Our fast-changing world seen through the lenses of 140 leading contemporary photographers around the globe. With close to 500 images, many previously unpublished, this landmark publication takes stock of the material and spiritual cultures that make up ‘civilization’.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 megalopolis, 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.

We hurtle together into the future at ever-increasing speed - or so it seems to the collective psyche. Every day and every hour, human civilization expands, evolves and mutates. While we frequently lapse into celebrating the individual at the expense of the group, in science and art, at work and at play, at home and in transit, we increasingly live the collective life. Civilization shows how contemporary photography, notably art photography, is fascinated by, and attempts to decode and communicate, the way we live today. This landmark 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. Civilization is presented through eight thematic chapters, each led by breathtaking imagery and accompanied by essays, quotes, commentaries and captions to provide a deeper understanding of its theme. Visually epic and ambitiously popular in approach, it will reach out beyond the boundaries of the photography world to connect with audiences worldwide.

Building on his interest in evolution, philosophy, and society, in his project A Gift From Him Maximilian Prüfer (b. 1986) explores the destruction of natural habitats to make way for agriculture in China. To this end, Prüfer took two trips to the Szechuan Province, where the fruit trees need to be pollinated by hand due to insect deaths caused by the increased use of pesticides. These developments are attributable to Mao’s campaign to “Destroy the Four Olds,� which entailed the killing of around two billion sparrows in order to restore the natural equilibrium. Prüfer documented the entire manual pollination process in photos, collected items, and films which make for an ambivalent exploration of the cultural evolution of humankind. Text in English and German.