Urbanics: The Contemporary City Martin Roemers Metropolis Born in 1962 in Oldehove. Lives in Delft, Netherlands www.martinroemers.com

The world is experiencing the largest What inspires you? wave of urban growth in history. Ac­ Many years ago, I was walking through and cording to UN calculations, by 2050, enjoyed the chaos and hustle and bustle in that town. approximately seventy per cent of Thousands of people, who seemed not to be bothered the global population will be living in by the noise, exhaust fumes and lack of personal space. cities. I decided to visualize this pro­ It was my first inspiration for Metropolis. cess of urbanization by photographing How would you characterize yourself in one word? the world’s . These are plac­ Ambitious. es with more than ten million inhabit­ ants, who often live in densely popu­ Are you a more introverted or extroverted person? lated areas under difficult circum­ Introverted.

stances. The questions behind what Which city do you like the most? I want to show are: How can people Mumbai and New York. live in a city that is so vast yet so in­ credibly crowded and hectic? What are Which contemporary artist do you admire the most? the differences between these mega­ I choose a painting with an optimistic view on city life: cities, and what do they have in com­ New Moscow, 1937, by Yuri Pimenov. mon? I make these photographs with Which camera did you use for this project? long exposure times, in which traffic Mamiya 7. and people merge into a blurred rush of energy. Motionless individuals seem How do you promote your work? like islands surrounded by the surging I always start a project without financial back up and tide of colorful crowds. The cityscapes organize this along the way. Financing Metropolis is a are made from a slightly elevated per­ combination of my own investment and funding from spective so as to emphasize not only outside sourced. Metropolis is supported by several art, the stress intrinsic to this lifestyle but photography and journalism funds. Their contribu­ also the resilience of the countless tions, together with my own investment, covered the individuals who lead this life day in production costs of the project (travel expenses, local and day out. Metropolis presents the assistants, materials, etc.) and the production of the following megacities: Los Angeles, b o o k *. New York, , Rio de Janeiro, How do you finance your photographic projects? São Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai, Kol­ A few months before an exhibition or book will be pre­ kata, Karachi, , , Manila, sented, my agent Maartje and I conduct discussions Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Cairo, with printed and online media. Besides media which Moscow, Istanbul, Lagos, Tokyo, Paris publish on the arts and photography, we directly con­ and London. tact media related to the subject of the project. The Martin Roemers museum, gallery or publisher I work with distributes press releases. We also use social media, but on a lesser scale.

* Martin Roemers: Metropolis. Introductions by Ricky Burdett, Azu Nwagbogu and Els Barents. 144 pages, 84 color photo­ graphs. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2015

44