Arquitectura Contemporánea was a discussion that took a critical look at the representation of architecture and the changes in urban landscapes: specifically in terms of architectural guidebooks, and more generally with the interconnection between architecture and photography through time-based documentary and art works.

Artist Christoph Draeger and MAK Center artist-in-residence Heidrun Holzfeind  presented their conceptual photo project Arquitectura Contemporánea, a remake of an architectural guidebook of the same name that chronicles 20th century architecture in Mexico City. The project was to be published with editor Lorenzo Rocha, an architect and critic from Mexico City, who at the panel spoke about the intersection between photography and architecture in relation to the different ways a building can be contemporary. Photographer and writer Wendy Cheng  discussed A People’s Guide to Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2012), focusing on the historical, geographic, and political implications of guidebooks and how they inform how we interact with everyday landscapes, with specific reference to Los Angeles. Artist Alex Slade discussed his photographs documenting sites of transformation across the US where the defining characteristics of today’s American city are actualized. MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer moderated the panel.