Scan, Cut, Unfold : A Critical Analysis of The Swedish Review of Architecture

Abstract: I have zoomed in and out, cut and pasted, simplified and exaggerated my way through twelve shelf metres of Swedish architecture history. My ambition with this project has been to understand how Swedish architecture has been narrated in The Swedish Review of Architecture - tidskriften Arkitektur - during the 113 years the publication has existed. Has its "dramaturgy" changed and is this reflected in the development of Swedish design? Through using the architectural skills I have developed through my education, I was able to use the relatively simple, yet complex technique of photomontage as a means of analysing historical images. Each montage, once composed, vividly suggest certain tendencies of different historical periods, from the use of material, the social ways in which spaces are inhabited, the way light is managed, and so forth. I developed this method of photomontage because it exposes much more than documentary photography and writing. The project suggest an active engagement in history, rather than a passive acceptance of thing that have been. The final spreads can be read as retrospective and visionary simultaneously, to open up for several readings, and a possibility to keep on producing more material.