The Montréal-based Canadian artist and architect Melvin Charney describes the history of modern architecture as a series of significant monuments that have been reproduced and documented. Here, the unexpected events transmitted by wire-service news photographs—selected, classified into various thematic areas, and collated by Charney—confront us with the shock or recognition that allows us to see architecture from outside its presentation as an isolated monument. The choices made by Charney from the ideas enclosed in the pre-packaged “news” images order them into a “dictionary,” and show the built and inhabited world as it appears through journalistic information.

This publication accompanied the Canadian entry to the Venice Biennale’s 7th International Architecture Exhibition, whose theme was “The City: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics.”

Essays by Melvin Charney, Jean-François Chevrier, Phyllis Lambert, and Manon Regimbald
Graphic design by Bruce Mau Design, with Catherine Rix and Chris Rowat

Published in 2000
Trilingual English-French-Italian edition
Softcover, 96 pages