Photographer Bas Princen explores the relationship between image and architecture
‘Bas Princen. Image and Architecture’ at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery presents a selection of lyrical architectural photographs by Bas Princen that explore the historic relationship between architecture and material culture. The Dutch photographer and artist, who trained as an industrial designer in Eindhoven and studied architecture in Rotterdam, has made a name for himself capturing the experience of architecture and place through photography.
Known for his focus on the places where architecture meets the urban and natural landscape, Princen takes images that are extremely powerful and poetic – this exhibition at Vitra presents him foremost as an artist, rather than an architectural photographer.
Featured in the exhibition are his historical portraits of places including Italian Renaissance buildings, a gargoyle atop the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the first Crystal Palace in London, the New York skyline of the 1930s and the home that architect Robert Venturi built for his mother in Philadelphia amongst other unique and curious corners and details of the built environment across the world.
Princen explores the relationship of architecture and image – trying to capture and understand how a building can transition from three dimensions into two, and it is through this lens that he examined architecture found and documented in material culture across the world, photographing it again, reframing architecture within objects almost like the process of reflection of a mirror in a mirror.
He photographs wall paintings and tapestries, tracing the historic relationship between photography and architecture, and the human instinct to document and create visions of our manmade world. This exhibition shows how he is becoming part of this concept himself, showing his large-scale photographs printed on Japanese rice paper, a technique that Princen has developed over time, to allow the images to exist as objects within the very material culture that he investigates.
INFORMATION
‘Bas Princen. Image and Architecture’ is on view from 24 February to 5 August. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Museum Gallery website
ADDRESS
Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Str. 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
The wait is over: Matthieu Blazy is Chanel’s new creative director
Matthieu Blazy has been appointed as the new artistic director at Chanel, after a critically lauded and commercially successful tenure as creative director of Bottega Veneta
By Jack Moss Published
-
Alaïa’s secret new London café and bookstore is inspired by the art of hosting
Housed on the third floor of Alaïa’s London flagship, the intimate space – inspired by Azzedine Alaïa’s famed hospitality – includes a Violet Cakes bakery and a bookstore by Claire de Rouen
By Jack Moss Published
-
Is it really possible to stage a Shakespeare play inside the game Grand Theft Auto?
Grand Theft Hamlet, a documentary debut written and directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane, is about two out-of-work actors attempting to mount a full production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, inside the violent world of Grand Theft Auto, shot entirely in game
By Billie Walker Published
-
RIBA Photo Festival 2023 explores photography and the built environment
The RIBA Photo Festival 2023 runs 8 – 11 November, exploring photography and its powerful relationship with architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Sony World Photography Awards 2023: from concrete ruins to sustainability action
The Sony World Photography Awards 2023 winners are announced and among them, the architectural photography category
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Iwan Baan’s photography exhibition journeys from Las Vegas to Rome
Iwan Baan’s photography exhibition ‘From Las Vegas to Rome’ creates a dialogue between the two cities through crowds, architecture and cityscapes from above
By Martha Elliott Last updated
-
Mariam Issoufou Kamara to design Bët-bi museum in Senegal
Mariam Issoufou Kamara, founder of Atelier Masōmī in Niger, has been selected by a jury to lead the design of the new Bët-bi museum in the Senegambia region of West Africa
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
2022 Sony World Photography Awards: architecture category and more winners
The architecture winner is revealed in the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards announcement, while all winning work goes on show at London’s Somerset House
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego unveils a bigger and brighter new space
Selldorf Architects has welcomed the elements in to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s new light-filled design
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Tehran’s Argo Factory complex reinvents brewery architecture for the arts
The Argo Factory Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre by Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North (ASA North), housed in a redesigned brewery, becomes Tehran's first new arts hub in decades
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Architecture book celebrates London’s most iconic council houses
On World Book Day, we explore The Council House by Jack Young, which celebrates iconic council houses across London
By Jonathan Bell Last updated