The Barbican Art Gallery at London's Barbican Centre will host Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern age

Alona Pardo, who curated the exhibition along with Elias Redstone, agrees that the genre is not widely discussed, which has led to misinterpretation in the past. "It's seen as something that is practical and functional, with a specific purpose to reflect the architect and their intention, and it's rarely looked at within a fine art practice in terms of the photograph being a metaphor for our social history, which is the tack we're taking," she says.

Architectural photography not only documents our built worlds, but the very best will reveal something more about the societies in which they are taken
Architectural photography not only documents our built worlds, but the very best will reveal something more about the societies in which they are taken

Constructing Worlds will bring together more than 250 works by 18 different artists dating back to the 1930s. As well as charting the (literal) rise of modern architecture, it will also focus on the dramatic global shifts in society in the post-war period. "We wanted to look at the history of this discipline and think about how we got to the point where we are," notes Pardo. "How do we learn about architecture? How do we remember it? What impact has it had?

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I think most people would be aware that colonial domination was also expressed through architecture. But the question is, would the International Style have been appropriated if architecture hadn't had this symbiotic relationship to photography?"