Edward Burtynsky’s Manufacturing #17 (2005)

Edward Burtynsky’s Manufacturing #15

Manufactured Landscapes is a fascinating film, following Edward Burtynsky as he photographs the industrial landscapes of China and Bangladesh. His monumental photographs of open cast mines, slag heaps, wrecking yards and factories are deliberately free of judgement, leaving us to decide if we are seeing a new form of beauty or the devastation of nature. As a planner or researcher interested in China his pictures also challenge us to think about the personal behind the industrial. In both the pictures and the documentary the workers look back at us, making the audience complicit in the scene – what does that make us feel as manufacturers, advertisers, researchers? How do the workers view their situation? Is this a good job in a safe factory that they are pleased to have or a inescapable drudge job? In one sequence, we see the action on the ground as Burtynsky sets up to take this photo:

Edward Burtynsky’s Manufacturing #18 (Cankun Factory, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China)

The workers filmed up close look bored, uncomfortable, vacant as their section head berates them for mistakes and slow work. What exactly are they thinking?
I think this is exactly how we see our work fitting in with traditional research on China. The statistics on China are startling, awe inspiring and belittling, just like Burtynky’s work but we, like the documentary makers in Manufactured Landscapes, try to put some human context and meaning into the picture.

See the trailer here.