Constructing Worlds

Constructing Worlds brings together the work of 18 photographers, from the 1930s until the modern era, each of whom has changed the way we look at architecture and perceive the world.

Come along on a journey around the world through 19th and 20th century architecture: from New York’s first skyscrapers via colonial buildings in disrepair in Congo to experimental houses for a modern lifestyle in 1950s California and an occupied high-rise tower in Caracas. The exhibition features more than 250 works that illustrate the ability of photographic art to reveal our society’s hidden truths.

The photographers involved include, for example, Berenice Abbot, Walker Evans, Julius Schulman, Hélène Binet, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Andreas Gursky, Nadav Kander and Iwan Baan. The works depict, among other things, buildings by architects such as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Aldo Rossi, Charles and Ray Eames and Daniel Liebeskind.

ArkDes has Sweden’s biggest collection of architectural photography with 600,000 photos. The Swedish supplement “In focus – photos from ArkDes’s collections” features works from the collections, usually the photographers’ originals.

The exhibition is curated by the Barbican ↗ in partnership with ArkDes.