Michael Ackerman - End Time City [First Edition] - 1999

This first publication of End Time City (Scalo, 1999) consecrated Michael Ackerman as one of the photographers who have marked the history of photography and the book has become a milestone of the photobook.

Michael Ackerman - End Time City

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scalo; 1st edition (2 Aug. 1999)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 144 pages, First Edition
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 32 x 28 cm

End Time City (Scalo, 1999) is the haunting debut Photobook by photographer Michael Ackerman, a work that quickly established him as one of the most distinctive visual voices of his generation. Shot primarily in the Indian city of Benares (Varanasi), the book does not follow a documentary tradition in the conventional sense; instead, Ackerman constructs a psychological landscape where time appears suspended and the boundary between reality and dream dissolves. His high-contrast, grain-laden black-and-white images—often blurred, tilted, or intensely close—create a sense of disorientation that mirrors the city’s spiritual intensity and perpetual state of flux.
Narratively, End Time City reads like a fevered journey through narrow alleyways, temples, cremation grounds, and transient lives. The photographs are infused with raw emotion: tenderness and despair, chaos and stillness, life and death coexist on every page. Ackerman’s vision is deeply subjective, almost diaristic, offering not a portrait of a place but a revelation of its atmosphere—mysterious, unsettling, and profoundly human.
Published by Scalo on 2 August 1999, this volume is a first edition, which significantly contributes to its desirability among collectors. Scalo’s high production standards and the subsequent scarcity of many of its titles—especially after the publisher ceased operations—have elevated the book’s status. As a result, End Time City has gained a strong collectible value, often sought after by photography enthusiasts, rare-book collectors, and admirers of contemporary art. Its impact on late-20th-century photographic storytelling, combined with the limited availability of the original printing, makes the first edition an especially prized item.