Invisible City
Invisible City by Jimmi Wing Ka Ho is a visual investigation of the Chinese metropolis of Qingdao, which was under German colonial rule from 1898 to 1914. The artist’s research begins with the photographic archive of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne. From there, he traces the visible and hidden remnants of colonial infrastructure — from restored Wilhelminian villas to the myth-laden sewer systems beneath the city.
German–Chinese colonial history has so far received comparatively little attention in public discourse. Jimmi Wing Ka Ho addresses this gap directly: in photographs and video works, he interweaves documentary observation with subjective inquiry, examining how colonial histories continue to inscribe themselves into the contemporary urban landscape.
Through the dialogue between historical imagery and newly produced works, a layered visual montage emerges that deliberately blurs the boundaries between archival memory and lived experience. Invisible City understands the city itself as an archive — a site of overlaps, omissions,
and enduring power structures — and opens up new perspectives on memory politics, colonial infrastructure, and the question of how history becomes visible.
Book Information
Flap paperback,
oil paper as a special feature
19 × 25,5 cm
96 pages
Language
Deutsch, Englisch
Texts
Jimmi Wing Ka Ho, Wang Shuai,
Charlotte Ming, Lucia Halder
Publishing date
December 2025
ISBN 978-3-948174-34-7
30 € (GER)
Publishing house
SHIFT BOOKS
www.shiftbooks.de
Instagram: @shift.books
Click here to view the book
By
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
2025.05.17 - 10.05
Supported by The International Photoszene Köln - Artist meets archive