Europe – The Secret of Good Living
Pigment Prints, from 30x40cm to 70x100cm 2015–2017

The photographs of this series focus on an urban planning phenomenon in china. Due to the enormous population growth there was
a need for new solutions – to decentralize the city center the plan
was to create european themed New Towns at the outer districts of megacities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou or Huizhou. The euro- pean lifestyle became a marketing tool for the real estate industry to attract investors or upstarting citizens. Some of these projects were more successful than others - while Anting New Town in Shanghai is a ghost town, you need to buy a ticket for the entrance to Hallstatt-See, Huizhou. After my research I travelled in china for 4 weeks seeking those New Towns, trying not to focus on the fake architecture but on the casualness of the cities and the citizens. I did an Artist Book in 2015 containing 53 photographs and became part of an exhibition at Fotoforum Braunau in 2017, where I showed 12 prints of the series.