Thomas Struth - Unconscious Places - 2020

Thomas Struth’s inimitable style is the centerpiece of this compact new edition of his extraordinary collection of urban views, created between 1970 and 2010.

Thomas Struth is one of the most renowned photographers to emerge from the school of Bernd and Hilla Becher. In this celebrated volume, Struth presents a series of urban scenes from cities such as Edinburgh, Lima, Pyongyang, Naples, and New York, all captured under similar conditions: devoid of human activity. Struth defines these banal buildings, deserted streets, and anonymous façades as “unconscious places,” environments that acquire meaning only through the observer. Captured with exquisite technical mastery and presented with a powerful and sober neutrality, Struth’s images allow us to fully appreciate the character of a city, from the telephone cables high above to the curb below. The illuminating essay by the renowned sociologist Richard Sennett reveals how Struth’s sober, lucid photography guides the viewer to draw their own conclusions, rather than imposing a predefined perspective. The interaction that arises among photographer, viewer, and landscape may be the key to understanding how architecture shapes our daily lives.

Thomas Struth is one of the best-known contemporary German photographers. His works have been shown in numerous exhibitions, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and the Haus der Kunst in Munich. He lives between Berlin and New York.

Richard Sennett is a full professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. He is founding director of the New York Institute for the Humanities and, in 2018, was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a fellow of the British Academy."