After a fire devastated Notre-Dame in 2019, only three photographers were chosen to document its reconstruction. Among them was Tomas van Houtryve, a 2024-2025 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Over four years, van Houtryve captured the cathedral’s revival using a range of techniques—from the historic collodion process to drone photography—highlighting the moment's historical depth and significance. In this episode, he reflects on how the present and the past intersected throughout the project, his collaborations with fellow photographers and craftspeople, and the journey that led to 36 Views of Notre-Dame, a book and an exhibition now on view at Galerie Miranda in Paris through December 23, 2024.

Tomas van Houtryve is a Paris based artist, photographer and filmmaker whose major works interweave investigative journalism, philosophy and metaphor. Learn more about his work: https://tomasvh.com/

Tomas is a 2024 – 2025 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination. Learn more: https://ideasimagination.columbia.edu/

Visit Tomas’ current Exhibition, on view 31 October – 23 december 2024, “Tomas Van Houtryve + Ellen Carey – Black and white, topographies”:

https://www.galeriemiranda.com/ellen-carey-tomas-van-houtryve-2/ 

Learn more about the book, 36 Views of Notre Dame: https://www.radiusbooks.org/all-books/p/tomas-van-houtryve-36-views-of-notre-dame

Access to the work site was organized in partnership with Rebatir Notre-Dame de Paris and National Geographic.

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Host: Marie Doezema

Production: Marie Doezema and Charlotte Force

Editing: Theo Albaric

Music: Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne performed by Magdalena Baczewska and Sasha He

With thanks to the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Centre in Paris

The Columbia Global Paris Center is part of a network of 11 global centers of Columbia University in the City of New York, one of the world's leading academic institutions. The centers serve as knowledge hubs that aim to educate and inspire through research, dialogue, and action. They advance understanding, facilitate partnerships, and build the bridges necessary to tackle our changing world. The Paris Global Center is part of Columbia Global.

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