Abstract of the accomplished photographic work
“Polished Cities” dissects various contemporary architectural buildings photographed by Jon Gorospe in cities around the world, including Berlin, Milan, New York, Oslo, Tokyo and Singapore.
The installation is composed of black and white photographs of pristine buildings following a precise geometrical order, some of which are intervened by sheets of red acrylic. This color guides the frenetic rhythm of metropolitan life. The dialogue created by these superimposed images and contrasting colors decontextualize the buildings from their urban environments.
Inspired by the South Korean and German philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s Saving Beauty (2015), which discusses the concept of beauty in today’s consumer culture, Gorospe reinterprets a dystopian society through crisp images of modular, reticular, and symmetrical structures in a contemporary city.
Geaninne Guimaraes
Curator at Guggenheim Museum, NY.
Description of the project you intend to pursue through the Prize
The exhibition and photobook will explore the parallel between urban reconstruction and political renewal.
Brussels is a city in flux, its skyline is dominated by cranes and half-built structures. This ongoing transformation serves as a metaphor for Europe itself, an unfinished political project shaped by crises, shifting borders, and the constant need for renewal.
Through photography, I will document Brussels’s reconstruction as a reflection of political change, capturing the tension between instability and hope. Photographing these spaces in transformation and the life around them captures the fragility of this specific moment, a time of uncertainty, shifting structures, and the urgent need to reinforce the foundations of our political project.
The book and the show will feature a carefully curated sequence. Its design could use a grid to display several images or a single big photograph, creating a cross-gazed narrative every time you flick through the work.