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Home , Aldo Rossi, Architecture of Madrid, Giuseppe Penone, Lauretta Vinciarelli, Lilly Reich, Museum of Grenoble

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Traducciones / Translations

P. 207 Editorial Pedro Ignacio Alonso Arquitectura para los museos P. 209 01. Reto Geiser La vida después de la muestra: y “La formación del arquitecto”. P. 214 02. Patricio Mardones Notes half a century (and several exhibitions) later. P. 217 03. Carlos Mínguez Background: When Architecture Became Art (1975-1977). P. 219 04. Alejandra Celedón Stadium and Museum: A Mapping of Narrative. Impulses. P. 222 05. María Álvarez “The Beautiful Drawing”. Exhibitions and Architectural Education in Spain, 197x-199x. P. 228 06. Iñaki Bergera, Enrique Jerez Exhibited architecture. Artistic transitions on architectural photographic representation. P. 235 07. Aurora Fernández Interventions in the Rijksmuseum: the reinvention of the museum. P. 239 08. Carolina B. García-Estévez … Let us take an excursion around the world! Monument and copy as curatorial practice in the international exhibitions and their museums of collections, 1854-1929. P. 244 09. Rafael Guridi A museum on the moon? The Moon Museum, exhibition space off limits. P. 244 10. Jorge Ramos Jular, Fernando Zaparaín, Pablo Llamazares Blanco Oteiza and Oíza: the Exhibition Space as temporal Perception. P. 254 11. Fernando Moral-Andrés The definition of an urban and global icon. Public-private strategies for the regeneration of the Museum “Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, ”. P. 260 12. Francisco Muñoz About architecture (in the ). Exhibition as a form of research. P. 264 13. Jaime Ramos, Ana Santolaria The museum of innocence: the construction of a story. P. 269 14. Laura Sánchez 3 exhibitions, 2 curators, and 1 museum: John Dinkeloo and Associates through the MoMA, NYC. P. 273 15. Nuria Ortigosa Building the “Archive”. 856 Architecture Exhibitions in Barcelona. RA 21 207

Editorial Rossi como su alter ego, Cézanne conecta lo intuitivo con lo racional: “… aquello que su ojo descubría primero, pero que la razón, de mane- Arquitectura para los museos ra inmediata y espontánea, quería confirmar desde la lógica de una composición, de un proyecto, de una arquitectura”9. Podría decirse, Pedro Ignacio Alonso por lo tanto, que el objetivo de Rossi era el mismo que el de Cézanne con la pintura: faire de l’architecture quelque chose de solide et de durable comme l’art des musées, mediante la eliminación de todos sus elementos efímeros y accesorios para sustituirlos por fórmulas armoniosas y perdurables que satisficieran sus afinidades clásicas. Pero el peso de la eternidad implícita en lo sólido y lo duradero no era todo lo que Cézanne tenía que decir de estas insti- tuciones. Al final de su conversación con Gasquet, afirmaría también que “los museos son cavernas de Platón”10. Casi contradiciendo el ferviente platonismo de Rossi, Cézanne pensaba que además de un escaparate de fórmulas perdurables, los museos son un inmenso repositorio de meras sombras. Y continúa: “Yo mandaría grabar en la puerta: “Prohibida la entrada a los pintores. El sol está fuera”. […]. Después que [el pintor] vuelva a esos cementerios simplemente para descansar y meditar sobre su impotencia y su muerte. […] Los museos son lugares odiosos, apestan a democracia y a colegio”11. Estas declaraciones no provienen de un anciano pintor que pretenda aconsejar a las jóvenes generaciones. En un momento muy tem- Hace ya cincuenta años, propuso la necesi- prano de su carrera, con veinticinco años de edad, “con una salud dad de pensar una arquitectura para los museos, dando una inter- admirable, un corazón y una sangre cálidos y una abundancia de pretación personal a la célebre frase que, según él, pronunciaba Paul ideas”, un día gritó a Huot: “Hay que quemar el ”12. Cézanne desde el ámbito del arte: “Yo pinto solo para los museos”1. Las evidentes omisiones y alteraciones de Rossi nos Para el arquitecto italiano, en esa frase Cézanne se refería sin lugar ofrecen un ejemplo bastante claro del estatus ambivalente que a dudas a un tipo de pintura que seguía un proceso riguroso y que se pueden representar los museos en el arte y la arquitectura, y ponen enmarcaba en la lógica de unas obras cuyas cualidades únicamente de manifiesto conceptos aparentemente opuestos que siguen podían verificarse en el espacio de los museos. vigentes en nuestra época. Por supuesto, los museos de hoy en En el contexto del racionalismo italiano de la época, es día no tienen mucho que ver con los de finales del sigloxix , cuando en los museos donde, de acuerdo con Rossi, puede apreciarse la Cézanne pronunció aquellas palabras. Y la concepción encorsetada formalización más elevada y autónoma de la arquitectura. Según su de Rossi, que no reconoce explícitamente que los museos no son definición, en términos platónicos, la arquitectura crea piezas de mu- espacios neutrales, desdeña el hecho de que en un sentido contem- seo que solo posteriormente serán retomadas por los técnicos para poráneo, al menos en lo referente a la arquitectura, la eternidad solo “transformarlas y adaptarlas a las múltiples funciones y exigencias es alcanzable en la medida en que los museos se han convertido en en que deben ser aplicadas”2. archivos. Este es precisamente el caso de Rossi, cuyas colecciones Dada la fecundidad para la arquitectura de este plan- están guardadas en el Canadian Centre of Architecture (CCA) de teamiento que propone Rossi a partir de la aseveración de Cézanne, Montreal, una institución internacional dedicada a la investigación resulta desalentador que no sea más explícito acerca de la fuente que cuenta con archivo, biblioteca y galería. y el contexto de una afirmación cuyo origen es difícil de determinar. Aun con todo, una parte del debate de Cézanne sigue Podemos encontrar una expresión similar en las conversaciones de viva en la actualidad. Los museos y los archivos, así como las Joachim Gasquet con el pintor, publicadas en 1921, donde puede galerías, las bienales y las trienales, mantienen hoy la autoridad de leerse: “Pero quise hacer del impresionismo algo sólido y duradero decidir qué debe incluirse y qué debe quedarse fuera. La voluntad de como el arte de los museos”3. Michael Doran, sin embargo, explica Cézanne de grabar en las puertas nos remite a esos umbrales, esos que en el libro de Gasquet los diálogos mezclan fragmentos reales puntos por los que, literal y simbólicamente, las obras de arte pueden con otros especulativos, e introducen –aunque imitando una conver- acceder a un exclusivo reino: el tránsito permanente, cuando no la sación fluida– citas de la correspondencia entre Cézanne y Camoin, transacción, que desplaza los objetos desde un exterior a un interior e incluso pasajes de los Recueils de Bernard y extractos de un y los vuelve a llevar desde dentro hacia fuera. El fortalecimiento –o la artículo de 1907 sobre Cézanne redactado por Maurice Denis y pu- difuminación– de estas puertas y líneas divisorias se convierte así en blicado tiempo después en sus Théories 1890-19104. Es precisamen- el locus de un buen número de polémicas actuales. te este último quien, supuestamente, escuchó de Cézanne la frase Es evidente que, así expuestas, puede parecer que “J’ai voulu faire de l’impressionnisme quelque chose de solide et de estas ideas simplifican excesivamente unos procesos más comple- durable comme l’art des Musées»5. Parece que Denis es la única jos e intrincados, pero gracias a ellas podemos discutir acerca de fuente fiable de estas conocidas palabras, aunque pudo haberlas re- algunos temas y ejemplos históricos y contemporáneos que pueden producido a partir de notas6. Podría decirse, entonces, que Gasquet aportar mucho al debate crítico sobre las prácticas arquitectónicas las tomó prestadas para elaborar sus propios diálogos y que quizá, y expositivas que conciben los museos como lugares de trabajo unas décadas más tarde, Rossi las reformuló para incorporarlas a su donde explorar, como espacios donde la obra del arquitecto puede propio discurso arquitectónico. alcanzar su máximo grado de profundidad. El objetivo del presente La fascinación de Rossi hacia Cézanne es compren- número de Ra, Revista de Arquitectura es poner sobre la mesa este sible. Al fin y al cabo, se trata del pintor cuya “pura sensibilidad debate y ampliar sus horizontes. moderna” eliminaría “todos los elementos efímeros y accesorios […] para sustituirlos por fórmulas armoniosas y perdurables que satisficieran sus afinidades clásicas”7. Y gracias a su capacidad de Imagen: Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016. After Belonging: A Triennale In Residence, On Residence and the Ways We Stay in Transit. Comisariada por Lluís Alexandre Casanovas abstracción consigue reducir todas las formas a aquellas que le Blanco, Ignacio González Galán, Carlos Mínguez Carrasco, Alejandra Navarrete Llopis, Mari- resultan comprensibles: la esfera, el cono y el cilindro8. Escogido por na Otero Verzier. (Fotografía Istvan Virag). 208 RA 21

