Post Apocalyptic Photography

Our new collection this year, Metropolis, has been designed around the apocalypse. For many this resonates with death and destruction, however for us it signifies rebirth and a better, brighter, more sustainable future. As you may have seen in our other trend posts the idea of the earth taking back it’s land (Urban Organic) after The Fall identifies quite clearly with many exhibitions currently on display. We’ve compiled a collection of these images alongside our own, to showcase both the destruction and the attraction that the notion of the apocalypse can bring.

Lori Nix on “The City”

“In my newest body of work I have imagined a city of our future, where something either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of it’s human inhabitants. Art museums, Broadway theaters, laundromats and bars no longer function. The walls are deteriorating, the ceilings are falling in, the structures barely stand, yet Mother Nature is slowly taking them over. These spaces are filled with flora, fauna and insects, reclaiming what was theirs before man’s encroachment. I am afraid of what the future holds if we do not change our ways regarding the climate, but at the same time I am fascinated by what a changing world can bring.” 

See more of Lori’s work here

Museum of Art, 2005 by Lori Nix	Map Room, 2010 by Lori Nix
Mall, 2010 by Lori Nix	Library, 2007 by Lori Nix
Laundromat at Night, 2008 by Lori Nix	Great Hall, 2006 by Lori Nix
Circulation Desk, 2012 by Lori Nix	Bar, 2009 by Lori Nix

Silent World by Lucie And Simon

The silence of the world, like a quotation, is suddenly endowed with an oppressive eloquence. Small intrusions are the true sparks here, because their disconcerting presence disrupts the majestic calm of the streets and squares. Are the latter guilty or victims? The fate that governs these shots in a tangible way is not the result of decisions taken by metaphysical powers, but stems uniquely from the imagination of the two creators of these photos, Lucie & Simon.

Although they consciously and intelligently stage the principle of the “déjà-vu”, they nevertheless brilliantly include observers in their game and transform them into co-creators of their images. They undermine the idea that the photographic image is a duplicate of the visible world or a “language without code” (Roland Barhtes), an image that is at least « natural » at the moment of its creation. They endow their photographs with an abundance of unsettling codes, of the most diverse persuasions and origins, particularly those arising from other images. However, these codes don’t focus the images. They serve instead to incite observers to fill them with language of their own experience and their own imagination.  

by Klaus Honnef, Art Critic and Curator , co-organizer of Kassel DOCUMENTA V and VI.
An extract from « Lucie & Simon, The incertitude of being, Actes sud editions, 2010.

See more of Lucie & Simon’s work here 

A Silent World by ©Lucie&Simon

A Silent World by ©Lucie&Simon

Abandoned by Richard Allenby-Pratt

“This project imagines a future without people, where the relics of our unrealised ambitions are populated by some of the species we have, in the present day, come so close to exterminating. I hope to highlight the fragility of our economic systems and the desperate need for us to live in harmony with the other occupants of our world”

See more of Richard’s work here

Gemsbock by Richard Allenby-Pratt	Giraffe by Richard Allenby-Pratt
Lion by Richard Allenby-Pratt	Rhino by Richard Allenby-Pratt

Metropolis by Interface

In 2012, a fascination with the idea of an impending apocalypse is leading to enormous creativity. As designers and artists contemplate the fall and rebirth of civilizations, Interface has created Metropolis, inspired by a vision of our journey towards a better, brighter and more sustainable future.

See more on the Metropolis Collection here

Assur-Tigri from the Interface product collection Metropolis	Lutetia from the Interface product collection Metropolis
Etruria from the Interface product collection Metropolis	Mellopolis from the Interface product collection Metropolis