German artist Alexander Biserama Becherer recently unveiled his sprawling, large-scale sculpture “Paratropolis” at Galerie Kesselhaus in Lahr, Germany. The artwork is a cacophony of words and symbols that, together, present the artist’s conception of a futuristic megacity in which urbanization has spiraled out of control. Becherer’s choice to render the work in grey scale further underscores his vision of a time devoid of color, a period in which individual lives are subsumed in the urban environment and individualism is lost in a world of massive buildings and invasive technology.
No people remain in this apocalyptic sculpture. In between corporate symbols like the Nike swoosh and the Google logo, “ZEITPLAN” (which translates to “schedule” in English), “FUCK YOU,” and “YOUR CITY OUR RULES,” are repetitively forced upon the viewer who attempts without success to find order in the destruction. While each angle provides a different perspective of the megacity, the message remains the same: Doom is destiny if urbanization does not slow down and if the rural areas are not preserved and protected.