Oscar Barnay is an architect, photographer and PhD in architecture (2023). Trained at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Saint-Etienne (ENSASE) and the Universidade de Lisboa, he is currently an associate member of the A&T laboratory at ENSASE and the University of Lyon 2. His research focuses on the place of photography in the creative practices of architects, on project approaches associated with inquiry, and on the transformation of postindustrial spaces. Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France.
This article analyses the way in which a photographic work can participate in both the safeguarding and the transformation of an infrastructure whose heritage value was contested at the time. The article traces the importance of Joel Sternfeld’s photographs in the process of safeguarding the West Side Freight Line, which has since become the famous High Line Park, one of New York’s most visited landmarks. The article is based on an analysis of the genesis and course of the photographs (in order to analyse their dissemination strategies and reception) and on the discourses of various protagonists. In this example, the relationship between the photographer and his clients, as well as the way the photographs were exhibited and made visible, reflect a conscious desire to put the quality of a renowned photographer at the service of creating a positive collective imagination around a then little-known and littleappreciated infrastructure. While this approach did indeed help save the threatened building, it was also accompanied by a symbolic shift, in which images effectively replaced reality, directly influencing the High Line’s restoration projects and their reception by both the general public and the sponsors.
1 Joel Sternfeld, 2002. New York Voices: Joel Sternfeld,. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNzr7g8FQgk watched on 01.02.2023.
Cover Image: Joel Sternfeld. 2000. Walking the High Line, Looking East on 30th Street on a Morning in May, courtesy of Joel Sternfeld
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