Movers and Shapers by Ines Schaber and Jorg Stollman

Movers and Shapers was a critical overview of contemporary housing developments in the city of Phoenix. It examined how landscape has been employed and exploited in the definition of Phoenix’s urban identity. The show included a series of filmed interviews with landscapers, developers and city officials, and addressed the relationship between the desert and the urban community that inhabits it. The show also included photographs, drawings and models that narrated the journey of a 20-foot high saguaro cactus transplanted from its original location in Tucson to a new housing development in Phoenix. In its new context, the cactus became part of the visual simulation of the vernacular landscape, thus artificially extending the desert into a new social and urban context, and contributing to the construction of the city’s identity. The exhibition was the product of a collaboration between photographer Ines Schaber and architect Jörg Stollman, both based in Berlin.