We are all storytellers, but what can we say about our own built environment? Our understanding of each microhabitat changes as we explore, experiment and play with it. The language we use to represent and describe our world changes even more quickly with our investigation. Often it is difficult to illuminate something about the constructed environment that is not easily conveyed by words or architectural plans. What we are attempting to uncover are the invisible things that affect how we feel about constructed spaces.

This year's contest called for images that heightened people's awareness of their surroundings, while challenging the very definition of what a built environment is. Our goal was to present an open-ended and playful dialogue that draws on the vitality, beauty, accessibility, and community that is found through our personal interaction with our physical and sometimes hidden environment.

The Jury: What They Said

Lillian Kuri - Director, Committee for Public Art

“These winners evoked strong emotions in me. In a few cases, they raised new questions like: Whose access? Is lack of access beautiful? And can the simplicity of a child raise hope and redirect a community? These photos are truly moving.”

Walt Seng- Local Advertiser and Photographer

“Much of the work was sensitive and nicely seen... the majority of the work was unique and varied.”

Note from The Curator

While reflecting on the concepts behind this competition, I recalled how urban space is often taken for granted. Has it become mundane? Or is it overlooked because of our hurried lives? I also thought of those places that we hold sacred; those personal spots we may go to read, those places we visit only with those close to us, or those spaces that remain concealed. The images included in this [exhibition] are able to reveal those details that give life and meaning to those places we see every day. The collected images also brought into view rarely noticed places. What we have is a collection that transcends the heavy-handed physicality of materials presented by our built environments, by telling a story about ourselves.

- Brandon Harrison, Curator

Thanks

Panorama - an exploration of our built environment, the Cleveland Architectural Interns' (CAi) third annual photography exhibition - would not have been possible without the effort and enthusiasm of each contributing artist. Their creativity and imagination have presented the University Circle district and neighboring areas in a fresh and provocative way. The winning entries have elevated standard perceptions of Cleveland.

The success of this exhibition is due to the dedication of CAi members Brian Frolo, Christian Phillips and Sara Stucky. A special thank you is in order for Courtney DeOreo, University Circle Incorporated, Collins Gordon Bostwick Architects and van Dijk Pace Westlake Architects, without whose support the production of the calendars for this exhibition would not have been possible. CAi would also like to thank AIA Cleveland, Bob Bennett, Bruce Checefsky, Kathleen Coakley, Allen Krulak and Hunter Morrison for their continued involvement and all others who helped produce the exhibit. Artists were encouraged to submit work that addressed UCI's mission statement in that each submission was to “foster an awareness that promotes and draws on the vitality, beauty, accessibility and community of their surroundings.”

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