Constructing Film: Swiss Architecture in the movie image

The exhibition “Constructing film” will go down a new path and for the first time, aside from the familiar film icons such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) or Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967), it will shed light on the various areas where film is used as a representation medium and analytical tool for architecture.

This exhibition examines the depictive and spatially exploratory aspect of film in various phases of the construction process, both in a university context and in practice: in the design phase, for instance, it is used as a tool for cinematic exploration and assessment of spatial constellations. Furthermore, film serves as documentation of construction progress and of the finished project, be it for the office’s internal purposes or, for example, as a means of advertising for investors.

Special attention is paid to the analysis of specific differences between film and established static representation media, such as photography, drawing and rendering. Ultimately, the interplay is also of interest: To what extent does cinematic vision create new possibilities pertaining to the observation of architecture? How do modern media technologies change our visual regime? In particular, there is also a discussion of why film still plays only a marginal role in the mediation of architecture, despite its multimediality and dynamic perception, in contrast to architectural photography.