Internacional Conference. inter ~ photography and architecture

11/10/2016. University of Navarra Museum [Pamplona] Spain. 02.11> 04.11.16
metalocus, ÁLVARO LAMAS

Modern architecture cannot be altogether understood without the dissemination of its images. The blending between photography and architecture proved to be particularly fruitful in constructing the modern visual discourse. Architects became conscious of the full potential of photography beyond its documentary value, and photographers of architecture —architects themselves occasionally—, shortly became important composers and broadcasters of that narrative.

University of Navarra Museum. Image courtesy of University of Navarra.

University of Navarra Museum. Image courtesy of University of Navarra.

Lynne Cohen. ©Lynne Cohen, Museo Universidad de Navarra.

University of Navarra Museum. Image courtesy of University of Navarra.

This International Conference aims to delve into the essential cogitations associated to the development of both disciplines in a contemporary discourse, particularly on their mutual interactions, interferences, intersections and interpretations.

Simultaneously, the discourse around photography has become more and more complex, expanding its scope and surpassing a more traditional approach. XIXth century photographic documentation gradually gave in its way to new forms of exploration of reality, opening a wide range of possibilities and raising photographic and visual culture to a different level.

Photographers do not develop their work in a documentary sense as much as they seek to build a new reality perceived in subjective terms. They are involved in creating a new way of understanding the world. There is some consensus —as well as a subtler criticism— on the overflowing of their disciplinary boundaries. Those boundaries seem to be blurred bringing photography closer and closer to visual arts, claiming this way that same autonomy and their own place in the construction of contemporary discourse. The question arises as to whether the relationship between photography and architecture provides new creative processes, not just simple combinations, and whether they affect and experience each other in such a way they bring to light new ways of understanding both fields.

The Conference is structured around the following topics:

Interactions. Mixed profiles: Architectural Photographers vs Photographic Architects / The photographic gaze as an analytical and design tool for architects to create spaces / Architecture and Image / The Visual Discourse of Architecture

Interferences. Photography as a Historical Builder / History of Photography vs. Architectural History / The Documentary Photographs of Architecture.

Intersections. Architecture and Urban Landscape in Photography / Architecture under the artistic view / Photography: Piece of art or Document / Discursive and Iconic Records.

Interpretations. Museums and Galleries: Curating Architecture / Photography and the Dissemination of Architecture / The role of visual media in shaping the modern and contemporary discourse / Digital photography / Image as a virtual construction.