvre to the world of design, architecture, urban development, art, and photography.

About the photographer
Frank van der Salm, who was born in Delft in 1964, studied at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. He travels all over the world to find his subjects. Rapidly growing metropolises in areas like southeastern Asia and the Gulf region are among his favorites. Occasionally Van der Salm collaborates with architectural firms such as OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, and MVRDV.