Philipp Scholz Rittermann at MCASD La Jolla

Emperor’s River: Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) La Jolla
May 28 – September 5, 2011
Emperor’s River: Philipp Scholz Rittermann features the dramatic landscapes of China’s Grand Canal captured through the lens of celebrated San Diego-based photographer, Philipp Scholz Rittermann. In 2009, Rittermann set out to chronicle China’s rapidly evolving economy with a study of life along its historic Grand Canal.

The ancient waterway has been a major force in China’s cultural and economic development for more than two millennia. It extends more than 1,000 miles across the eastern portion of the country’s alluvial plain, from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou (near Shanghai) in the south. Rittermann’s panoramic images portray the often jarring contrasts of history and modernity, rural terrain and burgeoning metropolises of this rapidly developing country.