Oltre le topografie

Nel 1975 a Rochester (NY), la George Eastman House inaugurava una mostra che fece epoca: NEW TOPOGRAPHICS, Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. Sontuosa la lista dei partecipanti: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd ed Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore ed Henry Wessel jr. La concisa descrizione da Wikipedia di tale corrente fotografica è la seguente:

"New Topographics is a movement in photographic art in which the landscape is depicted without sentimental representation of the world we inhabit as being a place we do not exist in. It is sometimes seen as a reaction against utopian representations in landscape photography, of the sort exemplified by Ansel Adams' photographs of Yosemite; depicting only unfettered nature at a time when industrialization was at its peak in the American economy. The photographers in the New Topographics style show landscapes that include roads, housing projects, bridges, and other aspects of the landscape which show the traces of human activity."

Per ragioni d'anagrafe, o chissà, un nome mancava, che grazie a loro, o dopo loro, o a partire da loro ha lavorato, ricominciando da lì e preparando il terreno per tanti venuti dopo. Provare per credere.
Omaggio a Joel Sternfeld.