Although featuring many incredible artists, the Barbican’s Constructing Worlds fails to be thought-provoking because of its lack of curational direction, says Jack Self

It is not at all clear why the Constructing Worlds exhibition currently showing at the Barbican has received so many good reviews from so many fine publications (FT, Guardian, Art Daily, etc). The quality of the architectural photography on display is excellent − and includes some of the best works by some of the most famous photographers of the last century. The design of the exhibition itself is equally impressive − minimal and elegant, with a precision and beauty typical of KGDVS (the office of Kersten Geers and David Van Severen, whom I admire a good deal). These aspects at least are beyond reproach.

However, the work on display is sadly predictable − each photographer is represented only by their most iconic and reproduced images − and each artist is segregated into their own little box gallery. There is no suggested relationship between the photographers, no overlap of images, no clear thematic to explain why these artists have been selected, and most of all no proposition about the role of photography in architecture or the world. The pieces unfold broadly chronologically, without obvious insight or criticality, without historical context or, apparently, anything interesting to say about the work itself (beyond some rather trite wall text resembling press releases from Wikipedia). A friend described Constructing Worlds as a ‘hit parade’ of Google search results, an exercise in how many famous names could fit on an A4 sheet. I had the impression of being inside a brute force attack, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of star photographers, but not understanding at all how these masterpieces came to be in one place.

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‘Constructing Worlds is a hit parade of Google search results, an exercise in how many famous names could fit on an A4 sheet’Constructing Worlds does not lack a fascinating subject − the photography is second to none. Further, the implications of combining, in one single show, so many incredible artists is thought provoking. The absence of firm curatorial direction is to its great detriment.