Pyongyang IV

The massive event consists in choreographed acrobatic performances of more than 50,000 gymnasts who act in front of 30,000 children holding play-cards to create a monumental human mosaic of several patterns as a background.

Gursky in this photograph follows the same approach to large sets that appear in many of his most known works, but instead of the western, capitalistic world, this time he takes aim to an event from a Communist regimen.

In Pyongyang IV, Gursky adopts a towering format, that allows the display of several rows of dancers, who recede in horizontal waves.

This massive spectacle recalls similar events that used to take place in the Communist world, like in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, or in China during the time of Mao Tse-tung.

Gursky also choose another detail; the screen in the background doesn't present the perfect tone of red, when the children are all in accordance, instead it shows some portions of white.