Michael Wolf's "The Transparent City" (revised)

On this dreary, gray day that I visit the Contemporary Museum of Photography in Chicago, I feel as if the sun might be hiding in the exposed scaffolding of the museum when I walk into the almost sunglasses-required brightly lit space. As my eyes adjust to glare, a smiling young woman hands me a brochure for "The Transparent City," German photographer Michael Wolf's first American show. Soon, I shuffle to the closest print, and my boots join the squeaking symphony of other slush and snow covered shoes strolling across the glossy wood floor.

Dangling from hopefully strong wall hooks, the exhibit is composed mostly of large-scale photographs that offer the viewer a zoomed-in look into the cubicles and apartments that make up so much of our city. From the vantage point at which the photographs are taken, either looking straight-across or occasionally looking down from a distance, it is almost as if the viewer is a spy into the lives of these nameless people. In one window, I'm drawn to a man, who could probably make a lot of money working as Santa Claus during the holiday season, sitting under his desk, tangled up in a pile of cords. (Where are the elves to help him with this mess, I wonder.) In another building, "grown-ups" wearing expensive suits play a round of mini golf. (I wonder if their bosses know that they've constructed Pebble Beach in their conference room.) Around the corner, a woman slumps in front of her computer, holding her head in her hands. (I'm worried about her, and wonder what has upset her.) Wolf's pieces pull the onlooker into moments we were never meant to be apart of. As I walk from print to print, the feeling that I've unintentionally become a peeping-tom has set in, but it doesn't stop me from looking. I am now a detective/psychologist/creeper, in search of another person to observe, study, and probably make erroneous, but entertaining, assumptions about.

Wolf uses a zoom lens to flatten out the space in his pieces. He chooses not to have a skyline; and instead his work is focused on the geometry/layout of the buildings, which seem to just pile up on top of one another. Most shots appear to be taken in the evening hours, so that the building structures serve as large frames for the countless lit-up windows. Because of this, the light generally used is artificial, giving the prints a stale, generic vibe.

If you are curious what that lady you just saw walking down the street does when she goes home after work, you would enjoy this show. If working in felt-covered cubicle is your current reality, it might be nice to see that you are not the only one playing Tetris on your laptop, while you should be making a spreadsheet.

"The Transparent City" will be at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago from November 14, 2008 - January 31, 2009.