Iwan Baan
  • Photography
  • Books
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • About
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial: anonymous histories 

2015

In Anonymous Histories, Iwan Baan explores Chicago as a living organism—its architecture, infrastructure, and urban condition captured through a contemporary photographic lens. Influenced by Alvin Boyarsky’s 1970s essay Chicago à la Carte: The City as an Energy System, Baan retraces Boyarsky’s vision of the city through its postcards—visual artifacts that reveal not just topography, but cultural values, tourism, and civic identity.

Boyarsky’s concept of the city as an interconnected organism, shaped by communication, industry, and technology, informs Baan’s own journey through Chicago’s layered history. Revisiting sites of industrial achievement—grain elevators, bridges, canals, airports—Baan captures a hidden narrative of change, ambition, and regional pride.

The work is a reflection on spectatorship, memory, and urban mythmaking—using imagery both past and present to reimagine the city’s evolving identity.

With special thanks to:

Sarah Herda, Irene Sunwoo, Matthew Messner, Jessica Collins

Additional research from Igor Marjanović’s Postcards and the Making of Architectural History

See the related exhibition

Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite
Favorite

Tags:

  • Chicago,
  • Exhibition,
  • IL,
  • and USA

Other projects tagged with Chicago, Exhibition, IL and USA

Xylem Tippet Rise – Francis Kéré

Xylem Tippet Rise – Francis Kéré

Queens Library – Steven Holl

Queens Library – Steven Holl

Pole Dance, MoMa PS1 – So-IL

Pole Dance, MoMa PS1 – So-IL

BAMPFA – Diller Scofidio + Renfro

BAMPFA – Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Loft, New York – UN Studio, Ben van Berkel

Loft, New York – UN Studio, Ben van Berkel

Illinois Institute of Technology panorama, Chicago – OMA, Rem Koolhaas

Illinois Institute of Technology panorama, Chicago – OMA, Rem Koolhaas

Faena Forum Miami – OMA

Faena Forum Miami – OMA

New World Symphony, Miami Florida – Frank O. Gehry

New World Symphony, Miami Florida – Frank O. Gehry

1111 Lincoln Road, Miami – Herzog de Meuron

1111 Lincoln Road, Miami – Herzog de Meuron

Sun Tower Yantai – OPEN Architecture

Sun Tower Yantai – OPEN Architecture

Hansel & Gretel – Herzog & de Meuron – Ai Weiwei

Hansel & Gretel – Herzog & de Meuron – Ai Weiwei

Artfarm Chambers Fine Art, New York – HHF and Ai Weiwei

Artfarm Chambers Fine Art, New York – HHF and Ai Weiwei

  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial: anonymous histories 

Iwan Baan Photography, Rozenstraat 145, 1016 NP Amsterdam, The Netherlands, e-mail: studio@iwan.com — all images © Iwan Baan 1996 - 2025