Civilization

With close to 500 images, many previously unpublished, this landmark publication takes stock of the material and spiritual cultures that make up ‘civilization’. Ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from our great collective achievements to our ruinous collective failings, Civilization: The Way We Live Now explores the complexity of contemporary civilization through the rich, nuanced language of photography.

Featuring images by some 140 photographers – from Reiner Riedler’s families at leisure parks, Raimond Wouda’s high schools, Wang Qingsong’s Work, Work, Work and Cindy Sherman’s Society Portraits, to Lauren Greenfield’s displays of ostentatious wealth, Edward Burtynsky’s oil fields, Pablo Lopez Luz’s views on a sprawling contemporary megapolis, Thomas Struth’s images of high technology, Xing Danwen’s electronic wastelands and Taryn Simon’s Contraband, Civilization draws together the threads of humankind’s ever-changing, frenetic, collective life across the globe.

Visually epic, Civilization is presented through eight thematic chapters, each featuring powerful imagery and accompanied by provocative essays, quotes, and concise statements by the artists themselves.

This ambitious publication is accompanied by an internationally touring exhibition produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography – a global cultural event for a global subject.

Includes work by:

Max Aguilera-Hellweg • Andreia Alves de Oliveira • Evan Baden • Murray Ballard • Olivo Barbieri • Mandy Barker • Olaf Otto Becker • Valérie Belin • Daniel Berehulak • Peter Bialobrzeski • Florian Böhm • Michele Borzoni • Priscilla Briggs • Alexa Brunet • Markus Brunetti • Paul Bulteel • Edward Burtynsky • Alejandro Cartagena • Philippe Chancel • Che Onejoon • Olivier Christinat • Lynne Cohen • Lois Conner • Jojakim Cortis & Adrian Sonderegger • Raphaël Dallaporta • Gerco de Ruijter • Richard de Tscharner • Sergey Dolzhenko • Natan Dvir • Roger Eberhard • Mitch Epstein • Andrew Esiebo • Adam Ferguson • Vincent Fournier • Andy Freeberg • Lee Friedlander • Matthieu Gafsou • Gabriele Galimberti & Paolo Woods • Andreas Gefeller • George Georgiou • Christoph Gielen • Ashley Gilbertson • Katy Grannan • Samuel Gratacap • Lauren Greenfield • Han Sungpil • Nick Hannes • Sean Hemmerle • Mishka Henner • South Ho Siu Nam • Candida Höfer • Dan Holdsworth • Hong Hao • Pieter Hugo • Jo Choonman • Chris Jordan • Yeondoo Jung • Nadav Kander • KDK • Mike Kelley • Kim Taedong • Alfred Ko • Irene Kung • Rosemary Laing • Benny Lam • An-My Lê • Gjorgji Lichovski • Michael Light • Mauricio Lima • Pablo López Luz • Christian Lünig • Vera Lutter • Alex MacLean • David Maisel • Ann Mandelbaum • Edgar Martins • Jeffrey Milstein • Mintio • Richard Misrach • Andrew Moore • David Moore • Richard Mosse • Michael Najjar • Walter Niedermayr • Jason Sangik Noh • Noh Suntag • Simon Norfolk • Hiroshi Okamoto • Trevor Paglen • Neil Pardington • Trent Parke • Cara Phillips • Robert Polidori • Sergey Ponomarev • Cyril Porchet • Mark Power • Giles Price • Reiner Riedler • Simon Roberts • Andrew Rowat • Victoria Sambunaris • Sato Shintaro • Dona Schwartz • Paul Shambroom • Sheng-Wen Lo • Cindy Sherman • Toshio Shibata • Taryn Simon • Alec Soth • Henrik Spohler • Will Steacy • Thomas Struth • Larry Sultan • Shigeru Takato • Eric Thayer • Danila Tkachenko • Eason Tsang Ka Wai • Andreas Tschersich • Amalia Ulman • Brian Ulrich • Penelope Umbrico • Carlo Valsecchi • Reginald Van de Velde • Cássio Vasconcellos • Massimo Vitali • Robert Walker • Dougie Wallace • Richard Wallbank • Wang Qingsong • Patrick Weidmann • Thomas Weinberger • Damon Winter • Michael Wolf • Raimond Wouda • Xing Danwen • Anne Zahalka • Ahmad Zamroni • Luca Zanier • Zhang Xiao • Robert Zhao Renhui • Francesco Zizola