Review: Dream City by AnoekSteketee and Eefje Blankevoort

There is an amusement park in Iraq called Dream City. There also is one in Rwanda,Bambino Super City. Turkmenistan has one, too: Turkmenbashiʼs World of Fairy Tales.This is where being a photographer is considerably simpler than being a writer, becausehow do you, can you possibly react to all that in a world that loves nothing more than anunbiased view that, ideally, allows all possible readings? Well, good writers (not that Iʼmone) know what to do: They just ignore what people want and give their view no matterwhat. That is, after all, good writing. Bad writing, however, is starting a review of a bookfeaturing amusement/theme parks all over the world by talking about good writing. Soletʼs talk about good photography instead, which, as it turns out, is easy since thereʼsquite a bit in Dream City (http://www.artbooksheidelberg.com/html/en/program/detail.html?ID=537) byAnoek Steketee (http://www.anoeksteketee.com: target=) and Eefje Blankevoort (text). (more)(http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2011/07/review_dream_city_by_anoek_steketee_and_eefje_blankevoort/)

Introducing their project (http://www.anoeksteketee.com/projects/1-dreamcity/text/?

PHPSESSID=894bde1cbb239ad398644c665a5cbfef) , they write

“From 2006 until 2010 we visited amusement parks in Iraq (Dream City), Lebanon (BeirutLunapark), Israel (Superland), the Palestinian Territories (Funland), Rwanda (BambinoSupercity), Colombia (Hacienda Napoles & Jaime Duque), Indonesia (Dunia Fantasia),China (Nanhu & Shimlong), Turkmenistan (Turkmenbashiʼs World of Fairy Tales) and theUSA (Dollywood). […] During our travels, it became increasingly apparent to us that anamusement park is more than just a place to have fun; it often also plays a highlysymbolic role. The origin, location and chosen theme of the amusement park offermeaningful insights into the socio-political situation of the country in which it is situated.

By Joerg ColbergJul 29, 2011

Behind the subjectʼs innocent, light-hearted exterior lurks a darker, staged core, whichraises questions about the way different realities can be depicted.”The first thing one notices when looking through the book is that the photography makesall these parks look almost indistinguishable. This makes for a slightly uncomfortable,borderline creepy, feeling: Itʼs almost as if reality was completely out of joint (for which,just as an aside, these days you donʼt even have to go to an amusement park any longer- just switch on the news).

Those parks were constructed to entertain, to take their visitorsʼ minds away from thereality outside for the duration of the visit. That makes me wonder: What kind ofentertainment is that? Or maybe Iʼm just the wrong person to look at these places?Entirely possible.

But one thing certainly seems to unite all of this, namely our speciesʼ desire to escape,to construct a different world than the one we find ourselves living in. We want to bechildren again, or at least we want to act like children and find ourselves in our ownNeighbourhood of Make Believe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_of_Make-Believe)

(minus the puppets, with some dinosaurs thrown in). For once, we want to walk through adream land while being awake.

What that means youʼll see in Dream City(http://www.artbooksheidelberg.com/html/en/program/detail.html?ID=537) . Itʼs a beautiful book,nicely designed, with great photography and smart writing, and it will probably surpriseyou: The idea of an amusement park will probably create certain expectations, and youwonʼt find them easily satisfied. Instead, Dream City(http://www.artbooksheidelberg.com/html/en/program/detail.html?ID=537) goes deeper, beneath thesurface of things. Recommended.

Dream City, photography by Anoek Steketee, text by Eefje Blankevoort, 168 pages,Kehrer/Fotodok, 2011

COPYRI GHT © 2002-2011 J ÖRG M. COLBERG