New Capital

“Award-winning Belgian photojournalist Nick Hannes casts a critical eye on six newly built capital cities around the world, from Korea to Kazakhstan, and questions whether they are really serving the people who live in them.” — Elle Decoration UK

What does the ideal capital look like? Photographer Nick Hannes traveled to six countries – Egypt, Korea, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Brazil – that have recently built a new capital or are in the process of doing so. Each and every one of them is a typical example of what Rem Koolhaas calls the Generic City: a planned city without historical layers, local identity, or its own character. As a visual sociologist with a sharp eye for detail, Hannes searches for the human dimension in a setting full of spectacular architecture and pompous prestige projects. New Capital is a critical reflection on unbridled neoliberal urban development and its social and ecological consequences, but is also peppered with subtle humor and surprising coincidences. Meandering between pride and sadness, New Capital shows how utopia and dystopia are sometimes surprisingly close.