Constructing worlds. Photography and Architecture in the modern era

The ICO Museum hosts from today until September 6th the exhibition Constructing Worlds, as part of the Official Selection of PHotoEspaña 2015, with a photography exhibition that begins in America in the 30s and covers the history of architecture with a different perspective, the one of 18 photographers.

Housing block, Beira, Mozambique, 2007. Photography © Guy Tillim. Courtesy of Stevenson, Ciudad del Cabo y Johannesburgo, via ICO Museum.

The exhibition organized by the Barbican Centre at the Museo ICO on the occasion of the edition of PHotoEspaña 2015 contains approximately 250 photographs made by some of the best international photographers in history. The exhibition starts on the top floor with Berenice Abbott, a female photographer during the 30s who realized the changing nature of the City of New York and documented the evolution of the city, not as a compliment to modernity but from a clear political point of view, focusing on how architecture influenced the lives of people who should live in it. With this beginning, it is clear to expect much from this exhibition organized by Alona Pardo and Elias Redstone.

As you continue the exhibition you can see the works of Walker Evans, such as the portraits he made of rural america, a provocation at that time. Reflecting on the legacy of his objective documentary style, the show moves on to consider the works of Ed Ruscha, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Stephen Shore and Thomas Struth.

On another side, Luigi Ghirri offers his vision of the architectural work of Aldo Rossi and Hélène Binet shows the Jewish Museum of Berlin by Daniel Libeskind. Then we meet the blurry, but recognizable photographs of Hiroshi Sugimoto and Luisa Lambri's photos of the inside of renowned architects' houses, with an approach more focused on emotions, in the relationship between the photographer and architecture, actually, the architect behind each building.

The exhibition ends with an exploration of cities that have experienced dramatic changes, along with Guy Tillim in Angola, Congo and Mozambique; with Simon Norfolk's series, showing how the wounds of the past are revealed in the architecture of the present; the series Refuge, Five Cities by Bas Princen, which explore the urban transformation in the Middle East; with Nadav Kander's portrait of the impact on the Chinese landscape of colossal modern buildings; and finally, with the collection of the Tower of David by Iwan Baan.