This research project involves a double question. On the one hand, it will investigate in a photographic way the architectural impact of world exhibitions in the present. On the other hand, it will investigate the importance of the performance of these photographs as spatial objects.

Objective:

Photography and world exhibitions were closely linked from the beginning. The spatiality of the photograph is mainly due to the exhibition culture of the world exhibition. A photographic study of the architectural remnants of world exhibitions implies, in my opinion, that the execution of these photographs should be as equal to the image of the photograph. There are three huge steps between capturing an image on light-sensitive film and the execution of that image in the physical world: from theme to negative, from negative to print and from print to room. My research is about the spatiality, the sculptural aspect of photography interacting with the theme of the world exhibition to which the photograph owes its spatiality.

Research questions:

• What is the effect of time, place and context on the architectural remains of world exhibitions?
  
• How to prove this: using photography?
  
• To what extent do photography and world exhibitions interact?
  
• What is the exact contribution of the world exhibition to the perception of the photograph as a three-dimensional object?
  
• Can photography be considered a three-dimensional medium?
  
• What difference is there between the two-dimensional aspect of the photographic image and its spatial execution as a print?
  
• Photography, like painting, is always represented as a two-dimensional surface in publications or on the internet, while sculptures are reproduced as installation views. A photography exhibition is never documented with installation and room views. Why is this so and how could it be different?
  
• The modern idea of a synthesis of the arts is absent today. The separate operation of different media, such as architecture, visual arts and photography, prevents a contamination, a crossover of these media, which was very much practised until before the 1960s. Is this an outdated idea or are there new possibilities?
  
• In what form can an equivalent synthesis of photography, installation and architecture manifest itself?
  
• Is the use of photography as an architectural element mainly decorative?
  
• How do you take photographs from the point of view of incorporating them into a three-dimensional installation?
  
• To what extent does this influence the perspective and degree of abstraction in the shooting of new photographs?
  
• How does the architecture of the pavilion act as a container for spatial photography?