The New Administrative Capital is a city planned on the drawing board and erected on the desert sand. Set to create living space for around 6.5 million people, Egypt’s new desert development hopes to alleviate Cairo’s infrastructural pressures. As the country’s military leadership strategically plans the transfer of its power centers to a remote, exclusive location, the new city remains sparsely populated; a growing cause for concern among critics of the megaproject.
Despite denied permits and tight press restrictions that led to two nights in a police station, I gained insight into the unnamed structure by presenting myself as an architecture student or an interested financiér. The resulting work provides insights into the controversial New Administrative Capital, shedding light on the dissonances of the, as yet, unnamed city. Between utopian visions of an authoritarian regime and urban planning controversies a few Egyptians already navigate the cityscape, embodying the hope for new jobs and less crowded cities. Beyond its horizons, fata morgana questions the timeless practice of constructing monumental structures and why its consequences so often go askew for its rulers and societies alike.
Louis Roth (2001* in Berlin) studied at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin and graduated in 2024. His interest in people's different approaches to life and identities is at the forefront of his projects. Changing visual narrative strategies create a constant tension in his work at the interface between documentation and fiction. Photography is the main tool with which Louis Roth questions the truthfulness of his environment.
He has been nominated for numerous awards, including the LUMA Dummy Award of the Recontres d'Arles (2024), the international Photobookmuseum Dummy Award (2024) and the Nikon Fotobus Grant (2024). He has been awarded the German Youth Photography Prize (2024) and received the LUCIE Foundation Scholarship in the category ÒEmerging Photojournalism / DocumentaryÓ (2024). Louis Roth lives and works in Berlin.