Joan Fontcuberta, “Archaeologies of the Future”
Copies of The Book of Lost Cities may be ordered from the artist, and enquiries should be directed to this address. Alternately, the book may be procured from the publishers.
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| “In photographic terms, The Book of Lost Cities evokes such pioneers of travel photography as Maxime Du Camp or Francis Frith. In literary terms it clearly alludes to Italo Calvino and his Invisible Cities, in which Marco Polo offers Kublai Khan, emperor of the Tartars, a wonderful inventory of cities he has seen on his travels through Persia, Tartary and China. […] Stathatos shows us how in its intimate nature the photograph forces us to interpret it. What is apparent to the eye is not inherent in its genealogy; its signification is simply the projection made by the spectator. In this new dérive our perception of geography and history, of place and time is diluted. It may be that Stathatos is guided by the true quest for knowledge of the archaeologist but, as in Borges, this is an excavation that is made not in the field but in the library, digging down to the roots of our understanding.” Joan Fontcuberta, “Archaeologies of the Future” |
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| The Book of Lost Cities has been published as a limited-edition artist's book by ex pose verlag, Berlin (2005). Designed by Kai-Olaf Hesse, the 64-page book is printed on Munken paper and hardbound in embossed linen in an edition of 500 copies. The book includes the complete photographs and texts as well as essays by Joan Fontcuberta and Yves Abrioux. Also included is an appendix with French translations of the original texts. Copies of The Book of Lost Cities may be ordered from the artist, and enquiries should be directed to this address. Alternately, the book may be procured from the publishers. |
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