Filip Dujardin

Posted by Fabio 22 October 2010

In addition to his more traditional work, Belgian photographer Filip Dujardin creates imaginary buildings by resampling pictures of real buildings; that is, he digitally pieces together elements of existing architecture to create fictional structures. Dujardin often starts with a specific idea for an image, then creates a cardboard maquette or a 3D computer model of the final shape he has in mind. Staying near his home in Ghent, he searches out buildings to photograph that will supply the desired textures and edges. Back at the computer in his studio he cuts, pastes, and shapes segments from these building images and compiles them into the form that he envisioned.

Some of Dujardin’s resampled buildings are structurally impossible, constructed in ways that defy engineering. More often they are subtly implausible; for instance, they may be window- or doorless, or juxtapose materials in unlikely combinations or at improbable scales. Some of the most intriguing buildings seem perfectly ordinary at first glance, revealing their fictional nature as the viewer registers missing or incongruous details, such as a staircase several stories up on a modern apartment block, with no guardrail.

Filip Dujardin has developed an art form from these twenty-first century techniques, creating what artists have always created—enchanting and thought-provoking images that show us the world in new ways.