Martin Pover

Area of Research Expertise

Photography

Research Profile

The current project consists of a series of photographsI have been working on between July 2003 and the present and is titled "Carceri". The title comes from Piranesi's series of etchings of 1750 which depict fantastical prisons and explore the psychological dynamics of social control and perspective. The project consists of photographs of empty cages; locations that allude to stage sets - empty arenas that are full of suspense. The abandoned spaces anticipate action and drama, but are imbued with an inescapable finality. The arresting geometry of the zoo architecture governs the choice of view-point, and a faux-reality of 'the wild' is exposed. Far from offering a sublime experience, the contemporary zoo is revealed as tableaux and artifice. Zoos photographed to date include; Paris, London, Edinburgh, Colchester, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Washington DC, SanDiego, L.A. Barcelona, Lisbon, Berlin, Rome, Budapest.