"The Great Unreal, the first monograph by Swiss artists Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, is one of my favorite books from 2009, most especially for the way it tilts full throttle the old and expected tropes of the American road trip. Ever since Robert Frank took off on his now legendary cross-country journey fifty years ago, the American road trip has become a well-trod photographic cliché. This artistic duo, however, has accomplished something unique: reinventing the concept of the cross-country road trip through creative and often unexpected photographic techniques, including the staging of scenes, re-photographing their own photos, shooting ambient light through holes made in their prints, and other inventive tricks."—LAM

The Great Unreal is comprised of images taken between 2005 and 2008 during various trips across the United States. With reality and its fabrication as one of their basic themes, Onorato and Krebs have come to view America not only as a geographic setting, but also as a source of inspiration for their "explorations." Their style is mostly based on intervention, accomplished both by chance and active alteration, the result of which is an altered perception of reality. And, by means of repetition and associative arrangement, these interventions begin to relate to one another, forming a network of sorts.

Through their work and, later, their close collaboration with the design duo who helped them shape the book, Onorato and Krebs take the viewer on a visual journey that does not require the help of a travel guide, but rather an expansion of the mind.