“The spaces we traverse daily are spaced by places; their essence is based on things like buildings. If we pay attention to these relationships between place and spaces, between spaces and space, then we gain a foothold from which to meditate on the relationship between man and space” (Martin Heidegger). The Archives of the Planet sought to preserve the image of these kinds of signs. It was urgent to protect the abundant information they contain about how humanity settles on Earth. The main idea, in the words of Albert Kahn himself, was to “fix once and for all the aspects, practices, and modes of human activity whose total disappearance is merely a matter of time.” In this sense, a distinctly elegiac perspective can be observed throughout the archives. On the other hand, human geography, as Kahn and Brunhes understood it, was interested in the dynamics between humankind and its environment, in the activities that allowed people to inhabit and transform space. From this perspective, it was essentially defined as a science of the visible, that is, based on the work of the image. This practice granted substantial importance to the recording of concrete space. Photography was not merely a way to disseminate academic knowledge but the most direct and precise practice of corroborating specific reality: the best way to translate the work of direct observation in the field into images. This is especially true in a world where, thanks to technology, the world itself has been reduced to images. The Archives of the Planet must also be conceived from this perspective.

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