Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present Megalopolis Shanghai, a selection of photographic works by H. & D. Zielske from their series of the same name.

H. & D. Zielske’s sweeping landscape images pay homage to the voracity of Shanghai’s hyper-development, giving new meaning to urban sprawl. It is as if the very sound of progress is captured through their lens—an electric hum that never sleeps.

Glittering towers of glass and steel loom over the concrete and stone buildings of the past, illuminating the disparity between old and new, dark and light. Using mist, fog and neon glow, H. & D. Zielske’s luminosity imparts a moody surrealism that draws the viewer into the frenetic pace of what we dub “progress” in the developed world. The result is a surreal, poetic detachment that highlights the coarse, physical beauty of Shanghai.

Father-son team Horst and Daniel Zielske live in Göttingen, Germany and have been collaborating on different photographic series for the past sixteen years. Megalopolis Shanghai, begun in November 2002, premiered in the Museum for Art and Trade (MKG) in Hamburg Germany in 2006 and is the title of their latest book, published by Edition Braus. Their work has appeared in numerous publications including international magazines such as GEO, Stern, Merian and Spiegel. This is the artists’ first solo exhibition in New York.