Frank Kunert is back with the followup to Topsy-Turvy World. His latest book is called Wunderland and is, again, published by Hatje Cantz, and it’s great!

For those that don’t know about Frank Kunert’s work – He makes miniature improbable dioramas. Each and every scene is still; arrested in a moment where the people that populate Kunert’s world have exited the stage for a brief moment. The photo (or more like a still from rolling film) of each scene gives more than enough life for the viewer to use their imagination and get sucked in completely. It’s inconceivable to consider each piece without imagining the following moments in your mind (or maybe the moments before). These are worlds you get lost in.

Frank Kunert shares his work from over the last few years and it’s refreshing to see that, although his style has remained the same, the images are so fresh. The initial humour is then interrupted – for the diligent viewer – and transformed to a more serious sense. There’s a earnest intent in every image. Sometimes the messages are obvious and sometimes they take a little more time to see. You can’t help but have conflicting emotional responses (smile with sadness) for images like the scene set out in Upstairs Toilet (below) where a disabled toilet is only accessible by monkey-bars. While it has a helpful wheelchair ramp at the bottom it still looks to be only accessible via the staircase on the side of the room.

We are also treated to a few process photos in which show the scale, detail and ultimately the dimensions of the models that are never seen in the finished piece; the photo. It would be great to see Kunert’s sketchbook though. I’d love to see if the initial details play out as intended. I wonder how the images are initially framed compared to the final photos. I’d love to see if/how he tweaks the camera angles etc to make the images so perfectly.

This helping of Kunert’s work comes in the same format as his last offering; 72 pages with 31 full size photos of his works (a few more than last time) in a hardcover edition. You can get a copy direct from Hatje Cantz or from all the usual places including AmazonUK