Artist faked being a billionaire to photograph New York City’s best views

We’ve all wondered how the other half lives, but how many of us have fabricated an identity to find out? That’s what Hungarian artist Andi Schmied did: As “Gabriella,” an ultrawealthy European socialite searching for a New York apartment, Schmied was granted access to more than two dozen of New York’s most luxurious properties, many on the southern end of Central Park along what’s affectionately called Billionaires’ Row.

Her limited-edition book Private Views: A High-rise Panorama of Manhattan presents photos from excursions to places like 432 Park Avenue, the Ritz-Carlton Residences at 50 Central Park South, and the Steinway Tower at 111 West 57th Street, superimposed with text from realtors’ over-the-top sales pitches.

To pass as a convincing buyer, Schmied enlisted an antiquarian friend in Budapest to serve as her “husband,” and invented a 21-month-old baby, a personal chef, and a personal assistant named "Coco." She also blew the entire allowance from her residency at Dumbo’s Triangle Arts Association on manicures, makeup and clothes.

Western view from a bathroom from one of the upper floor staged apartments at Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue.

“I wasn’t really worried [about getting caught],” Schmied confesses. “What’s the worst thing that can happen—they tell me to leave? I was more worried about not getting in.” Surprisingly, none of the brokers asked for a credit check or proof of net worth. “I think at that level, they don’t bother with financial information,” she explains.

Some of the book’s photographs, shot with an old-school Nikon F-601 camera, could be used in a brokers’ marketing campaigns: A shot taken from an upper floor of Cetra Ruddy’s One Madison juxtaposes a tastefully staged living room with a view of the Empire State Building through the floor-to-ceiling window. Others, like one from an upper-floor apartment at Kohn Pedersen Fox’s Madison Square Park Tower, present a gray, rainy vista. 

“I’m not much of a photographer,” Schmied, who studied architecture and urban design, modestly explains. “Some of the pictures are pretty ugly.” She toured sales galleries, staged residences, and places still under construction, including a “scary” trip to the unfinished 100th floor of Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the world. (In 2020, an 82nd-floor penthouse was listed for $90 million.)  

A portrait of the artist, Andi Schmied.

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/2Sdewt6