Iwan Baan: Brasilia-Chandigarh: Living with Modernity

A tale of two city planning projects and their clash with tradition, as captured by the brilliant Dutch photographer

First published by Lars Müller in 2010 and now highly collectible, Brasilia-Chandigarh receives a new printing in a compact format. Dutch photographer Ivan Baan (born 1975) was originally commissioned by the publisher to document two urban planning experiments undertaken in the 1960s: Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer's Brasilia and Le Corbusier's Chandigarh. In both cities, foreign architecture commingled with indigenous culture. This publication addresses how these two cities were transformed into works of modernism, and how the people who live in them acclimated accordingly. Baan's photographs reflect the questions and perspectives of the people who contextualize the spaces that surround us. This compact format includes essays by Cees Nooteboom on Baan's photographs and by Martino Stierli on the architectural and planning history.