Daniela Keiser

«Cairo» and «vibrant chaos» can almost be regarded as synonyms. The photobook, divided into three booklets, offers views from above of the dense Cairo streetscape, taken during the winter of 2008/2009, and presents a kaleidoscope of everyday life in this metropolis. The photographs reveal a crazy architectural patchwork of deserted roofs, unadorned facades, narrow lanes, a multitude of walls and garbage, several broadcast antennae, a few forlorn trees, and occasionally local residents. Photographed from a distance, the picture series document the area concerned from various camera positions. Viewers thus encounter the same buildings and facades many times over, but the monotony of the subject matter is redeemed by subtle shifts in perspective and image details as well as variety in terms of time of day, weather and light conditions. Within each series, the observer’s eye is constantly directed to new details, and the forest of stone and concrete is gradually made to seem like a living organism. Alice Wilke