Tor Seidel

Dubai was rapidly transformed by the discovery of oil in the nineteen-fifties. Within a brief period the num ber of inhabitants rose three hundred percent. The construction of the world s tallest buildings in the desert metropolis was followed by scores of amuse ment parks, two hundred artificial islands, tourism, and consumption. New Dubai emerged without any historical precedents, a concept of a center, or logical network of streets. Tor Seidel ( 1964) views this frag mented urban landscape from a distance. Resisting the allure of these outward appearances, he points to the yawning gaps in this façade. In his photographs giant shopping malls are spread out before the mel ancholy backdrop of mammoth building projects that have been abandoned. The artist does not make clear whether his photographs have been digitally edited or are authentic depictions of reality, and thus The Dubai becomes an allegory of a dazzling metropolis situated between promise and illusion.

Mit der Entdeckung von Ölvorkommen in den 1960er-Jahren verwandelte sich Dubai von einer kleinen Handelssiedlung in eine globalisierte Metropole. Das entstehende New Dubai hat keine historischen Spuren und gewachsenen Strukturen, dafür aber die größten Einkaufszentren, höchsten Wolkenkratzer und künstliche Inseln sowie die Vision, Konsum- und Freizeitbedürfnisse von Millionen Menschen weltweit zu befriedigen. Tor Seidel (*1964 in Rosswein) nähert sich dem fragmentierten urbanen Raum aus einer distanzierten Perspektive, die dem Schein der Kulissen nicht verfällt, sondern auf die Abgründe dazwischen verweist. In seinen Fotografien verflachen etwa gigantische Shoppingmalls vor dem Hintergrund der Tristesse stillgelegter Megaprojekte. Der Künstler dokumentiert die bauliche Entwicklung der vergangenen acht Jahre und zeigt überraschende Bilder einer Stadt im permanenten Wandel - voller Brüche und Absonderlichkeiten. So wird The Dubai zur Allegorie auf die zwischen Illusion, Versprechen und Realität schillernde Metropole am persisch-arabischen Golf.
 
Ausstellung/Exhibition: J+A Gallery, Dubai Herbst/Fall 2014

Ansichten eines Künstlers und Bewohners der Megacity

Dubai was rapidly transformed by the discovery of oil in the nineteen-fifties. Within a brief period the num­ber of inhabitants rose three hundred percent. The construction of the world's tallest buildings in the desert metropolis was followed by scores of amuse­ment parks, two hundred artificial islands, tourism, and consumption. New Dubai emerged without any historical precedents, a concept of a center, or logical network of streets. Tor Seidel (* 1964) views this frag­mented urban landscape from a distance. Resisting the allure of these outward appearances, he points to the yawning gaps in this façade. In his photographs giant shopping malls are spread out before the mel­ancholy backdrop of mammoth building projects that have been abandoned. The artist does not make clear whether his photographs have been digitally edited or are authentic depictions of reality, and thus The Dubai becomes an allegory of a dazzling metropolis situated between promise and illusion.