Film as Architectural Critique: the ‘city-in-pieces’ by three British avant-garde filmmakers

This paper argues that film practice can operate as architectural critique, in particular as a
critique of the contemporary urban built environment. I will argue that film can record and
represent the processes of ‘juxtaposition’ and ‘superimposition’, which shape the city as a
layered environment and, thus, as a discursive production. In this context, I will argue that
film’s significance as a form of critique lies in the deployment of the technique of ‘montage’,
which operates through the juxtaposition of fragments; and which, further, reconfigures
visuality, beyond the focused, perspectival vision, as it has been established since the
Rennaissance. For the above theoretical discussion, I will refer to the urban films of three
British avant-garde filmmakers: Patrick Keiller, William Raban and John Smith.

Citation:
Nigianni, B. (2005) 'Film as Architectural Critique: the ‘city-in-pieces’ by three British avant-garde filmmakers', Visualising the City International Conference, University of Manchester, UK, 28 June Manchester: University of Manchester..