Notas nisme quelque chose de solide “la esfera, el cono y el cilindro”. 01. ROSSI, Aldo, “Architettura et de durable comme l’art des Todas las formas se reducen a per i musei”, en Scritti scelti musées». Traducido al español aquellas que le resultan com- sull’architettura e la città 1956- por Carlos Manzano como Cé- prensibles”. 1972, Milán: CLUP, 1975, p. 337: zanne: lo que vi y lo que me dijo, “E ancora potremmo avere per 2005, : Gadir, p. 177. 09. DENIS, Théories, op. cit., divisa la celebre frase di Cézan- p. 242: “…que son œil découvrait ne, “io dipingo solo per i musei”. 04. DORAN, P. M. (ed.), Conver- d’abord mais que sa raison Con questa frase Cézanne, in sations avec Cézanne, 2006, voulait aussitôt et spontané- modo chiarissimo, dichiara la París: Macula D.L., p. 166 y ss. ment appuyer sur le support necessità di una pittura che Traducido al español por Pablo logique d’une composition, d’un prosegue un suo sviluppo logico Ariel Ires como Conversacio- plan, d’une architecture”. rigoroso e che si pone all’interno nes con Cézanne, 1978 (2016), della logica della pittura che, Buenos Aires: Editorial Cactus, 10. GASQUET, Cézanne, op. cit., appunto, viene verificata nei p. 186. p. 124: “Les musées sont des musei […] L’architettura, nata cavernes de Platon. Sur la porte dalla necessità, è ora autono- 05. DENIS, Maurice, Théo- je ferai graver: “ Défense aux ma; nella sua forma più elevata ries 1890-1910, 1913, París: peintres d’entrer. Il y a le soleil essa crea dei pezzi da Museo Bibliothèque de l’Occident, dehors. “ Un peintre commen- a cui si rifaranno i tecnici per p. 242: “J’ai voulu faire de ce à peindre, ce qui s’appelle trasformarli e adattarli alle mol- l’impressionnisme quelque peindre, a quarante ans, un teplici funzioni e esigenze a cui chose de solide et de durable peintre de nos jours. Les autres, devono essere applicati. Cosi comme l’art des Musées”. a cet âge, lorsqu’il n’y avait pas dobbiamo educarci sull’analisi de musée, avaient presque dei caratteri costitutivi di un 06. DORAN (ed.), Conversa- achevé leur œuvre. Un peintre progetto; ed è questo che deve tions avec Cézanne, op. cit., aujourd’hui ne sait rien. Jusqu’à proporsi un corso di teoria della p. 216. En la versión española, quarante ans, oui, qu’il fréquente progettazione”. Traducido al p. 186. les musées, je le lui ordonne. español por Francesc Serra i Après qu’il retourne dans ces Cantarell como “Arquitectura 07. DENIS, Maurice, Théories, cimetières simplement pour para los museos” (1968), en Para op. cit., p. 240: “Aux deux épo- s’y reposer et y méditer sur son una arquitectura de tendencia: ques, Cézanne joue le rôle de impuissance et sur sa mort…Les escritos 1956-1972, Barcelona: réactif, il précipite les éléments musées sont des lieux odieux. Gustavo Gili, 1977, p. 209 y ss.: éphémères, accessoires et de Ils puent la démocratie et le “[Y] también podemos adoptar pure sensibilité de l’art moderne collège”. Traducido al español como divisa la célebre frase de et il transforme en harmo- por Carlos Manzano, op. cit.: Cézanne: “Yo pinto sólo para los nieuses et durables formules “Los museos son cavernas de museos”. Con esta frase, Cézan- ceux de ces éléments qui sa- Platón. Yo mandaría grabar ne, de una manera muy clara, tisfont ses affinités classiques”. en la puerta: “Prohibida la declara la necesidad de una “En ambas épocas, Cézanne entrada a los pintores. El sol pintura que sigue un desarrollo actúa de reactivo: precipita los está fuera”. Un pintor comienza lógico riguroso y que se sitúa elementos efímeros, acceso- a pintar, lo que se dice pintar, a dentro de la lógica de la pintura rios y de pura sensibilidad del los cuarenta años, un pintor de que precisamente se verifica arte moderno y transforma en nuestros días. Los otros, cuando en los museos. […] La arquitec- fórmulas armoniosas y perdura- no había museos, a esa edad, tura, nacida de la necesidad, bles los de aquellos elementos ya casi habían acabado su obra. actualmente es autónoma; en su que satisfacen sus afinidades Un pintor de hoy no sabe nada. forma más elevada, crea piezas clásicas”. Hasta los cuarenta años, sí, de museo a las que los técnicos que frecuente los museos, se lo se referirán, para transformar- 08. DENIS, Théories, op. cit., ordeno. Después que vuelva a las y adaptarlas a las múltiples p. 249: “Toute sa faculté esos cementerios simplemente funciones y exigencias en que d’abstraction - et l’on voit ici à para descansar y meditar sobre deben ser aplicadas. De esta quel point le peintre l’emporte su impotencia y su muerte… Los manera hemos de educarnos en lui sur le théoricien - toute sa museos son lugares odiosos. en el análisis de los caracteres faculté d’abstraction va jusqu’à Apestan a democracia y a constitutivos de un proyecto; ne distinguer de formes nota- colegio”, p. 242. y es esto lo que debe propo- bles que “la sphère, le cône et le nerse: un curso de teoría de la cylindre”. Toutes les formes se 11. Ibid. proyectación”. ramènent à celles-là seulement qu’il est capable de penser”. 12. GASQUET, Cézanne, op. cit., 02. Ibid., p. 210. “Gracias a su capacidad de p. 29. Traducido al español por abstracción –y aquí podemos Carlos Manzano, op. cit., p. 55. 03. GASQUET, Joachim, Cé- ver hasta qué punto en Cézanne zanne, 1921, París: Les Éditions el pintor prevalece sobre el Bernheim-Jeune, p. 90: «Mais teórico– consigue no apreciar j’ai voulu faire de l’impression- más formas reconocibles que 209 RA 21 209

01 dirigen la mirada a las particularidades de las exposiciones o de sus formatos relacionados y a su potencial para redefinir el concepto de La vida después de la la arquitectura y la ciudad contemporánea que tiene el gran público2. Más allá de la oportunidad que supone una exposición muestra: John Hejduk y “La para mostrar la arquitectura a una audiencia más amplia, los museos y galerías se han convertido en influyentes plataformas desde las formación del arquitecto” que discutir, explorar y divulgar las aspiraciones básicas de esta disciplina, sobre todo gracias al aumento exponencial de las publi- Reto Geiser caciones de sus catálogos, que acompañan a la muestra museística y que a la postre suelen constituir los restos más efectivos (si no los únicos) de la exposición. Contrariamente a los catálogos tradicio- Mientras que el estatus de la exposición arquitectónica vive nales, que proporcionaban un simple listado con las imágenes de una segunda juventud en el ámbito museístico por tratarse de los objetos exhibidos, estos libros pormenorizan las intenciones de un conjunto específico de prácticas distintas a otras formas de los comisarios y enmarcan el proyecto en un discurso más amplio organización y exhibición, los arquitectos apenas dirigen la mira- sobre esta profesión. De hecho, se han convertido en un elemento da a las particularidades de las exposiciones o de sus formatos indispensable, ya que ofrecen al lector un contexto más detallado, relacionados y a su potencial para redefinir el concepto de la dejan hablar a otras voces y, algo muy importante, impulsan el arquitectura que tiene el gran público. Más allá de la oportunidad pensamiento crítico sobre la arquitectura más allá de los límites que supone una exposición para mostrar la arquitectura a una físicos y temporales de la exposición3. Volúmenes como los de 1932 audiencia más amplia, los museos y galerías se han convertido en de y Henry-Russell Hitchcock, El estilo internacional influyentes plataformas desde las que discutir, explorar y divulgar (no confundir con el verdadero catálogo de la exposición, Modern las aspiraciones básicas de esta disciplina, sobre todo gracias al aumento exponencial de las publicaciones de sus catálogos. Architecture International Exhibition, publicado ese mismo año) o Este texto se centra en una exposición pequeña, sobre la que se el de Emilio Ambasz de 1972, : The New Domestic , ha hablado mucho, celebrada en el Museo de Arte Moderno de reivindican una existencia propia, independiente de la exposición a la Nueva York (MoMA). Organizada por el arquitecto John Hejduk, que acompañaron. la exposición número 984 “Education of an ” (1971) [“La La exposición 984 “Education of an Architect”, inaugu- formación del arquitecto”] presentaba trabajos de los estudian- rada en el MoMA de Nueva York en noviembre de 1971, causó cierto tes de la . Aunque la repercusión de esta muestra, revuelo (fig. 02). Nunca antes (y nunca después) habían recibido que consistía en catorce maquetas y una selección de dibujos y los trabajos de una única escuela de Arquitectura tal deferencia por collages, se limitó a un público local, el libro que la acompañaba parte del museo más influyente de arte y arquitectura modernos. acabaría convirtiéndose en una obra clave de referencia para los La muestra se exhibió en la Auditorium Gallery, una sala relativa- profesores de arquitectura de todo el planeta. Education of an mente pequeña, y consistía en catorce maquetas y una selección Architect: A Point of View (1971) fue el germen de un buen número de dibujos y collages. Aunque se dirigía a un público local, el libro de publicaciones sobre aspectos pedagógicos y, por ende, avivó el debate y generó nuevos planteamientos docentes para los cursos que la acompañaba acabaría convirtiéndose en una obra clave de básicos de diseño arquitectónico. referencia para los profesores de arquitectura de todo el planeta y su repercusión fue mucho más duradera. Education of an Architect: A Point of View [La formación del arquitecto: un punto de vista] (1971) fue el germen de un buen número de publicaciones sobre aspectos pedagógicos y, por ende, avivó el debate y generó nuevos plantea- mientos docentes para los cursos básicos de diseño arquitectóni- co4 (fig. 03). Este texto, recopilado por el profesor y arquitecto en ejercicio John Quentin Hejduk (1929-2000), no puede considerarse ni un manual con reglas precisas ni una obra de referencia sobre estándares, como la publicada por Ernst Neufert en los tiempos de la unificación cultural (Gleichschaltung) y mucho menos un libro de texto con materiales independientes de las propias inclinaciones personales o procesos creativos que son tan difíciles de cuantificar5. Al contrario, Hejduk propone distintas posibilidades, no soluciones fijas a problemas de diseño: “No nos enseñaba lo que “sabía”, sino más bien lo que él mismo estaba descubriendo en ese momento”6. De manera no muy diferente a una exposición, este enigmático libro da forma al intento visual de una nueva peda- Las exposiciones arquitectónicas han jugado un papel gogía arquitectónica. Su objetivo es difuminar los límites entre la esencial a la hora de ampliar los límites de la arquitectura y profun- enseñanza del diseño como una exhortación a actuar (al estilo de dizar en su relación con cuestiones sociales, políticas y económicas las publicaciones educativas del siglo xix) y una teoría del diseño, del mundo contemporáneo. Con frecuencia, se han aprovechado las vinculada principalmente a la reflexión crítica (tan habitual en los dificultades y formatos propios de la exposición de esta disciplina primeros manifiestos modernos). La Education of an Architect de (ya se trate de arquitectura construida o no) para identificar y dar John Hejduk está definida por un enfoque metódico y sistemático a conocer problemas acuciantes, como pueden ser las exigencias que, sin embargo, no es inflexible. El libro posibilita variadas inter- culturales de igualdad y justicia social, laboral, de raza, clase y estilo pretaciones sobre el sistema docente de Hejduk, donde la teoría se de vida en relación con ciertas cualidades espaciales, entre las que adquiere mediante la práctica y no al revés. Del mismo modo que las destacan la densidad, el nivel de vida, las infraestructuras, el clima y tesis de Hejduk no pueden llegar a comprenderse mediante su obra la sostenibilidad1. Sin embargo, mientras que el estatus de la exposi- construida o sus escritos, sus argumentos pedagógicos se expresan ción arquitectónica vive una segunda juventud en el ámbito museísti- fundamentalmente a través del dibujo. co por tratarse de un conjunto específico de prácticas distintas a Pero a diferencia de la exposición, que suponía hacer otras formas de organización y exhibición, los arquitectos apenas llegar la pedagogía de Hejduk a un público más amplio, el libro se 210 RA 21 210

