PERPETUAL RECONSTRUCTION

Foto essay, Publication

17.11.2023

Foto essay for re:imagine your city — rethinking urban paradigms.

This collection of film photographs is a celebration of construction in action and of wishfully conceived objects, captured during their process of becoming. It showcases moments where the production of space has just been paused, laid still for months, or is about to be picked up again in an instant. I believe the incomplete state of things represented in these images has the potential, maybe even the right, to replace our common desire for products with an appreciation for the procedural.
There is a noticeable shift happening within the architectural practice already. The image as a representation of architecture, meticulously refined to absolute perfection, has guided practitioners and public alike for the longest time. And still: societal norms and expectations require a certain grain of finishing touch in every structure added to the urban fabric. Of course, this final touch was never more than a mere imagination. And designers seem less sure of themselves than they used to be. We are in the process of realizing that the contemporary city cannot afford the lustrous standards of past days anymore. And once we fully comprehend this new paradigm, we might learn to admire the mystery, surprise, and joy that an urban oeuvre, actively maintained in a state of perpetual reconfiguration, has to offer to our shared experience.