L’épreuve du réel
Chapter 3: Photography or Photorealism?
12 June to 31 July 2026
Opening night on 11 June 2026 from 6.30 pm
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Galerie VU’
60 Avenue de Saxe, Paris 15
Open Thursday to Saturday from 2 pm to 6 pm
CREATERS
Elizabeth de Portzamparc, Christian de Portzamparc, AND Studio, Bechu & Associés, Brenac & Gonzalez, Gondwana, Square Architecte, Emmanuel Di Giacomo, Léonard de Vinci (Bibliothèque de l’institut de France), Étienne-Louis Boullée, Jean-Jacques Lequeu, Jean-Frédéric Waldeck (BnF), Louis Bonnier, Auguste et Gustave Perret et Henri Sauvage (Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine).
PHOTOGRAPHER
© Le Globe terrestre d’Elisée Reclus par l’architecte Louis Bonnier – 35 IFA/SIAF/Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine/Archives d’architecture contemporaine
Is it possible to show what photography sometimes struggles to capture? Can doubt shake the deep-seated convictions of the eye? How is perfection embodied?
These questions arose during our meeting with NADKA, a platform that breathes new life into the unsung masterpieces of the greatest architects and designers.
We have selected around fifty calculated, photorealistic images—perfect, bewildering utopias—and set them against images of reality photographed by a young, previously unexhibited artist, Paul Nouallet.
Nouallet presents views of the Grande Arche de la Défense in an almost abstract rendering where light, complex geometries and their interplay produce images whose reality would overwhelm even the most powerful computers.
This juxtaposition gave rise to numerous questions about the nature and substance of the architectural object, whose image tells us far more than the mere skilful interplay of forms assembled in the light …
“Architecture is not an idea but a representation of the world as it really is.”
Xavier Soule, DPLG architect / Director of Galerie VU’
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“By combining 3D technology and artificial intelligence, we sought to give tangible form to architectural projects that had hitherto been intangible. Beyond mere representation, the image here brings human design to life in its tangible reality: it becomes a work of art in its own right, conceived to fuel the contemporary imagination.”
Julien Barbier, co-founder of NADKA
Crédits – Les trésors de créativité que vous découvrirez à l’occasion de l’exposition étaient conservés dans les collections des institutions et les archives des architectes et créateurs suivants : Elizabeth de Portzamparc, Christian de Portzamparc, AND Studio, Bechu & Associés, Brenac & Gonzalez, Gondwana, Square Architecte, Emmanuel Di Giacomo, Léonard de Vinci (Bibliothèque de l’institut de France), Étienne-Louis Boullée, Jean-Jacques Lequeu, Jean-Frédéric Waldeck (BnF), Louis Bonnier, Auguste et Gustave Perret et Henri Sauvage (Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine). L’exposition mettra également à l’honneur le travail du photographe Paul Nouallet.
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