dirigía a los estudiantes de Arquitectura, y específicamente a los máticas de la vivienda ideal”, donde acomodaba la metodología de defensores de la Cooper Union, tan conservadores, que eran de los su profesor al periodo moderno conciliando dos campos que solían pocos capaces de comprender el sentido de unos gráficos reduci- permanecer inconexos: la historia del arte y la teoría arquitectó- dos a su mínima expresión sin ayuda de leyendas ni explicaciones. nica contemporánea9. Comparando ciertos proyectos de Andrea Sin embargo, gracias a estas ilustraciones y en contraste con los Palladio con las primeras viviendas de , Rowe se típicos manuales de diseño, el libro también atrajo a un conjunto liberó de los imperativos de la objetividad historicista y apuntaló un mucho más extenso de aficionados a la arquitectura y arquitectos duradero interés por la arquitectura moderna. En su prolífico ensayo en ejercicio. La voluntad de dar a conocer al público el trabajo de los “Manierismo y arquitectura moderna”, argüía que incorporar a la estudiantes se refleja en el generoso formato del libro ilustrado, que forma arquitectónica un significado conceptual podía considerarse es muy poco práctico para ser un libro de texto, y en la presentación el logro más reseñable de la arquitectura moderna y lo veía no solo de las obras en el MoMA. como una condición previa de diseño, sino como una verdadera Las tesis de Hejduk eran (y todavía son) difíciles de epistemología10. Gracias a sus reflexiones sobre la forma en cuanto entender para muchos y, aun con todo, resultaban extremadamente vía esencial de conocimiento, Rowe fundamentó la importancia del provocativas. En su propia obra y en los proyectos de sus alum- análisis formal en el discurso arquitectónico y estableció un punto nos logra dar respuesta a algunas contradicciones en apariencia de encuentro entre los historiadores especializados y los arquitectos irreconciliables. Alcanza un punto de compromiso entre el dadaísmo en ejercicio, que estaban ansiosos por comprender y transformar el y Beaux-Arts, entre la integración cultural y la absoluta autonomía, legado de la arquitectura moderna11. entre la teoría y la práctica. Las reacciones de los críticos al libro y a Mientras se intensificaba el rechazo al carácter dog- la exposición evidencian el carácter desafiante de su trabajo, tanto mático del movimiento moderno y, en particular, de organizaciones del punto de vista de la pedagogía como de la arquitectura. Desde como los Congresos Internacionales de Arquitectura Moderna Architectural Forum, cuyo crítico anónimo percibía una “exquisita (CIAM), la metodología de Rowe encontró un terreno fértil en los recuperación de Beaux-Arts” hasta la eminente crítica Ada Louise Estados Unidos, y alimentó el interés de los estudiantes de Arquitec- Huxtable, quien calificaba la metodología docente de Hejduk de tura por reanudar el impulso de los primeros años del movimiento “camisa de fuerza formalista”, la exposición generó las más diversas moderno en Europa. El vacío pedagógico de la Universidad de , interpretaciones7. Una década después, la ironía de Tom Wolfe en el estado de Austin, que había contratado a Rowe como ayudante condensó tal pluralidad de opiniones en su obra crítica ¿Quién teme de proyectos en 1953, resultaría ser el lugar perfecto para materiali- al feroz? (1981), donde describía la obra de Hejduk como zar por primera vez en el plan de estudios de una escuela de Arqui- “un barco “Corbu” embutido, contra todo pronóstico, en una botella tectura la ansiada cohesión entre teoría y práctica12. El arquitecto “Bellas Artes””8. suizo Bernhard Hoesli (1923-1984) se había unido a la universidad Formado como arquitecto en la Cooper Union entre tres años antes y el decano de la escuela, Harwell Hamilton Harris, 1947 y 1950, John Hejduk pertenece a la primera generación de contrató a otros cuatro jóvenes profesores después de a Rowe. arquitectos de la posguerra de los Estados Unidos, instruidos bajo Entre ellos se encontraban los artistas Lee Hirsche y Robert Slutzky la batuta de profesores que todavía se habían educado en el ubicuo y los arquitectos Kenneth Nuhn y John Hejduk. Hejduk describiría sistema de Beaux-Arts. Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, más tarde: “Fuimos a parar allí un grupo de personas sin ningún plan Walter Gropius o Le Corbusier fueron, para muchos arquitectos preestablecido. Paradójicamente, todo dependía de la química entre graduados tras el conflicto, el primer contacto con la arquitectura diferentes individuos, algo que es impredecible”13. Durante aquella moderna, así que los exponentes del estilo internacional abogaban época en Austin, el grupo de arquitectos, artistas y críticos (que más por unas características formales acordes con esta situación. La tarde serían conocidos como “los rangers de Texas”) se convirtió en metodología de diseño de Hejduk, basada en la clásica retícula de un equipo muy unido, cuyo futuro profesional estaba íntimamente los nueve cuadrados, podía parecer en un primer momento bastante vinculado a la formación de arquitectos (fig. 05). Idearon un nuevo anacrónica (fig. 04), pero si tenemos en cuenta que muchas escue- plan de estudios con el objetivo de enseñar a los alumnos procesos las de Arquitectura todavía preconizaban el eclecticismo estilístico de diseño que ya no perseguían un resultado específico. Los docen- propio del siglo xix, la preocupación por los fundamentos de las re- tes proporcionaban un marco rígido y unas estructuras sólidas, pero glas de proporción clásicas no resulta tan sorprendente. Los análisis los estudiantes debían, a su vez, comprender individualmente en qué básicos del orden y el tipo y su relación con la arquitectura moderna, consistía la arquitectura y reflexionar con espíritu crítico por medio sin embargo, no deben atribuirse a Hejduk. El renovado interés por de su propio trabajo14. las referencias históricas en la arquitectura debe contextualizarse El experimento de Austin duró tan solo dos años. Tras en el discurso arquitectónico europeo de los primeros años después pasar por la Cooper Union y la Universidad de Cornell, Rowe regresó de la guerra, ya que, si bien es cierto que Hejduk respetaba los prin- por un tiempo al Reino Unido antes de instalarse en Ithaca en 1962. cipios pedagógicos fundamentales de la Bauhaus, también formaba Hejduk y Slutzky se asentaron en la Cooper Union de Nueva York, parte de una nueva generación de arquitectos que no creía en la donde contaban con un buen número de seguidores. Hoesli fue simple amalgama de arte y tecnología, o una unión entre la expresión contratado por el ETH Zürich en 1958, donde organizaba multitud de simbólica y el pretexto funcional, pero tampoco estaba interesada ejercicios en el curso de iniciación. Incluso después de la disolución en revivir los principios históricos del diseño. del grupo, el trabajo y la pedagogía de los rangers se caracterizaba Las reflexiones de Hejduk, y en consecuencia su enfo- por la búsqueda de una interiorización independiente del proceso que pedagógico, recuerdan inevitablemente el discurso arquitectó- de diseño que no se podía adoptar de manera mecánica, y muchas nico angloamericano de los primeros años de posguerra. En Gran escuelas de Arquitectura de americanas y europeas terminaron Bretaña, una generación de arquitectos emergentes se oponía con asumiendo planteamientos similares. duras críticas al legado moderno. Como resultado de lo que llegó a Pero a pesar del carisma personal de cada uno de percibirse como una crisis interna de la disciplina, sus defensores estos arquitectos, la amplísima difusión de sus propuestas no habría se propusieron reintroducir en el discurso el aspecto histórico e resultado posible de no ser por unas cuantas exposiciones y publica- interconectar la historia crítica del arte con la práctica del diseño. ciones. Ya de vuelta en Texas, Rowe, Slutzky y Hejduk comenzaron a El precursor de esta idea fue (1920-1999), arquitecto de poner por escrito algunas de sus observaciones e ideas en diversos origen británico, crítico, profesor y compañero de Hejduk durante ensayos que publicaron en prestigiosas revistas de arquitectura. un tiempo. Rowe seguía los pasos de su profesor Rudolf Wittkower “Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal”, firmado por Rowe y Slutzky (1901-1971) y, siendo aún estudiante, redactó el ensayo “Las mate- en 1955, se publicó en 1963 en Perspecta, y posteriormente fue RA 21 211

traducido al alemán por Hoesli. Este artículo no solo se convertiría que este manifiesto pedagógico y visual no ofrezca ninguna regla en un texto vertebrador de las escuelas influidas por los rangers: a ni instrucción cuantificable, pero, gracias a siete líneas temáticas día de hoy se trata de un claro ejemplo de imbricación productiva ilustradas con proyectos y completadas con un buen número de entre teoría, práctica e historia de la arquitectura. Paralelamente, el proyectos finales, consigue transmitir cómo la Cooper Union inter- Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS) de Nueva York, pretaba la formación arquitectónica. En palabras de Ulrich Franzen: fundado en 1976 como la institución de referencia de la teoría de la “No es muy común encontrarse con un libro que recoja el trabajo arquitectura de los Estados Unidos, podía considerarse “un centro de una escuela de Arquitectura, pero es una gran oportunidad para a medio camino entre una escuela y una oficina”15. El IAUS sirvió de presentar un programa claro que muestra los resultados prácticos retiro intelectual para algunos de los protagonistas de la Escuela de conseguidos por los estudiantes a lo largo de una década que, Texas a los que proporcionaba una buena capacidad de difusión tanto en la universidad como en la sociedad en general, se ha visto para sus exposiciones, discursos y publicaciones16 (fig. 06). A su vez, afectada por la agitación y el desconcierto. De este modo, define la escuela de Arquitectura de la Cooper Union ofrecía inicialmente con nitidez un posicionamiento que se opone a otros programas a los arquitectos asociados al IAUS (dirigido por el arquitecto Peter académicos y a las frustradas ambiciones de muchos jóvenes Eisenman, antiguo alumno de Rowe), un entorno donde poner a arquitectos de otras escuelas”21. prueba sus ideas también en un contexto docente. Hejduk entendía Con unas sorprendentes dimensiones de 30 x 30 que el ejercicio profesional y la pedagogía eran dos esferas com- centímetros, una extensión de 324 páginas y 2,5 kilogramos de plementarias, pero en lugar de establecer unas directrices rígidas, peso, impreso en un grueso papel satinado y con una tirada de describía su propio planteamiento docente como “osmótico”17. apenas 500 ejemplares, no puede decirse que la primera edición Recurrir a una metodología, basada en la simplicidad y rigidez de de Education of an Architect fuera una obra manejable y destinada un marco preestablecido dentro del cual los estudiantes eran libres a un elevado número de futuros arquitectos. Sin embargo, el sobrio de experimentar y diseñar, era una consecuencia indudable de los diseño y la lujosa manufactura del libro, diseñado por Roger Canon, avances pedagógicos de la Escuela de Texas, e incluso en la versión eran muy elocuentes. El formato cuadrado refleja la importancia alterada de la Cooper Union se apreciaba la firma de Rowe, quien se de contar con un terreno de juego neutral en la metodología de mostraba crítico respecto de la conformación y los objetivos insti- Hejduk, con el problema de los nueve cuadrados y la malla cúbica tucionales. En un simposio del IAUS organizado por Eisenman para (fig. 10). La generosa maquetación, a base de amplios espacios en complementar la exposición del MoMA, afirmó: “No creo que sea blanco, líneas claras y una tipografía muy sencilla, se arraiga decidi- bueno investigar demasiado, porque ¿cómo pude un estudiante lle- damente en la tradición moderna. La cubierta verde esmeralda con var a cabo una investigación antes de que le transmitan lo que ya se las fechas clave de la exposición resaltadas en color dorado y con sabe? También estoy convencido de que, por lo general, una vez que letras mayúsculas, así como la breve introducción de Ulrich Fran- algo es enseñable y puede especificarse y codificarse, aprenderlo zen, parecen indicar a primera vista que se trata del catálogo de la deja de tener sentido. Por estos motivos, tengo una gran confianza exposición y apenas dan indicios de que en realidad el libro es una en las virtudes de la confusión y la espontaneidad”18. En consecuen- propuesta de sistema pedagógico en el que “la estética visual de la cia, el plan de estudios de la Cooper Union planteaba un proceso arquitectura” predomina sobre los “planteamientos pragmáticos y continuo de asimilación del método y práctica. Pero por mucho que técnicos”22. Hejduk subrayara la libertad de su enfoque pedagógico, un vistazo En el prefacio de Education of an Architect, el arqui- a la exposición de la escuela y especialmente a sus publicaciones tecto Ulrich Franzen escribe que “solo el tiempo podrá juzgar la deja claro que los proyectos presentados bajo su decanato se fueron repercusión de este libro y de sus propuestas, pero debemos dar haciendo cada vez más homogéneos en términos de vocabulario la bienvenida a un movimiento que se adentra donde otros temen formal y representación gráfica. ir, ya que abre camino al futuro”23. Sin lugar a dudas, este libro, con- Esta crítica también puede observarse en las reaccio- secuencia de la exposición, contribuyó a que el público conociera nes a la exposición del MoMA y al libro correspondiente. Ada Louise mejor la Cooper Union y difundió los principios pedagógicos defen- Huxtable alababa los trabajos por ser “espectaculares […], elegantes, didos por Hejduk. La publicación es un listado de conceptos sobre plásticos”, pero también los calificaba de “totalmente desvincula- problemas de diseño, y como tal ha ejercido una gran influencia dos del mundo que los rodea”19. Comprendía que los trabajos de la en la formación arquitectónica mucho más allá de los muros de la escuela representaban una “contrarrevolución” frente a los sistemas Cooper Union (fig. 11). Lo que comenzó siendo una muestra tempo- educativos predominantes. Esta idea era compartida con Eisemnan, ral y sin grandes pretensiones del trabajo de los estudiantes en las para quien la Cooper Union era “la academia fuera de la academia, instalaciones del MoMA se convirtió en una longeva contribución una especie de claustro fuera de un claustro”20. Es precisamente a la pedagogía arquitectónica gracias al éxito del libro homónimo este posicionamiento como escuela fuera de las convenciones y a un elevado número de iniciativas docentes derivadas de sus académicas con una pedagogía basada en una continua desestabi- postulados. Tanto la exposición como el libro dejan meridiana- lización de la disciplina el que dio forma tanto a la exposición como a mente claro que la pedagogía arquitectónica se encuentra en la publicación tituladas Education of an Architect (fig. 07). constante evolución, al igual que las presentaciones públicas en los La exposición sobre arquitectura en una de las ins- distintos medios. La labor de Hejduk es un ejemplo de cómo puede tituciones artísticas más importantes del mundo no era solo una aprovecharse la capacidad que tienen las exposiciones y las publi- presentación de los trabajos de algunos estudiantes de una escuela caciones de conectar con el público para proponer nuevas ideas, de Arquitectura. Junto al libro, señalaba el final de la primera década articular y definir posturas, contribuir al discurso crítico y provocar con Hejduk como decano de la escuela y anunciaba un nuevo cambios perdurables en la disciplina artística. comienzo, caracterizado por incorporar influencias de otras disci- plinas y un enfoque más crítico respecto del legado del movimiento moderno. El subtítulo del libro, A Point of View [un punto de vista] incide en que no se trata de una simple recopilación de proyectos. En oposición al carácter ecléctico de muchas publicaciones surgidas de las escuelas de Arquitectura, el libro de Hejduk se caracteriza por una precisa selección y organización temática de los trabajos de los estudiantes para representar el conjunto de idiosincrasias y carac- terísticas de los ideales de la Cooper Union (figs. 08 y 09). Puede 212 RA 21

