The Big City

Since 2009, historian and photographer Philipp Sarasin has been traveling the globe for his visual research on major cities and megacities. He visited Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Cairo, Nairobi, Dubai, Mumbai, Beijing, Jakarta, Panama City, and ten other places, driven by his search for a relevant photographic image of the world in which we live. It is an urban world for more than half of humanity—and the trend is going up.

The Big City features some 120 of Sarasin’s color photographs that are marked by his analytical observing eye. His focus is on urban space with all its images and signs, embedded in the faceless architecture that shapes 21st-century cities. Sarasin’s shots are neither architectural photography in the narrow sense nor classic street photography. He follows the tradition of urban photography, inspired in particular by the concepts of artists such as Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth, and Jeff Wall.

An essay by architectural historian and curator Martino Stierli and an introduction by Philipp Sarasin supplement the full-page color plates in this striking volume.