Mikhael Subotzky: South African, b. 1981; lives and works in Johannesburg; Patrick Waterhouse: British, b. 1981; lives and works in Venice
Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse worked at Ponte City, the iconic Johannesburg apartment building—and Africa's tallest residential skyscraper—for more than six years, photographing residents and documenting everything, door, the image on every television screen, and the view from every window. What emerges from this comprehensive "scan" is a complex portrait of an iconic structure shaped by conflicting aspirations, a refuge and a monstrosity, a dreamland and a dystopia, a symbol of decay and a beacon for renewal and gentrification. Subotzky and Waterhouse have presented the visual story of Ponte City as an exhibition of prints and marketing ephemera, as towering lightboxes, and as a photobook integrated with essays, documentary texts, and fictional writings. This excerpt from the larger project, commissioned by The Walther Collection, guides viewers up the 55 stories from the perspective of the residents' windows, showing the immense scale of the metropolis and the unqiue place Ponte City holds in the public imagination.