Wouter van Buuren

image, picture, Shanghai - Timespace – following the North-South Elevated Highway, Road, urban explorer, panorama of skyline of Shanghai

Shanghai – following the North-South Elevated Highway on 08-04-2013
right to left – south to north – 7.03 – 7.35 – 9.24 – 10.02 – 10.42 – 11.14 – 13.12 – 13.33 - 14.37
Distance 7.7 km


size: 100 x 153 cm
material: Ultrachrome print, laminated on dibond

Timespaces - China and Hong Kong

Between 2012 and 2015 Wouter van Buuren explored the largest cities of China like Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi´an and Hong Kong, and photographically investigated their landscapes. With these projects he attempted to capture the vastness and structure of the cities. Each project resulted in a juxtaposition of the photographs taken in one day.

During the projects Van Buuren followed predetermined lines on the map, mostly on foot or bicycle. Every kilometre he accessed a rooftop and photographed in the opposing directions, perpendicular to the line travelled. In the resulting work the relative positions of the photographs correspond with the relative positions of the locations.

The concept of the Timespaces series is inspired by the mathematical concept ´atlas´ (topology). An atlas constitutes a curved space which consists of multiple ´straight´ spaces. Present-day mathematical descriptions of the Universe use atlases to account for its curvature.