Photo City: How Images Shape the Urban World

29 Mar-20 Oct 2024

Overview

Look through the lens at how photography frames the way we experience our cities

The invention of photography has transformed the world. Today, photographic images are everywhere and the acts of taking, sharing and responding to them are integral to daily life.

The explosion of photographic experimentation in the mid-19th century coincided with the rapid growth of cities across the globe. This exhibition brings together iconic images from the V&A’s collections as well as works by contemporary photographers, architects and digital artists to explore how these two modern phenomena – photography and cities – have impacted on each other.

See two groundbreaking commissions created exclusively for the exhibition: Diorama Map, Dundee by photographer Sohei Nishino is a large-scale photographic map of Dundee offering a captivating and intricate portrait of the city, through the eyes of the photographer.
The second, Gimbal City, is a collaborative video game by architectural design studio, iheartblob, designed to empower communities to shape and own their urban stories.