NIKOS FAZOS (UN)TRANSPARENT LANDSCAPES Dimiourgia Cafe-Gallery Glass and metal are the main materials generally used for the facades of modern buildings. These structures first appeared in certain European cities and in America at the end of the 19th century, but only within the last two decades in Greece. The fundamental concept behind this type of design seems to have been political: their architects sought to achieve "transparency" between the public and the private domain, to create communication, visual contact and interdependence between them. Time has proven this to have been a utopian dream. Looking at one of these buildings from the outside, mere visual contact with a private space, does not furnish the onlooker with any essential knowledge of what goes on inside; while from the higher floors that are generally occupied by the "powerful", visual contact is wholly one-sided, transparency non-existent. Today, the predominance of these architectural structures in the public space is a fact, and the reasons for their construction are different. For the most part, buildings of this type are imposing, offer greater security and provide companies with a certain prestige. In addition, while construction costs are high, exterior maintenance is both cheaper and less frequent. The transparency and communication that were the original reasons for the development of this style of building have given way to the perception that these spaces are strictly inaccessible. The use of a pinhole camera to photograph these buildings creates a potent vignette effect, which gives them a halo of light while stressing their autonomy. This technique, which has its roots in the pre-photography era, achieves a striking contrast with these modern buildings, isolating the structures from their surroundings, accenting their severity and opacity, and creating a suspended effect of imposing domination. Nikos Fazos was born in 1972. He lives in Thessaloniki, where he works for an informatics company in the field of multimedia and the Internet. A 3rd year student at the ESP School of Photography, he has already taken part in two of the School's group exhibitions (1999 and 2000).