Manufacturing Landscapes (U)This film, observes the Canadian Artists Edward Burtynsky at work in some of the most surreal landscapes of the 21st century. His large-scale photographs portray the devestating impact of industry on the environment and much of this film was shot in China, where a large amount of his recent photos were taken.
Burtynsky reminds me a lot of the photographer Andreas Gursky who also takes large scale photos of incredible landscapes. Unlike Burtynsky, Gursky's work is digitally enhanced and appears "unreal" to the viewer. It was nice to see how the photos were taken "in real life". Interestingly enough Burtynsky spends some time at the 3 gorges dam in China, this is also where artist Catherine Yass made a video piece which I saw at Alison Jacques gallery earlier in the year.
As a film, I found it quite lengthy and almost a bit pointless. It was interesting to find out about an artist I didn't know, and about the process of taking the photographs. I think I would've been equally moved by looking at a book of his works. The soundtrack was mind numbing "ambient" noises in one long movement lasting the whole film which got tiresome very quickly.
