Edward Burtynsky Livres

In 1997 I had what I refer to as my oil epiphany. It occurred to me that the vast, human-altered landscapes that I pursued and photographed for over twenty years were only made possible by the discovery of oil and the mechanical advantage of the internal combustion engine. It was then that I began the oil project. Over the next ten years I researched and photographed the largest oil fields I could find. I went on to make images of refineries, freeway interchanges, automobile plants and the scrap industry that results from the recycling of cars. Then I began to look at the culture of oil, the motor culture, where masses of people congregate around vehicles, with vehicle events as the main attraction. These images can be seen as notations by one artist contemplating the world as it is made possible through this vital energy resource and the cumulative effects of industrial evolution."

After some 25 years of exploring the impact of industry on our planet, the celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has accumulated a substantial body of work documenting the world's major quarries--in Canada, Italy, China, Spain, Portugal, India and America. Quarries are, of course, a crucial source for the buildings we construct, and as such, a negative correlative of what we add to the world--as well as a tangible (and neglected) evidence for our ongoing dependence on its resources. Somewhere a building is being created while a landscape is being destroyed, and, as Burtynsky writes, "quarries...are places that are outside of our normal experience, yet we partake of their output on a daily basis." His images of these plundered landscapes are simultaneously beautiful and disquieting.

There is no life without water. Burtynsky's new and highly anticipated book Water tells us the story of where water comes from, how we use it, distribute and waste it. Often using a bird's-eye perspective, the photographer shows us its remote sources, remarkable ancient step-wells and mass bathing rituals, the transformation of desert into cities with waterfronts on each doorstep, the compromised landscapes of the American Southwest. Furthermore, Burtynsky explores the infrastructure of water management: the gigantic hydroelectric dams and terraced rice fields in the heart of China, the vast irrigation systems of America's bread basket and the use of aquaculture. The colour photographs in this book are poetic and at the same time highly relevant: they reveal another vital component of our life on earth that drives the bloom of civilization, and foreshadow the extent to which our future depends on our everyday behaviour in dealing with this increasingly scarce resource.

Edward Burtynsky's imagery explores the intricate link between industry and nature, combining the raw elements of mining, quarrying, shipping, oil production and recycling into eloquent, highly expressive visions that find beauty and humanity in the most unlikely places. These images are metaphors for the dilemma of our modern existence: we are drawn by desire--the desire to live well and in comfort--yet we all know that the world is suffering to meet those demands. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into uneasy contradiction and feeds the dialogue in Burtynsky's images between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. Burtynsky's latest body of work gives visual form to the industrial and urban transformation of China, a place where industrial forces are gathering on a scale that the world has never experienced before. If the earth's resources were up to now under siege through western colonialism and technological progress, then China is on the brink of a sweeping assault on the planet's ecosystem that is only just forming and is nowhere close to expressing its full impact.

The book delves into Edward Burtynsky's extensive 45-year career, showcasing his striking photographs that document large-scale extractive processes while also transforming industrial landscapes into abstract forms. It features insightful texts by art historian Simon Schama and curator Marc Mayer, discussing the role of art in environmental awareness and Burtynsky's artistic journey. With over 130 color plates and a special "Process Archive," the book highlights Burtynsky's evolution from traditional film to modern digital techniques, offering a comprehensive look at his impact on photography and environmental discourse.

The photographs capture the profound impact of human activity on African landscapes, revealing a striking blend of abstract art and environmental commentary. Burtynsky explores themes of terraforming, urbanization, and resource extraction, highlighting the stark realities of industrial and human-induced changes. The work features various chapters, including a focus on China's economic influence in Africa, showcasing massive manufacturing facilities. This project represents seven years of Burtynsky's dedication to documenting the intricate relationship between humanity and the environment.

A visceral expression of humanity's incursions on the planet and an urgent call to acknowledge our responsibility, this multidisciplinary project includes a photobook, a major traveling museum exhibition, a feature documentary film, and an interactive educational website. It is grounded in the research of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), which advocates for officially renaming the current geological epoch from Holocene to Anthropocene, reflecting significant human impacts on the Earth’s systems. The AWG's research categories—such as Anthroturbation, Species Extinction, Technofossils, Boundary Limits, and Terraforming—are explored through various mediums, illustrating our species' geological-scale influence. Edward Burtynsky, a Toronto-based photographer, has works in over 60 major museums, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Guggenheim Museum. His previous publications include China, Quarries, Oil, Water, and Salt Pans. Jennifer Baichwal has directed documentaries for over 20 years, including Manufactured Landscapes, which focused on Burtynsky's work in China. Nicholas de Pencier is a documentary director and producer, known for projects like Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles and Watermark, contributing significantly to the visual narrative of this urgent topic.

Salt Pans is Edward Burtynsky’s newest book in his acclaimed ongoing series of photographs exploring different industrialized landscapes across the world. Consisting of 31 aerial photos of the salt pans in the Little Rann of Kutch, the project is the result of months of intricate negotiations and preparations. These striking geometric images, taken in an intense ten-day period during which Burtynsky photographed from a helicopter, present the pans, wells and vehicle tracks as abstract, painterly patterns: subtly colored rectangles crossed by grids of gestural lines. And yet the reality behind the ironic beauty of Burtynsky’s pictures is a harsh one. Each year 100,000 poorly paid Agariya workers toil in the pans, extracting over a million tons of salt from the floodwaters of the nearby Arabian Sea. Furthermore, receding groundwater levels, combined with debt, diminishing market values as well as a lack of governmental support, threaten the future of this 400-year-old tradition and the lives dependent on it.

Die Welt am Abgrund Edward Burtynsky zählt neben Andreas Gursky und Thomas Struth zu den herausragenden Fotografen seiner Generation, die schonungslos dokumentieren, was unsere Umwelt durch ungezügelte globalisierte Finanz- und Wirtschaftsinteressen erleidet. Erstmals bietet die vorliegende Publikation eine umfassende Rückschau auf das bisherige Werk von Edward Burtynsky. Zusammengestellt von William A. Ewing, beinhaltet dieser Band sowohl bekannte ikonische Aufnahmen als auch bislang unveröffentlichte Entdeckungen. Jedem der fünf Kapitel werden Texte früherer Publikationen vorangestellt. Ein Essay von Joshua Schuster und ein Einleitungstext von Ewing ordnen die visuellen Eindrücke ein und ermöglichen einen Einblick in das vielschichtige Werk dieses außergewöhnlichen Fotografen.