The Photographs of Hélène Binet
Louise Bourgeois and Peter Zumthor, Steilneset Memorial, Vardø
Beyond architectural documentation, Hélène Binet’s work reinterprets the buildings she photographs transcending the representation of reality to be exhibited as a work of art proper. Born in Switzerland and currently living in London, it was during her period of studies in Rome when Daniel Libeskind encouraged her to introduce architecture in her art. Since then the photographer has worked with the most prominent contemporary architects, stripping their works of functional content to capture their purely artistic dimension. When seeing the images collected in the following pages, no one will think about the tourists who walk along the path of Dimitris Pikionis to the Acropolis, about the signs that guide us through the Kolumba Diocesan Museum by Peter Zumthor, or about the highways surrounding the Strasbourg station by Zaha Hadid, because Hélène Binet’s photography has the ability to isolate the volumes and shapes by materializing their textures and turning the perception of space into an interplay of light and shadow.
Published by Phaidon, the book Composing Space: The Photographs of Hélène Binet is a limited edition of a monograph on the work of Hélène Binet, featuring the works of architects such as Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, Peter Eisenman, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, with an afterword by Mark Pimlott.
At the Gabrielle Ammann Gallery in Cologne, the exhibition of Hélène Binet ‘Selected Works’ could be visited until 28 October 2011. The show includes a selection of the photographer’s work from 1999 to 2011. The images of the Saint Pierre Church, the Kolumba Diocesan Museum and the LFone pavilion are courtesy of the gallery.
Dimitris Pikionis, Landscaping around the Acropolis, Athens
Le Corbusier, Saint Pierre Church, Firminy
Peter Zumthor, Thermal Baths, Vals
Peter Zumthor, Thermal Baths, Vals
Le Corbusier, The Monastery of La Tourette, Éveux
Hélène Binet transfers the intensity of architectural space to her photographs by focusing on reflections, textures, materials, lights and shadows to express her personal point of view.
Peter Zumthor, Kolumba Diocesan Museum, Cologne
Zaha Hadid, Carpark and Terminus, Strasbourg
Zaha Hadid, LFone Pavilion, Weil am Rhein
Zaha Hadid, LFone Pavilion, Weil am Rhein
Zaha Hadid, MAXXI Museum, Rome
Hélène Binet captures the elegance of the gestures behind the extravagant forms characteristic of Zaha Hadid’s architecture, accentuating the volumes in tune with the intensity of light.
