Architecture as Infrastructure for Gazing

Architecture plays important and varied roles within the social practices of tourists; in this paper we explore how architecture does more than provide content matter for photography but also affords infrastructure for gazing and performing. We adopt the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia as a case and take a visual methodology approach, using content and thematic analysis of photographs uploaded to the social networking site Yelp.com to understand what visitors to Mona photograph. In studying image-making practices of visitors, the paper contributes knowledge that will provide a deeper understanding of what people photograph when they visit architecture, how these images relate to ‘official’ destination marketing, and how architecture provides frames and platforms for visual practices.