Making Engineering Visible
Photography and the Politics of Drinking Water in Modern Paris
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4026407 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sean Wei, Sean Weiss (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 739-771 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technology and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tech.2020.0072 |
| PMID | 33416789 |
| OpenAlex | W3083450560 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Visual images shape knowledge, as scholars of visual representation have long argued. Historians of technology stand to benefit from understanding how seemingly objective photographs of colossal engineering works are much more than technical illustrations. With their unmatched legibility and reproducibility, photographs can crucially shape the public's view. Civil engineers were well aware of how photographs could advance their cause. Photographs of infrastructures were part of a political project: the builders of Paris's modern water system harnessed photographs as political tools in the contentious construction of aqueducts bringing drinking water to Paris in the 1860s and 1870s. This article examines how photographs engineered the public's understanding of large water projects and landscape transformation
Art · Civil engineering · Legibility · Photography · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics) · Visual arts · American Environmental and Regional History · Engineering · Historical Art and Culture Studies · History · Law
| Citations per year | 2.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |