Table salt 45x magnification.
The San Francisco based artist and photographer Caren Alpert, wanted to see what we were eating in a new light, so she found a way to photograph food under an electron microscope. The series of photographs she produced is called Terra Cibus.
It is interesting, that while working on the images, she eventually started to see food and consumers as part of a larger ecosystem.
Is it a similar thing with architecture?
The photographs are mesmerising in their own right but like the photographer whose perceptions have been changed through the creative process, I see parallels with the way architects and lay people perceive buildings at different scales.
For the lay person, it is usually the magnified, or close-up image of the building that they really see, a door, a façade, a room etc. Whilst in the mind of the architect, the building exists in its entirety: structure, finishes, form, services, function, even though both spectators may be looking at the same view.
If you are in New York from now until the 31st November drop into the Citigroup Centre where Caren Alpert is currently exhibiting her work, and see if it can change your perceptions.
Star anise 14x magnification.
Sugar in the raw: 15x magnification.
Shrimp tail in the raw: 15x magnification.
Red cabbage: 27x magnification.
Coffee bean 80x magnification.
Purple onion: 230x magnification.
Blueberry: 19x magnification.
