Here we are building the most functional city in the world, says posters in Helsinki City working sites. But what does it mean to build most the functional city? Six years ago I started to explore the white spots of Helsinki area, where urban development is taking place outside of our sight.
Land Reformations series is an extract of findings from the back country of the postmodern urban process. Functional planning combined with new technology enabled a new approach to landscape, turning topography to flat uniformity, million-year old granite hills to much needed gravel and concrete.
Land Reformations is documenting transitional space somewhere in the middle of the process from wooded hills to office areas and logistics centers. Ongoing project is inspired by a principle brought out by Alice in Wonderland: if there is a place without name, without anyone looking it and without attachment to it, it does not exist. My objective is to study and archive the traces of hidden change, the landscapes that once were there.
Raimo Lang, Helsinki
