The Productive Ambivalence of Construction Site. Photography as Evidence, Archive and Positional Prism

The introduction to the special issue The Productive Ambivalence of Construction Site Photography as Evidence, Archive and Positional Prism, authored by Laurence Heindryckx, Tom Broes, Simon De Nys-Ketels, and Robby Fivez, reflects on the ambivalence of construction site photography — oscillating between document and art — as a lens to understand historical practices, socio-technical processes, and evolving visual methods. As the contributions explore its diverse potential for (re)interpretation, the introduction foregrounds photography’s ambiguity as historical evidence, archive, and prism of positionality, revealing how disciplinary perspectives shape the production of new narratives in construction history.