Reto Geiser Notas yectar en arquitectura, 2006, La investigación académica de Reto Geiser se centra en la 01. A lo largo del pasado curso Barcelona: Gustavo Gili. arquitectura moderna y en la confluencia entre la arquitectura, académico, el autor impartió la pedagogía y los medios de comunicación. Geiser ha impartido una clase de máster y un 06. CARAGONNE, Alexander, clases en EE. UU. y Europa, y actualmente es profesor asociado seminario sobre “El espacio The Texas Rangers: Notes de Arquitectura y director de estudios de grado en la Escuela de expositivo” en la Universidad from an Architectural Under- Arquitectura de la Universidad Rice de , donde enseña de Rice y en la Universidad de gound, Cambridge: The MIT historia, teoría y diseño. Es autor de Giedion and America: Reposi- Houston en colaboración con Press, p. 192. tioning the History of (2018), un estudio que Michael Kubo. Las reflexiones aborda algunos aspectos de la transferencia cultural y el diálogo sobre estos cursos se publica- 07. “Es maravilloso contemplar entre ambos lados del Atlántico en la obra del historiador de arte rán en otoño de 2019. esta exquisita recuperación suizo Sigfried Gideon. También es coautor de Reading Revolu- de Beaux-Arts”, Architectural tionaries (2014) y editor de los premiados House is a House is a 02. Véase, por ejemplo, Review, diciembre de 1971, House is a House is a House (2016) y Explorations in Architecture DAVIDSON, Cynthia, (ed.), Log, reimpreso en Education of an (2008). Ha comisariado la exposición Explorations: Teaching, No. 20, Curating Architecture Architect, 1999, Nueva York: Design, Research, que formaba parte de la contribución oficial de (otoño 2010); VAN GAMEREN, Monacelli, p. 11. “El riesgo de Suiza a la XI Bienal de Arquitectura de Venecia, y la instalación Dick (ed.), DASH 9: Woningbo este método radica en que Rooms for Books para la Bienal de Arquitectura de de uwtentoonstellingen=Housing un programa definido tan 2017. Es socio fundador del estudio de diseño MG&Co, con sede Exhibitions, 2013, : inexorablemente y con unas en Houston, donde da forma a estrategias espaciales de muy NAi 010; ARRHENIUS, Thordis restricciones teóricas tan rígi- diversas escalas, desde el libro a la vivienda. (ed.), Place and Displacement: damente ininteligibles pueden Exhibiting Architecture, 2014, convertirse en una auténtica Zúrich: Lars Müller Publishers; camisa de fuerza formalista y PELKONEN, Eeva-Liisa y no producir más que objetos CHAN, Carson, (eds.), Exhibi- para Tiffany. En teoría, una ting Architecture: A Paradox?, vez que el alumno lo domina, 2015, New Haven: Yale School debería poder enfrentarse a of Architecture; RYAN, Zoë, cualquier obstáculo”, HUX- (ed.), As Seen: Exhibitions That TABLE, Ada Louise, “Cooper Made Architecture and Design Union Projects Vary Architec- History, 2017, Chicago y New ture Show”, en The Haven: Times, 13 de noviembre de y Yale University Press; PE- 1971, p. 24. LKONEN, Eeva-Liisa, Exhibit A: Exhibitions That Transformed 08. WOLFE, Tom, From Architecture 1948–2000, Bauhaus to Our House, 2009, 2018, Londres: Phaidon Press; Nueva York: Picador, p. 94. Tra- ABASCAL, Isabel, y BALLES- ducido al español por Antonio TEROS, Mario, (eds.), Exposed Prometeo Moya como ¿Quién Architecture: Exhibitions, teme al Bauhaus feroz?: el ar- Interludes and Essays, 2018, quitecto como mandarín, 1988, Zúrich: Park Books. Barcelona: Anagrama, p. 123.

03. RYAN, As Seen: Exhibitions 09. Véase WITTKOWER, That Made Architecture and Rudolf, Architectural Principles Design History, op. cit., p. 30. in the Age of Humanism, 1949, Londres: Warburg Institute, 04. Por ejemplo: ANGÉLIL, University of , tradu- Marc, Inchoate: An Experiment cido al español por Adolfo in Architectural Education, Gómez Cedillo como Los 2003, Zúrich/Barcelona: Actar; fundamentos de la arquitectu- ANGÉLIL, Marc, y HEBEL, ra en la edad del humanismo, Dirk, (eds.), Deviations, 2008, 1995, Madrid: Alianza; ROWE, Basilea: Birkhäuser; GEISER, Colin, The Mathematics of the Reto, (ed.), Explorations in Ideal Villa and Other Essays, Architecture: Teaching, De- 1976, Cambridge: The MIT sign, Research, 2008, Basilea: Press, traducido al español Birkhäuser; DIETZ, Dieter, (ed.), por Francesc Parcerisas como All About Space, 2016, Zúrich: Manierismo y arquitectura mo- Park Books. derna y otros ensayos, 1980, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili. 05. NEUFERT, Ernst, Bauent- wurfslehre, 1936, Berlín: Ulls- 10. ROWE, Colin, “Mannerism tein. Traducido al español por and Modern Architecture” en Lola Benítez-Heinrich y Jordi Architectural Review, 1950, tra- Siguán como El arte de pro- ducido al español por Francesc RA 21 213

Parcerisas como “Manierismo 17. HEJDUK, John, y SHAPIRO, Imágenes 11. Segunda edición de Edu- y arquitectura moderna” en David, “John Hejduk or the 01. Education of an Architect, cation of an Architect: A Point Manierismo y arquitectura Architect who Drew Angels”, catálogo de la exposición, Mu- of View. The Cooper Union moderna y otros ensayos, op. en A+U, n. 244, enero de 1991, seo de Arte Moderno (MoMA), School of Art & Architectu- cit. Véase también DEAMER, p. 59. Nueva York, 1971. re, 1964–1971, editado por Peggy, “Structuring Surfaces: Kim Shkapich y publicado The Legacy of the Whites” en 18. Registro de la exposición 02. “Education of an Architect: por Rizzoli en 1999. El largo Perspecta, vol. 32, Resurfacing del Museum of , A Point of View”, Museo de subtítulo alude al papel que , 2001, pp. 90–99. 984.4. Archivo del Museum of Arte Moderno (MoMA), Nueva desempeñaba el libro para la Modern Art, Nueva York. York, de noviembre 1971 a reafirmación de la identidad de 11. Véase también COLMAN, enero de 1972, vista de la la Cooper Union. Scott, “Rowe’s Mannerist 19. HUXTABLE, “Cooper Union exposición. Education of an Constitution” en LEACH, Projects Vary Architecture Architect, 1999, p. 12. Andrew, y STIERLI, Martino, Show”, op. cit., p. 24. (coord.), “Accounting for 03. HEJDUK, John Q., John Mannerism in 20th-Century 20. http://radical-pedagogies. Hejduk: 7 Houses [12 IAUS], Architectural Culture”, Society com/search-cases/a16- 1980, Cambridge: MIT Press. of Architectural Historians cooper-union-school-archi- 69th Annual International tecture/ [último acceso el 04. HEJDUK, John, y Conference, Pasadena, Los 20.3.2019]. SLUTZKY, Robert, “The Ángeles, 6-10 de abril de 2016. Nine-Square Problem”, 1971, 21. FRANZEN, Ulrich, en Education of an Architect, 12. Gran parte de las reflexio- “Introduction”, en HEJDUK, 1999, p. 73. nes sobre los avances pedagó- John, (ed.), Education of an gicos de los “rangers de Texas” Architect: A Point of View, 1971, 05. Universidad de Texas, se basan en una obra de Nueva York: The Cooper Union EE. UU, facultad de Arquitectu- Alexander CARAGONNE, con for the Advancement of Scien- ra, 1954-1955 con los “rangers todo lujo de detalles aunque ce and Art/MoMA, p. 7. de Texas”: Hirsche, Hejduk, en ocasiones ligeramente Slutzky, Rowe y Hoesli (gta hagiográfica, titulada The 22. SLUTZKY, Robert, “Intro- Archives, ETH Zürich). Texas Rangers: Notes from an duction to Cooper Union: A Architectural Underground, Pedagogy of Form”, en: Lotus 06. HEJDUK, John, Vivienda 1, 1995, Cambridge: MIT Press. International (1980:2), p. 86. 1954-1955, tal como se mostró en el Institute for Architecture 13. John Hejduk, entrevista 23. FRANZEN, Ulrich, “Intro- and Urban Studies (IAUS) de de 1986 reproducida en duction”, en: HEJDUK, Educa- Nueva York del 22 de enero al CARAGONNE, Alexander, The tion of an Architect: A Point of 16 de febrero de 1980. Extraído Texas Rangers: Notes from an View, op. cit., p. 5. de HEJDUK, John Hejduk: 7 Architectural Undergound, op. Houses, op. cit. cit., p. x. 07. Education of an Architect, 14. ROWE, Colin, “Architectural catálogo de la exposición, Education in the USA”, en Lotus 1971, Nueva York: Museum of International, n. 27, 1980, Nueva Modern Art. York: Rizzoli, p. 43. 08. SLUTZKY, Robert, “Two- 15. Para más información acer- Dimensional/Color Exercises”, ca del IAUS, véase: FÖRSTER, 1971, en Education of an Archi- Kim, The Institute for Architec- tect, 1999, p. 73. ture and Urban Studies (New York, 1965–1985). Networks 09. “The Problem” of Cultural Production, 2019, (Michael Dolinski, Gris House), Zúrich: gta Verlag/CCA (en 1971, en Education of an Archi- prensa). tect, 1999, p. 229.

