Common Ruin
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln & KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2023, 192 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 15.8 × 23.4 cm, English
Price: €20
In his work, McCarthy explores the dialectical relationships between subjects like city and citizen, friend and the stranger, and present and past. McCarthy’s work often testifies to the paradoxical emptiness experienced in a metropolis. Taking the city’s map as a metaphysical topography, the confluence of real estate, architecture, and urban planning become vocabulary for the construction of a self. Besides working with photography and text, McCarthy makes associative installations. His works appear to be images from memories, meeting viewers with a torrent of different emotions, ranging from amusement and admiration to aversion and fear. Designed by Lucas Quigley.
More information on the associated exhibition can be found here.