Second Nature
The artist duo Kaya & Blank explores the relationship between humans and nature, especially in built-up areas. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, the Turkish-German pair discovered an artificial tree camouflaging a cellular network antenna. Intrigued by this artefact, they decided to photograph the many cell towers amid fake vegetation. Two years of photos taken in almost one thousand locations in southwest California culminated in a documentary series in 2022. Since most of the photos were taken at night, the light pollution in Los Angeles was so intense that Kaya & Blank decided not to use a flash. Second Nature reflects our dependence on infrastructure enabling wireless connection, and its impact on the landscape. These hyperrealist images highlight the paradox of our times, preferring fake nature over the ugliness of real infrastructure.
Crude Aesthetics
No other nation in the world consumes as much oil as the United States does. The attraction of this resource has defined the nation’s policymaking for decades and has left a visible mark on the landscape, especially in Los Angeles. Whilst living in this Californian city, Kaya & Blank filmed the abundant oil refineries and other facilities there. A sequence of their static shots reflects the rise and fall of the pumpjacks in a perpetual, hypnotic mechanical ballet. The Turkish-German artist duo took photographs of American symbols linked to the over-consumption of oil. Taking their cue from one of the very first photographs in History, created by Nicéphore Niépce using bitumen, the pair fixed their prints in place with tar. Their Crude Aesthetics installation presents a poetic, dystopian vision of a society shaped by oil.
