Circuit Cities

Back in the autumn of 2021, Dani Ghercă showed me a few early works from his recent A Glimpse of Disconnection series. Even presented in crude manner on a weak laptop monitor, they produced a bewildering effect upon first observation. Dani opened one of the photographs in full screen and for a few seconds I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Leaning in closer, I was able to properly distinguish the high contrast details comprising the image, discovering the vast majority were office buildings, their shiny surfaces reflecting a burning Sun back to the viewer. These seemingly abstract images revealed themselves to be aerial isometric shots of urban environments, with seldom a horizon in sight.

Dani took the shots in various cities embodying the Metropolis – technology-ridden urban agglomerations having millions of inhabitants – such as Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, Dubai or Kuala Lumpur. These locations are unidentifiable however, as the project’s fundament lays precisely in their visual interchangeability. He achieved this by resourcefully under-exposing the photographs together with some minor post-processing, revealing scarce details beside the buildings’ hard edges, reflecting elements and rooftops. The resulting images are thus filled with abstract geometric patterns and, quite strikingly, more akin to circuit boards than urban landscapes.

There was no question a proper display for the project involved large-scale prints placed in an extremely generous space, preferably of the white-cube sort. I was therefore glad when I heard it would be featured in one of MNAC’s 2022 seasonal exhibitions. The resulting show, curated by Sam Steverlynck under the name The Constant Flow, did not disappoint. Installed on the ground floor, it impressively enforced each of the series’ strengths, usually through meaningful reconfiguration of the space. For the majority of photographs the ample space offered plenty opportunities to choose your own distance in viewing the works, either to distinguish small details or to fully take in the large-scale patterns created.

In an art scene generally obsessed with the anecdotal, individual and intimate experience, A Glimpse of Disconnection stands out by forming a cohesive and relevant comment on contemporary society and the predicaments it faces. It lays bare the contrast between technology’s promises and its actual impact on humanity and their systems. The Constant Flow, hosted by MNAC between 08.12.2022 and 16.04.2023, proved itself to be a thoroughly compelling show, and filled an acute need for superbly produced, well-curated, substantial photography exhibitions hosted by art museums.