Roger Frei

Roger Frei (b. 1971) searches for the personal in large-scale residential communities in the series Aedes. The Swiss photographer adopts a systematic, objective stance in capturing the functionalism of these vivid, mass-manufactured structures. Hallways are photographed at regular intervals, methodically documented from floor to floor. Digitally collaged in post-production, the images coalesce into a sequential composition that illustrates the serial construction of the buildings. Frei operates at the confluence of the public and private realm, remaining isolated from the interiors of apartments, while inhabiting the blocks as a whole; this technique creates a virtual cross-section. The series appears to extol the virtues of these utilitarian iterations of Swiss Modernism: on closer inspection, the viewer observes small imperfections. Almost imperceptible personal items provide a glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants, which interrupt the rhythmic partitions of the series. www.rogerfrei.com.