Informal Solution # 54, 2012–2016

Viewed from afar, the images Michael Wolf (1954-2019, Germany) created as part of his long-term project ‘Architectures of Density’ resemble abstract geometric grids. Moving closer, they emerge as gigantic tower blocks without any point of reference as to context or scale due to Wolf’s technique of cropping. Small enclaves of human intervention, dubbed ‘informal solutions’ by Wolf, appear in the concrete worlds of the mega cities that act as his muse. Pink rubber gloves hanging out to dry and chaotic mazes of plumbing and ventilator pipes, for instance, remind us of people’s ability and need to exert their individuality within cities’ concrete structures.