Shaping Vision: The photographic work by Aris Konstantinidis

During his studies of architecture at The Technical University of Munich, Aris Konstantinidis (Άρης Κωνσταντινίδης; Athens, 1913-1993) comes in contact with the conceptions of Modernism. His early works reflect this affiliation, but soon he builds an architecture that does not renounce to the modern condition, and neither to establish a close relationship with tradition and genius loci of his country. Along with the practice of architecture, he develops a photographic activity, using photography as documentation and promotion of his architectural work. But he does not stop there, as he uses photography in all its possibilities. Throughout his life he uses it as a research and knowledge tool of his environment, and as a construction of the camera as well, I, e, as art of looking. This paper studies the characteristics of Konstantinidis pictures about the Greek landscape and the vernacular architecture in his two books entitled Elements for Self- Knowledge. Towards A True Architecture (Στοιχεία αυτογνωσίας. Για μιαν αληθινή αρχιτεκτονική, 1975) and God-Built (Θεόκτιστα, 1992), and his final presentation in the design of books.This text was co-funded with FEDER funds by the Operational Competitiveness Programme – COMPETE and national funds by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the project Photography, Modern Architecture and the “School of Oporto”: Interpretations Around Teófilo Rego Archive (PTDC/ ATP-AQI/4805/2012 - FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028054