16. EISENMAN, Peter, “Memo 10. “The Cube Problem” to the Board of Trustees. Re: (Diplomprojekt, Kenneth A. Definition of the Institute: The Schiano), 1971, en Education of Next Ten Years”, 1977. Archivo an Architect, 1999, p. 123. del IAUS, DR2007:0091, Cana- dian Center for Architecture. Véase también EISENMAN, Peter, The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, 2006, Baden: Lars Müller Publishers. 214 RA 21

02 the wake of May '68 student demands, the bachelor's dissertations by the three young 'Utopie' were displayed alongside Notes half a century technical developments such as aerostats and Zodiac rescue boats. The aim was to distance architecture from the bourgeois and formal (and several exhibitions) later sphere with which it was associated while strengthening its bonds with the material world. Their drawings and mock-ups could be Patricio Mardones deemed museum architecture insofar as they were exhibited in an institution that appeared to further public debate. They were none- theless a far cry from the museum piece itself as defined by Rossi, An exhibition entitled ‘Structures Gonflables’ was held from the who invoked Cézanne4 to claim it to be the highest form of architec- first to the thirty-first March 1968 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de ture, independent and open, designed by experts for its subsequent la Ville de ’s (at the time) new ARC (Animation, Recherche, adaptation to a possible use or implementation, for its 'insertion in Confrontation) Division . A few weeks after the detonation of the reality'. In contrast, the A.J.S. drawings and mock-ups displayed at social movements that turned the streets of Paris into a platform the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris were explicitly associ- for debate and confrontation, the multidisciplinary community ated with certain technological developments, in turn positioned in ‘Utopie’, whose members were architects Jean Aubert, Jean-Paul a very specific social and political context. Their independence of Jungermann and Paul Stinco, together with Isabelle Auricoste, context and the museum purity to which Rossi appeared to aspire Catherine Cot, René Loureau and sociologists Jean Baudrillard were therefore compromised by cultural engagement. And whereas and Hubert Tonka, curated an exhibition commissioned from some of these items were planimetric, they also seemed to stray Pierre Gaudibert. from the notion proposed by Jean Nicholas Durand, who regarded architectural drawing as a means for describing an object in another domain, the anticipation of something else (probably a building). So viewed, Durand's approach stresses the dichotomy announced by Rossi, distinguishing between pure, independent and to some degree introspective architecture and the mundane version stemming from it and informed by contextual demands or economic or technical considerations. Viewed from that perspective, the architecture in 'Struc- tures Gonflables' seems contradictory, impure and grey, perhaps because it failed to engage with the sort of chronological linearity in which drawing is the mere projection of a reality meant for materi- alisation a posteriori. That feature associated it fairly naturally with the production of other nineteen sixties and seventies authors sub- sequently grouped under the epithet 'radical architecture', initially coined by Alessandro Mendini to refer to a series of young Florentine architects and designers5. The same (and necessarily broad) spectrum that includes the Italians working out of Superstudio, 9999, Archizoom and UFO could also encompass a number of Japanese According to the programme, it aimed to exhaustively metabolists, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Archigram, Wolf Vostell and review 'art, technology and fantasy around inflatables in all realms, Haus Rucker. All produced works that for their materiality, scale or including land, seafaring, airborne and space vehicles, works of nature ended up as museum pieces, except for one characteristic: art, buildings, architecture, furnishings, toys, merchandising and their reality as architectural objects was ultimate and definitive. They recreational devices'. Many of selection of objects on represented themselves only and presupposed no later stage of display were sourced from catalogues. The curators' objective was development; rather, they seemed to be finished entities. The liberat- to identify possible inter-industry technology transfers between, ing view of design (and its tools) as an architectural end product that among others, the (especially U.S.) military-industrial complex and began to circulate in the late nineteen sixties spawned new methods architecture. Along with these products, visitors could view draw- for teaching architecture and prompted a number of celebrities and ings and photographs of the mock-ups for the bachelor's disserta- institutions to shelter and cultivate that outlook6. Its exemplary im- tions defended the year before by Aubert, Jungmann and Stinco1 plementation by Alvin Boyarsky during his chairmanship of London's in the workshop headed by Edouard Albert at the École nationale Architectural Association (1971-1990) harmonised particularly well supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Respectively entitled Un podium with the written and pictorial production authored by Archigram, itinérant pour 5.000 spectateurs, Dyodon, habitation pneumatique and Cedric Price in the late nineteen sixties. Another expérimentale and Un hall itinérant d’exposition d’objets de la vie example can be found in the educational model first introduced by quotidienne, the three proposals were inquiries into huge removable John Hejduk in 1975 at New York's Cooper Union, an institution that and reusable structures built with plastic membranes2. The mobile, embraced 's pedagogical experiences (and dense lightweight architecture they represented was intended for a mobile, drawings). lightweight world. Entirely at odds with the physical and social inertia Post-war social reappraisal and the ambition to com- of stone and concrete architectures so beloved of fine arts tradition, municate and engage urgently with ever larger audiences informed it was no closer to the radicalised revolutionary premises of the much of the creative momentum of so-called radical architecture young Maoist and Trotskyist agitators who populated European in the northern hemisphere. Most of the time its enthusiasts worked university campuses at the time. As a tribute to Aubert3 himself, the on the fringe of the discipline, with restricted access to commissions hardest core factions of the student movement despised objects and consequently often exempt from the negotiation that charac- (even inflatable ones) as the materialisation of output associated terises conventional professional practice, although that freedom with capital and class conflict. also limited the resources available to produce their works. These One of the last series of projects implemented at the groups' penchant for self-construction, 'do-it-yourself' reproduc- École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts prior to its overhaul in tion7, plastic membranes, inflatables and graphics (posters, fanzines RA 21 215

and post cards, for instance) can be partially explained by that assuming an ideological position diametrically opposed to the one circumstance, with both worldly and ideological implications. It was defended by practising architects and out of touch with the profes- the type of production they could afford, removed as they were from sion's role in solving humanity's problems. The answer, not long in the political and economic power they purported to elude but which coming, abruptly narrowed the gap between the two, in which the often furnishes the means to practise architecture. For Aubert that interviewee doubted that most practitioners solved anything besides constituted the 'impracticable practice of architecture': to produce making a living, noting that as a big and enormously costly business, objects while at the same time attempting to critique the financial architecture like government has access to a whole arsenal of and political systems that govern production. propaganda. The aversion to the link between architecture and tra- Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank ditional power structures prompted the development of resources Christian Kerez and Philip Ursprung, of the ETH Zürich Department with which to transfer ideas and knowledge to the masses. While of Architecture; Cristóbal Molina, of the Chilean Ministry of the Arts, producing manifestos that summarised premises and ideologies Culture and Heritage; and Patricio Mardones Precht, Andrea Mon- not readily accessible to the public at large (and which eventually salve and Erwin Weisse, of Hunter Douglas Chile for their support in circulated in more or less narrow intellectual confines), so-called implementing the project at Zurich and Santiago. radical architecture movements were clearly aware of the value of visual communication as a tool for attracting attention and building a following. Their extensive use of drawing and the proliferation of practices such as collage or détournement applied to films, comic strips and advertising attest to those generations' esteem for visual Patricio Mardones Hiche media, a tendency that has had a significant impact on contempo- Patricio Mardones Hiche (Antofagasta, 1973) Architect from rary architectural culture and discourse. They deemed the most the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (1999); During 1993 effective vehicle for communicating ideas to be an object or image, he studied Art at the same University. Since 2000 he has in keeping with Walter Benjamin's assertion in Passagenwerk: 'I combined professional practice, teaching and editorial work. have nothing to say, only to show'. The migration from textual to Since 2007 he has collaborated with media and magazines such visual discourse and the effusive production of graphics and small as Icon (England), Mark (Holland), Dwell (USA), 2G (Spain), The objects as the primary output of architectural endeavour favoured Plan (Italy), AU (Brazil), Casabella (Italy), Azure (Canada), Oris the circulation of radical countercultural ideas in galleries, museums (Croatia); T magazine / NYTimes (USA). He has participated and the mass media. At least two extreme cases of this attention as curator in architecture exhibitions in Chile, Switzerland and to the communicational capacity of architectural production merit the . Between 2011 and 2015 he was director of mention. One is Matta -Clark's oeuvre and the practical difficul- ARQ Editions at the School of Architecture of the Pontifical ties it posed around exhibiting in a museum. In connection with the Catholic University of Chile. He is co-author of the second stage value and interest of his interventions in abandoned structures, he of the Library of the SLGM Documentation Center of the School claimed8 that the determining factor was the degree to which his of Architecture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, intervention could transform structures into an act of communica- (associated with Cecilia Puga, 2007) and of the new Crypt and tion. The second example lies in architecture's incursion in the world presbytery of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago (associate of cinema (and collaterally of advertising) in the short films planned Rodrigo Pérez de Arce and Sebastián Bianchi, 2006). His latest by Superstudio for its five 'Atti Fondamentali', only two of which were projects include the Public Use Infrastructure of the Queulat produced. The project storyboards nonetheless ultimately became National Park in Aysén (1st prize, 2016 contest) and the Cruise a work in themselves. A Monumento Continuo film never produced Terminal of the port of Punta Arenas (1st prize, 2017 contest), met with the same fate: many of the illustrations in its storyboard, both associated with Cecilia Puga and Paula Velasco. In 2007 he published in 1971 by the journal Casabella, were later converted into was a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He collages and photomontages in a variety of formats. The resources currently collaborates in the study of Smiljan Radic, is a professor and procedures involved in those visual items heralded the transition at Andrés Bello University and the Pontifical Catholic University from aerial photographs and photocopies to layered images and of Chile and is a member of the board of the Fragile Architecture pixels several decades before digital design became routine practice Foundation in Santiago. in the production and reproduction of today's architectural projects. Nineteen sixties and seventies radical projects and the concomitant broadening of the idea of architectural production have had a significant impact on the present scenario. The undeniable continuities in critique, contradictions and revisions seem not to have yet come to an end and Rossi's thoughts on the theory of architec- tural design set out in 'Architettura per i musei' echo loudly and may even be distractedly or provocatively amplified if the word 'museum' is replaced with for 'school'. Those two institutions, cross-implicated in transferring ideas and knowledge to the masses, share a growing awareness of their political power and responsibility as well as spaces such as biennials and triennials (through their validation systems). They are co-sponsoring the debate on a profession in crisis in its attempt to stave off enfeeblement in a cultural context where mathemat- ics is progressively gaining the upper hand. Worth remembering in the context of the dichotomy between professional architects and theorists is the border-line insolent reply given by Gordon Matta- Cark, perhaps the most 'museum-ish' of all museum architects, to a question posed by Donald Wall about his divorce from professional practice9. Wall asked whether Matta-Clark was concerned about 216 RA 21

