Since the nineteenth century, the city has been a rich source of inspiration for artists, providing a subject matter that reflects the attractions, realities and complexities of urban life. The artworks here date from the 1970s right up to the present day, commenting in various ways on the cities in which the artists themselves have lived and worked.
In particular, the artists reveal aspects of the city that would not be considered part of a traditional overview. Considering characteristics of urban living such as displacement and migration, sub-culture and community, utopian plans for an ideal city, or power and political uprising, they uncover the hidden stories that fall outside of the tourist guidebooks and A-Z maps.
Featuring cities from Shanghai, China, to Ghardaïa, Algeria, and Cairo, Egypt to Los Angeles, the United States, the display shows how artists make parallels and explore differences between the cities in which they find themselves.
A behind-the-scenes look at the installation of Marwan Rechmaoui’s work Beirut Caoutchouc 2004–8
Living Cities is presented in The George Economou Gallery.