Fabian Schroder (1984) is a German visual artist based in Berlin. He completed his BA in Art and Design with an emphasis on photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (Belgium). He graduated in 2012 with an MA at Luca School of Arts in Brussels, Belgium. During his studies, he focused mainly on recreational housing phenomena (Recreated Recreation), which later on evolved to a more broader leisure leitmotif (Hangar Eden). In his latest series, Plastic Habitat (2019), his focus has extended to a residential development in Dubai.
In his photographic projects, Schroder is interested in the habitat and leisure spaces of the human being. How do we spend our recreational time? Which residential concepts does mankind create? The series Plastic Habitat provides a photographic insight into the absurd urbanisation of the desert and the Persian Gulf in Dubai. Artist’s focus lies on master-planned terraced housing estates near the coastline. Serial uniformity and an often gated-community character run like a common thread through these residential enclaves. Additionally, the images titled Pearl Jumeirah show villas-in-the-making for a privileged minority on an artificial island near the city centre. With long-term exposures at night, Schroder reflects upon the melding of the natural and the constructed, depicting a reality that is seemingly artificial.