Notes can mammals on display at New Images to those transparent bands. The 01. The three architects chose York’s American Museum of 01. Poster of the exhibition layout aimed to emulate the mul- their initials for the acronym Natural History). On the inside, Structures Gonflables, Musée tiple, non-linear readings afforded A.J.S. - Aérolande to introduce the issue carried an extensive d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, by the panels in Aby Warburg’s their architectural studio to the review of the five ‘fundamental 1-30/03/1968. Atlas Mnemosyne, while building public. They later found profes- acts’ defined by Superestudio choral, polyphonic and at times sional fulfilment and sustenance just a few weeks after the exhibi- 02. ‘Cloud ‘68 - Papeles y Voces’ contradictory imagery in the in inflatable furniture. tion ‘Italy: the new domestic [papers and voices] was the name exhibition hall. The sensation was landscape’ opened at the of an exhibition prepared from a cloud of images and undertones 02. Jean Albert’s design was a MoMA. For critics such as Peter 2016 to 2018 by Fundación Arqui- generated fifty years ago. The ex- kind of inflatable ribbed dome Lang, the Italians’ ambitious tectura Frágil, with the support of hibition was designed to guide the spanning over arched bleach- exhibition in New York attested ETH Zurich’s gta Exhibitions, the viewer’s gaze toward that ‘back ers intended as a temporary to the successful appropriation Chilean Ministry of Cultures, Arts bench’ of the history of twentieth pavilion. Jungmann’s design of their ideas by the very system and Heritage’s Architecture Area century architecture, power- and Hunter Douglas Chile. With fully influenced by the modernist proposed an inflatable structure they attempted to rebuff. the architecture produced by a movement. ‘Cloud ‘68 - Papeles several storeys high intended series of radical European move- y Voces’ focused on a handful of as homes apt for different 06.Shortly after the end of World ments in the second half of the authors who worked on the fringe geographies, very likely inspired War II, a group of PhD. students twentieth century as its leitmotiv, of predominant discourse, almost by the extra-planetary colonies at authored it interwove objects dating from beyond the bounds of architec- associated with the space race. ‘Radical Pedagogies’, collabora- those years from two collections. ture. They did not build the last Stinco’s design envisaged a vast tive research co-supervised by century’s cities and buildings. cover comprising huge spheres Beatriz Colomina, Britt Eversole, 03. The first, belonging to Chilean On the contrary, they worked on that when inflated would overlie Ignacio G. Galán, Evangelos Smiljan Radic, was the source of the periphery of the discipline to the lorries in which they were Kotsiorkis, Anna-Maria Meister the 173 paper items on display, produce manifestos, drawings and shipped to form a spacious and Federica Vannucchi. That including both ephemera and images that repudiated negotia- exhibition hall. endeavour contributed to the original lithographs, drawings and tion of any sort while accommo- visibility of a series of experi- engravings. The second consisted dating direct materialisation with 03. According to Craig Buckley’s ences on architectural education in 13 videos of interviews with the fairly modest means. That imme- interview with Aubert in Paris in in pursuit of alternative models authors of those radical move- diacy, so rare in architecture, was 2007, re-edited in 2010 by Actar that formed part of the spirit of ments filmed at different times by one of the features spotlighted in in Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical the radical avant-gardes, many Swiss art critic and curator Hans the exhibition. Architecture of Little Magazines, of which shared an interest in Ulrich Obrist. 196X to 197X; Colomina, B., (ed.). moving away from the inertia and 07. Headquartered at Santiago, formality that characterised ar- 04. The name of the exhibition, Fundación Arquitectura Frágil was 04. In the 1960 essay ‘Archit- chitectural education in the first proposed by , founded in January 2018 to further teura per i musei’ in which he half of the twentieth century. alludes to the radical architectural the study and dissemination in discussed possible relationships thinking that arose in Europe in Chile of experimental or improb- between 07. That trend comprised the nineteen fifties and sixties and able architecture, of the kind that and design, Rossi wrote: “E an- widely diverse initiatives. orbited rather nebulously around blurs the limits of the discipline. cora potremmo avere per divisa One example, Proposta per the May 1968 uprising in Paris. Here, the access to architecture in la celebre frase di Cézanne, un‘autoprogettazione, was a tiny Most of the production attribut- all its representations continues to able to those groups literally never be accessible to only a few archi- “io dipingo solo per i musei”. manual for building wood furniture got past the drawing board. Far tects. Chile is still far away. Con questa frase Cézanne, in authored by Enzo Mari in 1974. from detracting from its value, that modo chiarissimo, dichiara la Another, Inflatocookbook, self- status was ultimately advanta- 08. By encouraging the import necessità di una pittura che published by its Ant Farm authors geous, for it facilitated dissemina- of ideas, the foundation aims to prosegue un suo sviluppo logico Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier, Andy tion and inspired the infringement enhance the debate with new rigoroso e che si pone all’interno Shapiro, Hudson Marquez, Doug of disciplinary bounds by fostering resources or at least afford it vis- della logica della pittura che, Hurr and Doug Michels in Califor- links with artists, poets, design- ibility, for its very existence would appunto, viene verificata nei nia in 1970-71, included patterns ers and engineers. Those are the spawn educational attributes that musei.” Y declara en el párrafo for the DIY assembly of large coordinates that chart the printed would be particularly inspirational final: “L’architettura, nata dalla inflatable bubbles. Both designs materials on display: manifestos, for young Chilean architects. With necessità, è ora autonoma; were, sensu stricto, compilations post cards, posters, maps and those targets in mind the founda- nella sua forma più elevata essa stemming from their authors’ drawings where their authors’ tion created a national board with crea dei pezzi da Museo a cui si personal research. voices reverberate. seats held by Tomas Muller Be- rifaranno i tecnici per trasfor- noit, Alberto Sato, Enrique Walker, marli e adattarli alle molteplici 08. Gordon Matta-Clark inter- 05. The material was exhibited Patricio Mardones and Smiljan funzioni e esigenze a cui devono viewed by Donald Wall in Arts from March to May 2018 in the Radic as well as an external advi- essere applicati. Cosi dobbiamo Magazine, May 1976. ETH Zurich Department of Archi- sory commission on which Julia educarci sull’analisi dei caratteri tecture’s ArCHena Gallery and Peyton-Jones, Erwin Viray, Moises costitutivi di un progetto; ed è 09. Ibid. in October and November in the Puente and Giorgio Mastinu serve. questo che deve proporsi un cor- Patricia Ready Gallery at Santiago. so di teoria della progettazione.” Thirty-three 240x120 cm2 acrylic 09. In 2017 and 2018 the founda- showcases were arranged in five tion sponsored two activities. 05. The expression ‘radical parallel friezes spaced at 2.40 m, The first was the exhibition ‘Other design’ appeared (in English) suspended from a vividly coloured people have dogs’, in conjunction in the summer of 1972 on the 20 m long steel ceiling beam. with Barcelona’s Fundació Enric cover of issue 367 of the journal Miralles shown at D21 Gallery in Casabella, of which Mendii was 06. The works and voices of Con- Santiago. Zurich and Santiago editor-in chief. The expression stant Nieuwenhuys, Guy Debord, were the venues for the second, Asger Jorn, Haus-Rucker-Co, ‘Cloud ‘68 - Papeles y Voces’, while was written across a photo of Archigram, Utopie, and Superstu- a third, presently in preparation, the torso of a gorilla (drawn from dio, among others, were secured will open in 2021. a post card portraying the Afri- RA 21 217

03 Seven months before the big exhibition on beaux arts opened, Emilio Ambasz, at that time Curator of Design at the MoMA, Background: staged a small exhibition entitled Architectural Studies and Projects. It was installed in the museum’s penthouse and was When Architecture Became open from 13 March to 15 May 1975. The venue, located on the MoMA’s sixth floor, was also the site of the Art Lending Service (ALS), Art (1975-1977) widely known as the museum’s sales and rentals gallery, which do- ubled up as the museum members’ lounge and restaurant4. Carlos Mínguez The ALS offered museum members the opportunity to rent works of art for two months on a buy-or-return basis. The ALS earned a percentage on the work loaned or sold, just like a commer- The examples selected in this short article describe the first cial gallery. instances, in the mid-1970s, where architectural documents THE ALS started out in 1951 as a way of connecting –particularly drawings– were absorbed into the art market by the museum with New York’s galleries and collectors and began commercial galleries in New York1. holding exhibitions in the penthouse in 1955. The first shows featured a selection of works from the ALS’s own collection. However, from the early 1960s onwards, the exhibitions gradually became more elaborate thanks to the creation of the Art Advisory Service (AAS). Supported by members of the museum’s Junior Council, this service attached to the ALS was set up with the intention of developing the institution’s contemporary art collection. Consequently, from 1962 onwards the shows staged in the penthouse became broadly the- matic and the AAS began inviting guest curators in to organise them. Curators like Campbell Wyly, Pierre Apraxine and John Garrigan put on numerous exhibitions, focusing principally on painting, and photography, under titles like Young West Artists (1965), Nine Print Portfolios (1970) or Prints for Collectors (1972). When the ALS held Architectural Studies and Projects in 1975 it was the first time that it had organised an architecture exhibition, and it was also the first time that it invited Emilio Ambasz to be guest curator. Emilio Ambasz was Curator of Design at the MoMA from 1970 to 1976. He organised various exhibitions on architecture and industrial design, including Italy: The New Domestic Landscape, in 1972; The Architecture of Luis Barragán, in 1974; and The Taxi Project, in 1976. Architectural Studies and Projects presented 52 archi- Despite several decades of major exhibitions at the tectural drawings, defined, according to Ambasz, as a series of “visionary (MoMA), it was relatively rare for architecture projects, imaginary creations never intended to be built”5. The show was to be exhibited at New York art galleries. However, in the late 1970s, an “informal exhibition of [...] recent drawings by American and European over the course of barely three years, the city increasingly began architects”. Ambasz invited 23 individual and teams of architects to to see architecture –through the discipline’s drawings, models and submit a maximum of three paper drawings for the exhibition. installations– in its leading commercial galleries. What was it about The designs included in the show spanned a broad those years? Why did architectural exhibitions suddenly flourish? range of projects and styles by leading exponents of the day’s This change was driven to some extent by the growing various lines of architectural thought. The breakdown by country interest in architectural drawings, in part precipitated by the signifi- reads as follows: from Austria, and Friederick St. cance and impact of the exhibition The Architecture of the Ecole des Florian; from Italy, Ettore Stottsass, Superstudio, , Beaux Arts staged by Arthur Drexler at the MoMA and opened to the and Alessandro Mendini; from Holland, Events- public on 29 October 1975. tructures, and with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis; from Great The exhibition mainly featured large-scale work in Britain, Peter Cook, Michael Webb and Cedric Price; from the United watercolour by 19th-century students at the aforementioned Paris States, , Michael Graves, John Hedjuk, school. The drawings included designs by Henri Labrouste, Charles and SITE INC; and from Argentina, Rodolfo Machado and Susana Garnier and plans for other French and US buildings rendered in the Torre. The works ranged in price from $200 to $2000. As standard same style. In other words, as most of the exhibition was dedica- practice, the Art Lending Service took a 15% commission on all sales. ted to student assignments it essentially presented a collection of In one of the invitations to the exhibition, Judith Price, drawings of buildings that were never intended to be built. Those Chair of the ALS, makes the programme’s commercial intention clear: buildings were, moreover, beautiful. As Paul Goldberger wrote in his review of the exhibition for the New York Times: “We hope you will agree to participate in what we believe will be a significant exhibition presenting the drawings of leading architects to collectors”6. “Visually, this is the most beautiful architectural exhibition in memory, and among the most attractive shows of any kind ever mounted in New York”2. While the ideological differences between the projects on show were extremely wide, the response to the exhibition As well as being a transformative event for the discipline highlighted their shared poetry and vision. As Paul Goldberger wrote of architecture, the show presented architectural documents that in his New York Times review: could be easily understood by non-architects and appreciated solely for their colour and beauty. The spectacular watercolours and “Architectural Studies and Projects, which opens today in the Penthouse drawings particularly drew attention for their aesthetics; purpose, of the Museum of Modem Art, deals with the most peripheral, yet perhaps context and technology were of secondary concern3. the most luxurious, aspect of architecture: the making of purely visionary drawings, schemes that have no connection with reality”7. 218 RA 21

