The inaugural RIBA Photo Festival 2023 launches in London this week, exploring the relationship between photography and the built environment. Capturing architecture through the photographic lens has been an art as old as the medium itself, yet this is possibly the world's only festival dedicated entirely to this genre, says Valeria Carullo, RIBA's The Robert Elwall Photographs Collection curator, who organises the event.
RIBA Photo Festival 2023: what's on offer
There's something for everyone during the festival's four days of celebration at the RIBA headquarters at Portland Place. The programme was curated to speak to a specialised, existing audience of architectural photography and architecture enthusiasts, but also to the wider public with an interest in the arts.
Offerings range from photographic displays, to evening lectures from international speakers, workshops and tutorials led by seasoned professionals in the field. There will also be curator tours of the 'Wide-Angle View' exhibition currently on show at the RIBA HQ, one of our top pics of London architecture exhibitions this month.
'Wide-Angle View' was also curated by Carullo, who said at the opening: 'This exhibition, with the raw power of its photographs, brings us back to a time of challenges, disparities, disillusionment, but also a time of questioning, protesting, campaigning – in many ways, much like our here and now. It is a timely reminder of the importance of citizens’ participation in the decisions that affect their communities and the role architects can play in creating a fairer society.'
The debate and exhibits also aim to discuss photography's role in the digital age and how this affects its depicting and exploring of architecture and the built environment.
