Hubert Blanz
“La valeur de la vie. À la recherche des villes radieuses”
05-A Créteil, 2020
82 x 50 cm
ed. 3 +1 A.P.
EUR 3.000,- excl. VAT
or
161 x 98 cm
ed. 2 + 1 A.P
EUR 6.500,- excl. VAT
Hubert Blanz's artistic works mainly deal with urban infrastructure, spatial patterns and geographic as well as virtual networks. A central focus has become the metropolis, its rapid and constant expansion, the challenges which arise from this, its vision and its impact on our living together. Sociocritical questions and historical contexts are important aspects in Hubert Blanz’ bodies of work.
The title of his series "La Valeur de la vie" refers to the palace-like social housing complexes by Ricardo Bofill, a Spanish postmodern architect, in and around Paris. Hubert Blanz set out in Paris "á la recherche des villes radieuses", in search of the "shining cities". The "radiant city" is an unrealized urban master plan by Le Corbusier, who wanted to offer the residents a more valuable lifestyle and thus contribute to the creation of a better society. Le Corbusier's strictly symmetrical and standardized principles had a major impact on modern urban planning and led to the development of new typologies for high-density residential buildings. Ultimately, the so-called grand ensembles have developed into “sensitive urban zones” due to inadequate infrastructure and the desolation of social life due to a lack of facilities.
In total, Blanz produced over 4,000 photos of 205 buildings, which were later reassembled into complex collages telling a story that not only illuminates social urban hot spots but also takes you into fantastic worlds and possibly also throws a glimpse into the “past” future.