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Seven Portraits (Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, Pin-Up Fall Winter 2014/15 Supplement): Bloch Building, Nelson-Atkins Museum (Kansas City, USA), Steven Holl Architects and BNIM

A work made of archival pigment print mounted to dibond.

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  • A work made of archival pigment print mounted to dibond.

Date:

2018

Artist:

David Hartt
Canadian, born 1967

About this artwork

David Hartt’s Seven Portraits is a portfolio of photographs of seven contemporary buildings across the Americas, ranging from the Seattle Library by Rem Koolhaas to Restaurante Mestizo in Santiago, Chile, by Smiljan Radic. The portfolio was commissioned by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture in partnership with PIN-UP magazine to celebrate the inaugural Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize and was first published as a supplement in the magazine. For a later unique commission by the Art Institute, Hartt produced these 12 large panels featuring both published and unpublished photos from the project.

Unlike architectural photographers, who typically attempt to convey the designer’s vision, Hartt used this work to free buildings from the preconceptions of their architects. He emphasized the ordinary and the unexpected, like a plant growing in the crack of a deck or a building’s facade in the background of a quinceañera photoshoot. The series shows Hartt’s interest in the specificity of place and the cultural and social meanings of built environments. Instead of presenting an architect’s idealized intentions for a space, these photographs examine the personal, idiosyncratic encounters between a building and its context and inhabitants. Seven Portraits prompts reflection on the unpredictable ways humans use and experience design, giving buildings purpose far beyond what architects can predict.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

David Hartt

Title

Seven Portraits (Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, Pin-Up Fall Winter 2014/15 Supplement): Bloch Building, Nelson-Atkins Museum (Kansas City, USA), Steven Holl Architects and BNIM

Place

Canada (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 2018

Medium

Archival pigment print mounted to Dibond

Dimensions

229 × 152 cm (90 × 60 in.)

Credit Line

Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation and Eloise W. Martin Legacy Fund

Reference Number

2018.72.2

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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