polis: a collective blog about cities worldwide

Documenting the Construction of a Monument

by Vivien Park


"Untitled (Cobble Constellation)" by Barney Kulok. Source: ArtCat

After a 40-year delay, Louis I. Kahn's design for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is finally being realized. In the fall of 2011, photographer Barney Kulok was granted access to observe and photograph the construction. Rather than trying to capture the monumental quality of the project, both in scale and historic significance, Kulok opted to focus on the details of materials and how the building blocks were arranged on the site. The results are photographs that make the viewers part of the building process, which is monumental in itself.

Barney Kulok's "Building" exhibition will be on view at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in New York City from Sept. 13 to Oct. 27.

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