Bustling Tokyo street lit up by neon signage

exhibition

Photo City: How Images Shape the Urban World 

On until Sunday 27 October

Last chance to see! Look through the lens at how photography frames the way we experience our cities

The invention of photography has transformed the world. Today, photographic images are everywhere and the acts of taking, sharing and responding to them are integral to daily life.

The explosion of photographic experimentation in the mid-19th century coincided with the rapid growth of cities across the globe. This exhibition brings together iconic images from the V&A’s collections as well as works by contemporary photographers, architects and digital artists to explore how photography and cities have influenced each other.

See two groundbreaking commissions created exclusively for the exhibition: Diorama Map, Dundee by photographer Sohei Nishino is a large-scale photographic map of Dundee offering a captivating and intricate portrait of the city, through the eyes of the photographer.
The second, Gimbal City, is a collaborative video game by architectural design studio, iheartblob, designed to empower communities to shape and own their urban stories.

Image: Memories of Green from Tokyo Nights (TO:KY:OO), 2019, © Liam Wong Courtesy of the artist

On until Sunday 27 October

Free

Gallery 2 & Michelin Design Gallery

Find out more

A woman holding a smartphone, using the Smartify app in V&A Dundee

Free audio tour

Listen to the photographers, artists, and curators who brought the exhibition to life in this free audio tour on the Smartify app.

Japanese Photographer Sohei Nishino standing in front of his commission, Dundee Diorama

The Dundee Diorama

Watch Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino piece together thousands of images to create a diorama map of Dundee!

Key Objects

A 1960's style hot dog stand in Santa Monica, California
Denise Scott Brown, Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, California, 1966 (Courtesy of Denise Scott Brown)
Two dancers on top of a skyscraper in Hong Kong, with ghostly abstract geometric shapes mapping their movements
Liam Young (designer and director), Jacob Jonas (choreographer), Shuruq Tramontini (technical lead), Forest Swords (original score), Choreographic Camouflage, 2021
Two workers standing on scaffolding atop of an under construction Rockerfeller Center in New York City
Fred Zinnemann, Building the Rockefeller Center,1932 ©The Estate of Fred Zinnemann Courtesy Peter Fetterman Gallery
An aerial view from above the Statue of Liberty, with a group of visitors peeking out from a viewing spot within her crown
Margaret Bourke-White, The Statue of Liberty, 1963 © Courtesy of Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Multi-layered semi-transparent image of the Taj Mahal
Corinne Vionnet, Agra from the series Photo Opportunities, 2006 (Courtesy of Corinne Vionnet)
A 3D architectural model of a futuristic building, made up of geometric shapes that twist and turn.
Metrotopia Metaverse, featuring Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) by Coop HimmelBlau, Imagery courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
A girl in a sequin party dress bouncing down a cobbled streets on a space hopper
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Girl on Space Hopper, Byker, 1971 © Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen Courtesy: Michael Hoppen, London

Supported by:

Daiwa Logo Mono_1
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
The Dalmore
The Dalmore Single Highland Malt
Sasakawa
Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Levelling Up Blue on Transparent
UK Shared Prosperity Fund - awarded by Dundee City Council
FONDATION MICHELIN
Michelin Corporate Foundation

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Liam Wong: TO:KY:OO

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Blockitecture Garden City

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Dundee Diorama poster

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