Room Portraits by Menno Aden
German photographer Menno Aden has shot a series of Berlin interiors from an unconventional viewpoint: looking down from the ceiling.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_10.jpg)
The Room Portraits include a bar, a classroom, a shoe shop, a supermarket, a car park and an apartment.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_9.jpg)
In each instance the camera was positioned in the centre of the ceiling to create an image that appears flattened and abstracted.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_11.jpg)
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Here's some more text sent by the photographer:
Through challenging camera angles Menno Aden abstracts most familiar actual living environments and public interiors into flattened two-dimensional scale models.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_13.jpg)
A camera that the artist installed on the ceiling of various rooms takes pictures downwards of the interiors.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_14.jpg)
The resulting images lay out space in symmetrical compositions that look like assemblages stripped of any kind of objectivity.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_6.jpg)
The views into private homes and secret retreats bring up associations of the ubiquitous observation camera.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_4.jpg)
The notion of surveillance is systematically played out by the artist to hint at society’s voyeuristic urge that popular culture has made mainstream.
![Room Portraits by Menno Aden Room Portraits by Menno Aden](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/06/dezeen_Room-Portraits-by-Menno-Aden_2.jpg)