The city of Ordos in China, only exists since a few years, but is already a ghost-town. One of countless new city projects in China, Ordos is the biggest, the most megalomaniac, and the worst situated one: in the middle of inner Mongolia’s vast steppe, in a region lacking water and trees. Originally, Ordos was set to welcome at least a million inhabitants but repelled by its harsh climate and exorbitant prices, barely a few thousands ever settled. There is no activity in Ordos, except building Ordos. Relentlessly, high-rise condominiums reproduce in the hostile plain, while the wide avenues in the blank city center stay empty. The skyscrapers of the hypothetical Central Business District are not even connected to the power network. Ordos is a gigantic real estate bubble, of a breed that could ruin the economy of a whole country, but the Chinese government ploughs on with its chimera. In the meanwhile Ordos, the city, where everything is better and bigger, still awaits the essential: its inhabitants.
Adrien Golinelli (b. 1987) lives and works in Switzerland. In his works, that amongst others include essays on Bhutan, Afghanistan and North Korea, he combines fine art and documentary photography.