The way the exhibition presented the architectural drawings sedu- ting experts and professionals, dealers, art collectors and curators ced the public in general and the art market in particular. Goldberger along with art enthusiasts familiar with avant-garde movements but continued: “One of the objectives of the show has been to encourage with largely little or no prior knowledge of architecture. Similarly, it public interest in architectural drawings as art, and on this level it is was not an audience targeted by a working building, e.g. direct users 8 likely to be successful” . or local inhabitants or recipients of the texts, documents, photogra- And it did succeed, not only because 11 of the 23 creators sold their phs and publicity about that building. work, but also because art collectors readily took the bait. It is important to note that the way in which the architec- Pierre Apraxine worked as assistant curator of painting tural works were exhibited by the art galleries was markedly conven- and sculpture at the MoMA from summer 1970 through to 1973. At tional. The drawings and models were largely treated as if they were the time of Architectural Studies and Projects, he became curator works of art. They were presented without any context, treating the to Howard Gilman, owner of the Gilman Paper Company. His task in plans for a housing project in the same way as a painting, or a model this role was to put together a collection of contemporary art. It was for a public building in the same way as a sculpture. Presentation of intended to revolve around minimalist and conceptual art, but after the works emphasised the author’s name —reinforcing the idea of visiting the exhibition in the MoMA penthouse Pierre Apraxine chan- the architect as artist— and showed no sophistication as regards the ged his mind and decided to collect architectural drawings, creating projects’ social, political and cultural components. the so-called Howard Gilman Collection of Visionary Architectural The welcoming of architectural representations into the Drawings, work on which began in 1975 and was all but completed by exhibition rooms of New York’s leading art galleries is not only proof 1980. The collection was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in of the art world’s interest in this domain, it also represents a trend November 20009. in architectural practice that saw galleries as a fresh site on which In 1977, three architectural exhibitions opened in com- architects could build both their ideas and their reputations. mercial galleries in New York: Towards a More Modern Architecture, staged by Robert Stern and held at the Drawing Center and the Cooper Hewitt Museum; New York: Past, Present, and Proposed, at the recently opened Gallery Spaced; and the most significant of the Carlos Mínguez Carrasco three, Architecture I, curated by Pierre Apraxine at the Leo Castelli He is an architect and architecture curator. He is currently Senior Gallery. Curator at ArkDes, Sweden’s National Centre for Architecture At the time, the Leo Castelli Gallery –one of New York’s and Design. He was Associate Curator at Storefront for Art and most influential– focused particularly on the abstract expressio- Architecture from 2012 to 2017. Before that, he was Senior Cura- nism, minimalism and pop art movements, showcasing artists like tor, alongside the After Belonging Agency, of the Oslo Architec- Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and . ture Triennial in 2016 and Assistant Curator of OfficeUS, the US The show at the Leo Castelli Gallery was the most significant of the pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. A graduate of three not so much for the work on display but because it revealed Barcelona’s ETSAB school of architecture, he holds a master’s de- the extent to which architectural drawings had become an artworld gree in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architec- phenomenon. After Architecture I’s success, in 1977 the gallery star- ture from , New York. He has organised a wide ted representing architects and, over the next few years, organised range of exhibitions, events and competitions, focusing particu- a series of architectural exhibitions, starting with Architecture II: larly on how social and political disputes influence contemporary Houses for Sale in 1980 and the third in the series, Architecture III: architectural culture. He has edited several publications, includ- Follies in 1983. ing After Belonging: The Objects, Spaces, and Territories of the The show at the Leo Castelli Gallery presented the work Ways We Stay in Transit (Lars Müller Publishers, 2016), OfficeUS of seven architects: Raimund Abraham, Emilio Ambasz, Richard Manual (Lars Müller Publishers, 2017) and bodyspacemotionth- Meier, Walter Pichler, Aldo Rossi, James Stirling and the firm Venturi ings (Performa, 2019). His articles have been published in various y Rauch. Three of the architects, along with the curator, had also exhibition catalogues and journals such as Domus, Migrant Jour- contributed to the exhibition in the MoMA penthouse. According to nal and Código. He has also lectured at a number of universities its curator, the show sought to illustrate “the diverse aesthetic and and arts centres in Europe, the United States and Latin America, philosophical attitudes prevalent in contemporary architecture. It including Columbia University GSAPP, GSD presents therefore a cross-section rather than a single architectural and Princeton University SoA. doctrine”10. The following years saw many more art galleries stage architectural exhibitions. While the content, format or objective may have varied, they tended to have one thing in common: the architec- tural works were commissioned, selected, presented and promoted with the aim of being sold. Commercial art galleries saw an opportunity to sell the output of an untapped realm. In parallel, several architects saw galleries as a space in which to develop ideas and projects that neither the discipline’s professional sphere nor its journals and pu- blications had a place for. Commercial galleries offered a space that complemented the other formats in which contemporary ideas of architecture circulated, a space positioned between the dissemi- nating role played by publications and the historical consolidation offered by museums. Commercial galleries also offered access to a new au- dience. While architecture journals were mainly read by those active within the discipline (from students to academics and practising architects), the public at the architectural exhibitions held in New York’s commercial galleries was much more heterogeneous, attrac- RA 21 219

Notes Images 01. This investigation started 01. View of the exhibition Archi- 04 in 2009 (Critical, Curatorial, tectural Studies and Projects, and Conceptual Practices Museum of Modern Art, New Stadium and Museum: in Architecture program) at York, 1975. Columbia University GSAPP, A Mapping of Narrative and was developed during the following years. Since then, Impulses several articles and publications have been publisched about this subjet. The most extended Alejandra Celedón and finished work that studies the cases shown in this text is KAUFFMAN, Jordan, “Drawing Building a Stadium for a Museum was the operation behind on Architecture, The Object of “Stadium”, Chile Pavilion at the 16th Venice Biennial in 2018. The Lines 1970-1990” MIT Press, exhibition recovered a forgotten event of recent local history 2018. where, during Pinochet’s dictatorship, 37,000 property titles were awarded to Santiago slum dwellers in Chile National Stadium. For 02. Goldberger, Paul, the event in 1979, a footprint of the building was redrawn, which “Beaux Arts Architecture at the instead of grandstands traced polygons with the name of more Modern“, New York Times, 29 than 60 towns on the outskirts of Santiago, from where those October 1975. summoned that day came. The drawing, the starting point of “Sta- dium”, brings together a cartographic and a narrative impulse in 03. That was not the only inten- the same effort. Stadium debate its premises from a second adap- tion of its curator, Arthur Drexler. tation of the pavilion, in which the stadium is reconstructed for the For detailed information on the Museum of Contemporary Art of Santiago in 2019. The exhibition, exhibition, its curatorial brief like the event of the past, transports the city into a building, and and its impact on architectural makes visible the periphery in the centre. Thus, the Venetian discourse, see Scott, Felicity Arsenal and the Contemporary Art Museum of Santiago echo its D. , “When Systems Fail”, in Ar- content and open new disciplinary reflections from the operations chitecture and Techno-Utopia, involved: in them a building is compressed inside another, or even MIT Press, 2007. a city compressed within another. “Stadium” takes up Rossi‘s premise on Architecture for the Museum and raises its potential 04. Price, Judith, Chair of the to open critical debates about architecture and its practices. Art Lending Service, in a letter to Andrea Branzi of 7 November 1974.

05. Museum of Modern Art, Ar- chitectural Studies and Projects press release, 13 March 1975.

06. Price, Judith, Chair of the Art Lending Service, in a letter to Andrea Branzi of 7 November 1974.

07. Goldberger, Paul, “Beaux Arts Architecture at the Modern“, New York Times, 29 Obstinacy, as Aldo Rossi would say, is the October 1975. begetter of theory in art and architecture. It reflects the fact that 08. Idem. certain subjects of discussion return time and again, irrespective of the material we have before us. Behind Stadium, the pavilion 09. Apraxine, Pierre, in con- representing Chile at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018, versation with Paola Antonelli in lay an obstinate belief in drawings as fonts of knowledge, in the the catalogue for The Changing drawing (and redrawing) of architectural plans as an active means of of the Avant-Garde: Visionary administering lives and land, and in buildings as political and social Architectural Drawings from projects, with architecture’s meaning remaining constant in relation the Howard Gilman Collection, to the city, the public and its history. Behind it lay an obstinate belief Museum of Modern Art, 2002. in objects and their capacity to tell a story, and in museums as the place for them to recount them. A year later, Stadium was adapted 10. Apraxine, Pierre, in the for exhibition at Santiago de Chile’s Museum of Contemporary Art. preface to the catalogue for In both cases, the principal task was to compress an enormous Architecture, New York, 1977. building –the National Stadium– into a tiny exhibition area: the Sala del’Isolloto del Arsenale in the first case and the Museum’s central hall in the second. The show not only installed a scale model of the stadium inside the exhibition space but also, following the example of Cézanne, who said he only painted for museums, conceived and built a stadium specifically for a museum. 220 RA 21

As part of further research into housing rhetoric legitimacy3. The regime was able to capitalise on this value system and policy in 1980s Santiago de Chile1, and during conversations in several ways. The title deeds were granted with considerable with shantytown dwellers about the origins of their plots and homes, fanfare and public ceremony and were used to advance Pinochet’s one of them produced a drawing – an unscaled floor plan of Chile’s political project. Plots measuring 9 x 18 metres square had already National Stadium which, instead of terraces and seats, featured been allocated under Operacion Sitio, a national self-build initiative more than 60 polygons containing the names of the shantytowns in launched in the 1960s and intended to tackle Chile’s severe housing the 17 districts that at the time ringed Greater Santiago. The drawing, crisis by granting people a piece of land, marked out simply in chalk, which was approximately 30 cm high and 55 cm wide, was dated and so curb burgeoning unauthorised home-building. Most of the 29 September 1979. It had a fold in the middle and staple holes, as if people who travelled to the stadium were beneficiaries of that it been part of something larger. It was fascinating, both image and programme. object: the blueprint for an event overlaid with a mapping impulse Taking the original plan drawn up for the event – and a narrative in a single gesture. The narrative impulse came from which had been printed in the official press at the time– the curatorial the drawing’s reference to an episode in the past – the signing of team created a new layout. In it, the stadium floor plan, composed title deeds by around 37,000 people living in the shantytowns on of the urban fabric of the city’s periphery, becomes a palimpsest Santiago’s periphery. The floor plan had been drawn up specifically of scattered islands. Redrawing the layout foregrounds a city with for that purpose, to realign distant settlements within the Stadium’s marginalised boundaries, a city of disconnected fragments that, oval; a synoptic, panoramic endeavour (fig. 02). for one day, are condensed into the panopticon represented by the From that drawing, the exhibition recounts a stadium (fig. 04). In Venice in May 2018, the first incarnation of our relatively unknown part of the stadium’s history, or rather, in the curatorial strategy consisted of building a stadium made of earth in words of Anthony Vidler, it draws it from the strands of history that a city erected over water. The shantytowns and settlements were a monument never fully reveals and, occasionally, even hides2. extruded to varying heights (comprising between 10 and 13 layers of This event, which took place under Augusto Pinochet’s military compacted earth) and the top layers were stamped with the urban dictatorship, marked the start of a new housing policy that would fabric of the part of the city it represented. Although each of these transform social housing, changing it from an irrevocable right to a pieces of urban fabric was different, they all shared a common saleable and exchangeable good dependent on potential owners’ characteristic – the 9 x 18 metre plots that gave the land the ability to save. From that point on, it would be the market rather than appearance of a sheet of stamps. The 1:40 scale model measuring the welfare state that would regulate housing, determining everything 7 x 5 metres square and about 1 metre high seeks to throw off its from the value of the land through to the execution of the building. conventional function as a representation of reality and become an This event, coming in the spring before the decade’s end, also autonomous object – a museum piece, an installation, a work of art: a signalled the arrival of a new class of urban citizen as shantytown stadium built for an arsenal (fig. 05). dwellers became proprietors and, by the same act, debtors. The Not only is the history of the stadium compressed stadium was filled with people from all over the city, or rather from inside a former armaments and military material store; a fragment of Santiago’s working-class outskirts. It was not a concert or a sporting the history of the city of Santiago is likewise compressed inside the event that drew them there, but a mass legal and administrative city of Venice. This particular past harks back to a historical event operation designed by the government to process thousands of that, for a brief instant, provided a view of an entire city within a single title deeds in a single day. What took shape that day, as the debt building. The word arsenal comes from the Arabic dar as-sina’ah – instruments with their specific spatial coordinates were signed, was dar, which translates as house, and sina’ah, which means factory. The the layout of a city that until that moment did not have an urban one in Venice manufactured, repaired and stored ships, ammunition development plan. That act of creation reinforced Santiago’s long- and armaments. The homes of the people who worked there spread standing urban segregation (fig. 03). outwards from its walls. The dockyard was key to Venice’s naval The great paradox was that the birth of the power and the city’s defence. As Dante’s verses record, the arsenal privatised city was celebrated in one of Santiago’s most public is as old as the Divine Comedy. A mid-20th-century stadium stands buildings. The homebuyers, inhabitants of the city’s slums, had no within the still-upright walls of an early-12th-century building. This idea what was in the contract they were signing. The government- temporal and geographical compression –squeezing one building sanctioned press announced that 160,000 title deeds –all signed inside another (as Anthony Vidler emphasised), and one city inside in other similar stadiums and amphitheatres– would be issued another (as Alejandro Zambra preferred to view it)– is only possible throughout the country by the end of the decade. Assuming that with architecture designed for museums4 (fig. 06). each title deed affected an average of 6 people, the operation When it opened its doors in 1938, the National directly bound almost 1 million of Chile’s 11 million inhabitants Stadium was Santiago’s biggest building, an instrument and symbol to the State. To achieve the figures promised, the deeds were of modernity that promoted sport as a model for an ideal body drawn up unilaterally by the Ministry of Housing and set uniform public. Three years later it would host another form of education repayments for the 37,000 plots, irrespective of the background – the mass taking of First Communion by one hundred thousand and particularities of each individual case. Efficiency was the catholic children. It would also be a frequently used political rostrum, reason given for not recognising past payments, and owners ran with numerous of the Republic’s presidents addressing the nation the risk of losing their site if they failed to meet three consecutive from the stadium. This continued from the moment it was completed repayment instalments. While government rhetoric extolled the ideal to the day democracy fell in 1973, after which it became a detention, of property as a sine qua non value, in reality the deeds tied future torture and extermination camp, the biggest operated by the mortgage holders to plots they had already lived on for a decade regime. After 17 years of dictatorship, the return to democracy was or more. Stadium presents the architecture of a paradox, exposing celebrated in the very same building, where a Chilean flag spanned through its typological freedom a tension inherent in neoliberalism. the length of the central arena. Because of their circular shape, Between 1983 and 1989, a total of 555,965 title deeds were issued stadiums and amphitheatres tend not to engage with a city’s urban nationwide, a biopolitical operation with direct repercussions for fabric. Rather, at symbolic level, they become miniature monuments almost 2.5 million people. Home ownership was intended to generate to political, social and cultural processes: the State’s stadiums are a sense of pride in the system and, consequently, in the government the city’s. that had put in place. Dubbed the property or loyalty dividend, it An architectural housing model converted into a strengthened support for the regime in that it provided it with greater monument is installed in the centre of an exhibition room –previously RA 21 221

