The Potemkin Village
Gregor Sailer
United States, Sweden and France
For two years Sailer photographed about twenty ‘Potemkin villages’ in countries like the United States, Sweden, or France, exploring the features that define these simulated towns that are only facades.

The work of the Austrian photographer and designer Gregor Sailer (Schwaz, 1980) has reflected an interest in architecture from the beginning of his career. Between 2015 and 2017 he completed ‘The Potemkin Village’ series, a research on this concept inspired in the Russian myth according to which marshal Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin built fake settlements to conceal the ruinous state of the newly annexed Crimea from the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. The result is a showcase of counterfeit architecture that includes vehicle test cities or combat training centers. 
The chromatic uniformity and the geometric balance of the photographs in ‘The Potemkin Village’ series together create an oneiric atmosphere that underscores the ambiguity between reality and appearance.

In his projects, the Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer documents unusual places like Tiefort City, where more than 500 buildings recreate an Iraqi city that US troops use as combat training ground.

Image number 32 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
© Gregor Sailer
Image number 33 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
© Gregor Sailer
Image number 34 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
© Gregor Sailer
Image number 35 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Carson City / Vårgårda, Sweden, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 36 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Carson City / Vårgårda, Sweden, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 37 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Tiefort City, Fort Irwin, US Army, Mojave Desert, California, USA, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 38 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Junction City VII, Fort Irwin, US Army, Mojave Desert, California, USA, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 39 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Tiefort City, Fort Irwin, US Army, Mojave Desert, California, USA, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 40 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Beauséjour, French Army, France, 2015 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 41 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
Junction City, Fort Irwin, US Army, Mojave Desert, California, USA, 2016 / © Gregor Sailer
Image number 42 of the current section of The Potemkin Village of Cosentino USA
© Gregor Sailer

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