> Project Description
Last Updated Thursday 22nd June 2006
Asked to contribute to the forthcoming 'Health of the Nation'-themed, August issue of i-D magazine, Nick Knight and Simon Foxton elected to create a photographic story about the 'brutalising city': how it is brutalised by us, how it brutalises us and as a result, how it encourages us to brutalise each other. Taking the Gaia hypothesis that the universe functions as a single, living organism as a point of departure, the pair set about imagining cities as humans: fractures in its concrete 'skin' symbolising slashes to the body, the water flowing under London or its interconnecting roads as veins and arteries. The loose correlations are endless.
Realising that London is only one of many possible locations for such a shoot, Nick and Simon have decided to open their project up to SHOWstudio viewers worldwide, throwing down their brief as a gauntlet to the many internationally-based photographers we know view the site and contribute to the FORUM. In the [below] handwritten notes, Nick has identified a series of image types for those wishing to participate –such as backs of advertising hoardings, police signs, floral tributes, cuts on fists, police cells, cash dispensers or binge-drinking girls- around which you should construct your version of the shoot.
So, get snapping and, using the upload form, send us your 'brutalising city' story in advance of i-D's publication date: the second week of July. It will then be published in a special gallery on SHOWstudio where not only will you be able to compare your work against that of Nick and Simon, we look forward to seeing the difference between how photographers from across the planet each interpret the brief and their experience of city living.
> Spreads
View Nick and Simon's favourite 'brutalising city' photographic submissions, laid out in a magazine-style spread by art director Dean Langley.
Click to view Spreads >
Watch Nick Knight and Simon Foxton deliver their respective photographic and stylistic briefs for the project.
Click to watch the Nick Knight's Spoken Brief >
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Click to watch the Simon Foxton's Spoken Brief >
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> Upload
Use our upload form to send us your 'brutalising city' story in advance of i-D's publication date: the second week of July.
Click to upload your image >
> Gallery
Compare your gallery submissions to other viewers' interpretations of the brief.
Click to view Gallery >
Did your submission make it in?
Finally, we are pleased to launch our WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? spreads, featuring a selection of Nick and Simon Foxton's favourite contributions in response to their 'brutalising city' brief. Laid out by i-D's art director Dean Langley, the nineteen pages incorporate particularly impressive submissions from contributors from varying international locations such as New York, London, Paris, Australia and Switzerland. Click here, to see if your 'brutal' entry was chosen...
By Studio, 15:35 Friday, 11 August
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