The Power of Image: Between Reality and Imagination

As an architect, I work with images every day. They help me make design choices and select materials. But an image is more than just a visual tool— it is a spatial language, an actor. An image from a particular perspective can shape how we experience space and assign meaning to our surroundings. It is therefore important to understand how images actually work in order to create and use them effectively.

This is not real.

The Triangle of Image Formation

The way an image is composed goes beyond aesthetics and the commercial aspect. It is a behavior-shaping dynamic interplay between perception, interpretation, and creation. Every image moves within a continuous tension between three elements:

- Perception: what our eyes actually register.

- The mental image: how we perceive and interpret it.

- The counter-image: the way we recreate reality.

Even a simple photo is not an objective representation of reality, but an interpretation, an extraction of a moment that can never fully capture the truth. In a world where we live in a digital metaverse via social media, we constantly experience this alienation. What we see is no longer a raw representation of reality, but a curated, filtered reconstruction of it.

The (Un)conscious Deformation of Reality

Just as the Renaissance painting technique sfumato softened contours and colors to create a suggestive, dreamy effect, modern digital editing distorts our perception of what is real. Humans are inherently imperfect, yet they strive for perfection. This tension is not new. Shakespeare already phrased it in Hamlet:

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.”

Instagram filters and Photoshop make us believe in a perfect reality where imperfections are erased, where the 'authentic' increasingly becomes a construct. We recreate reality, hide rough edges, and shape a world to our desires. But is this an attempt to manipulate reality, or to recreate it? Here lies a fundamental difference between, for example, a collage and Photoshop: one is a conscious, artistic reinterpretation, while the other is sometimes a morally questionable attempt to construct an alternative truth.

Topos: The Photo as Divine Art

A good image makes the absent present. This concept aligns with the classical idea of topos: the shared space where art gains a near-divine power to make something palpable that does not yet physically exist.

Architecture itself and art share this quality. They transform an abstract idea into a tangible experience. A drawing, a visualization, or a collage is not merely a representation of a future building; it is a promise, a glimpse into a world yet to be realized. Just as a painting is more than paint on canvas, an architectural representation is more than a technical illustration—it is a translation of vision and emotion.

Creativity vs. Manipulation: An Ethical Question

When is an image a creative interpretation, and when does it become deception?

In architecture, this is a delicate issue. A render can make a space feel like a sunlit, harmonious environment, while the final building, due to regulations, budget, or practical considerations, might feel very different. The power and the danger of image formation lie in these manipulations.

Image as Architectural Language

As an architect, I use images not (only) to present designs but to tell stories, evoke moods, and give meaning to space. Image is a language in itself, a bridge in consciousness between the world as we know it and the world as we dream of it.

And perhaps therein lies the true magic: in the tension between reality and imagination, between imperfection and our desire for perfection. What we see, what we think, and what we create form an endless dialogue—a game in which architecture is not just about building but primarily about giving meaning to our surroundings.

~Ar. Kimberly Wouters

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This story is inspired by the book I recently read > certainly a MUST READ:

"Instagrammable: What Art Tells Us about Social Media" van Koenraad Jonckheere (2024). > zeker een mustread!

The collage is a conjecture of architectural visualisations and images from a recent trip to the exposition at the MoMu Antwerpen: Maskerade, make-up & Ensor