an arsenal– as part of the retelling of a specific strand of urban and recognition are possible within this example of an absolutely history. In typological terms, the stadium’s presence in the centre ordered world. Geometric perfection therefore emerges as a new of the room represents not only Chile’s National Stadium but also nature for the construction of another subjectivity: the illusion of a Rome’s Coliseum and all the stadiums of the world. Aldo Rossi’s world compressed into an interior, of spaces and bodies susceptible obsession with the Stadium of Domitian and the amphitheatres of to arrangement in a series of discrete compartments based on Arles and Nimes stems from their capacity to retain imprints of past the building’s technical and geometric rigour. This is what Jeremy events5. Through these, history becomes a frame made up the city’s Bentham explores in his model of constant surveillance, or the artefacts. These examples show how a building of a certain type, museum of human nature, as Foucault described the panopticon. with a radical form and function, can be transformed and absorbed In the second version of the exhibition and its adaptation to the by the urban fabric. Arles becomes a citadel and Nimes a maze Museum of Contemporary Art’s symmetric, axial space, the of streets and squares, while others are absorbed in their entirety. insistence on the stadium’s autonomous shape and closed geometry Sometimes the structure survives, sometimes only the outline, becomes even more evident than in Venice. The possibility of but something of that pre-existing memory always remains. Pope capturing a synoptic image of the building from the museum’s Sixtus V’s plan in 1592 to convert the Coliseum into a cotton factory second-floor strengthens this aspect thanks to the double height of highlights the essence of the problem posed by the amphitheatre’s the hall with its central void (fig. 09). form. The design placed laboratories on the first floor and workers’ The stadium and the museum are now located in homes on the upper levels. If the Pope had lived another year, this the same city, allowing them to mutually measure, scale and orient conversion would have started and the Coliseum would effectively themselves in relation to one another. It was Rossi who reintroduced have been reduced to housing. The exhibition manages to combine history and typology as central elements of architecture, conditions the permanences referred to by Rossi in a single gesture – homes under which architecture is a “measure of time and, in turn, is and monuments. A form’s power to return to type is clearly visible measured by time”7. The word stadium derives from the Greek in Stadium. Collapsing or doing away with scale makes it possible stadion, the literal meaning of which describes the distance of the to compare the city’s floor plan against the general structure of premier event in Ancient Greece’s Olympic Games. Between 776 its constituent parts: a collective artefact that explains Rossi’s and 724 BC, the stadion was the only Olympic event. Considered metaphor of the city as “a giant man-made house, a macrocosm the most important, it eventually became the last event –known as of the individual house of man”, thereby elaborating on Alberti’s the final stadion– and was defined as a distance between two points statement that “the city is like some large house and the house in equivalent to one eighth of a Roman mile (a little over 600 feet or turn like some small city.” (fig. 07). around 183 metres). The exhibition operates both as stadium and Questioning the stadium as a typology, the as measure of time and distance; it measures the present of a city exhibition is simultaneously an exploration of the city. The Piranesi against its past, the centre against its periphery (fig. 10). engraving Forma Urbis Romae was a key piece of the Stadium Stadium, in its second version and adaptation, curatorial brief, both in terms of recomposition of an archaeological confirms that architecture for museums not only records and site and of a sign of the crisis in the meaning of the parts in relation to celebrates buildings meriting preservation and dissemination in the whole. The image that comes to us from the layout of the National the same way a library does books, but also contributes to critical Stadium is not only of a city made invisible, and which suddenly debate about architectural practice. The exhibition addresses becomes stridently prominent when analogously compressed into issues that Rossi invited us to consider in 1966, questions about the building’s formal constraints, but also that of a city of islands, an typology, representation, history and memory. But beyond that, it archipelago of makeshift settlements lacking a masterplan (fig. 08). invites examination of the places where knowledge is produced in Sometime between 1760 and 1778, Piranesi also etched a view of the architecture, confirming museums’ place among them. The stadium Coliseum, archived under the title Veduta dell’Anfiteatro Flavio. The embodies a technique –that of channelling bodies through doors and monument’s significance for the city of Rome is understood in the corridors– implemented in a language (an aesthetic and grammatical prophecy made by the Venerable Bede: “As long as the Coliseum code that connects the building to the city) and a practice (specific, stands, so shall Rome; when the Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; when targeted planning)8. In this sense, the floor plan not only passively Rome falls, so falls the world.6” The Roman Coliseum’s capacity for represents the building’s delimited and constrained space but also symbolism is replicated in the stadium in Chile in that the edifice represents an active inscription of a broader process, one that represents the city in its entirety. Following the instructions contained is geographic and cartographic, but also historical and narrative. in the document and the drawing itself, laying the building over the Moving or relocating a formal research project outside the walls surrounding city articulates an aesthetic code. Set out in alphabetical of academia not only implies recording aspects of the research order –like so many other biopolitical lists produced by modernity and displaying them to a mass audience, but also building a new recording everything from victims to conscripts– the document first epistemological site that coexists with the project. Returning once separates the districts then the shantytowns, assigning each its own more to Rossi, architecture for museums would form the central axis sector and entrance for that day at the stadium. A, BB, C and HH not of a disciplinary discourse that aspired to cultural relevance and that only refer to the doors providing access to the building, but also to only later, in the hands of engineers, would take the form of buildings. the routes via which the city comes to it, converting residents into Museums open up a new space for architecture: the possibility of a proprietors and shifting housing from a social service to a consumer new location for knowledge with it own internal logic. good. On that day, the stadium not only becomes an instrument for administering bodies but also a tool for long-term governance of the city’s residents. These programmes coincided with the regime’s campaign to eradicate extreme poverty, an initiative directly aimed at strengthening its legitimacy. These housing programmes were not only intended to open the way for private development of all housing production, but also to ensure loyalty to the regime: loyalty to a mortgage, the fidelity of the indebted. The circular rhetoric of the stadium’s form is both metaphor and apparatus of its urge to delimit and rearrange the city. The oval geometry underwrites the fiction that knowledge 222 RA 21

Alejandra Celedón 05 Architect from Universidad de Chile, holds a Master from The Bartlett, and a PhD from the Architectural Association. Her docto- ral dissertation, “Rhetoric of the Plan”, studies the liaison between “The Beautiful Drawing” drawings and words, objects and discourse. Since 2016 she teaches and conducts research at Pontificia Universidad Catolica Exhibitions and de Chile on geopolitical, territorial and architectural strategies un- dertaken during the eighties in Santiago regarding the domestic. Architectural Education She currently teaches in history, theory and architectural design at the Master Programme. Curator of the Chilean Pavilion at the in Spain, 197x-199x. 16th Venice Architecture Biennial in 2018 and co-curator of “The Plot: Miracle and mirage” at the Chicago Architecture Biennial María Álvarez 2019. Architectural drawing exhibitions framed the cultural and ar- chitectural debate in the 1970s and 1980s. In Spain, this interest Notes Images developed in parallel with a renewal of the Schools of Architecture 01. The author acknowledges 01. Stadium and museum at the that was taking place during the process of democratization of the the contribution of CONICYT same scale. Stadium inside the country. The new curriculums aimed to confront the pedagogical Programme n. 79150067–co- museum (scale 1:40). Fuente: (c) crisis attributed to the education policies approved during the nomía política y retórica de la Felipe Fontecilla. technocratic period of Franquism. In this sense, the teaching of vivienda: estrategias arquitec- drawing would be, on the one hand, the result of the international tónicas y políticas urbanas de 02. Floor plan of Chile’s National contemporary context of the critique of modernity, and on the other, the possible solution to a highly technified pedagogy of vivienda en los años ochenta en Stadium drawn up by the architecture. The numerous architectural drawing shows and Chile. The author also thanks Ministry of Housing and Urban publications constructed a new “drawing ambience” that brought the Pontificia Universidad Planning to administer the to the foreground not only questions about the status of architec- Católica de Chile for the support signing of the title deeds. tural drawing within the architectural discipline, but also the more provided by the Vice-Rector for Source / Fuente: National crucial debate on the status of the professional architect. Academic Research. Library of Chile.

02. VIDLER, A., “Building within 03. Plan of Santiago showing Building”. In CELEDON, A., FELL, S., the locations of the settlements Stadium, Zurich, Park Books, 2018. represented in the Stadium on 29 September 1979. Source / 03. STACKHOUSE J., The State Fuente: (c) Curatorial team. of Housing, the Business of the State: the consequences of 04. Detailed view of the stadium housing and urban development floor plan showing the shape of policies developed by the entre- the real settlements it refers to. preneurial state in Chile, Docto- Source / Fuente: (c) Curatorial ral thesis. Syracuse University, team. USA, 2007, p 170, p 298. 05. Stadium, a building that ren- 04. VIDLER, A., “Building within ders the image of a city. Chile’s Building” and ZAMBRA, A. pavilion at the 16th Venice “Proprietor”. In CELEDON, A., Architecture Biennale. Source / During the 1980s, a series of architectural drawing exhi- FELL, S., Stadium, Zurich, Park Fuente: (c) Gonzalo Puga. bitions and publications –showing the work of the students– started Books, 2018. to proliferate to proliferateto proliferate. They were organized by the 06. Factory behind the exhibi- Architectural Graphic Expression Departments (Departamentos de 05. ROSSI, A., The Architecture tion used to build the stadium on Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica, E.G.A.) of the Spanish Archi- of the City, New York, Opposi- site in the Venice arsenal. tectural Schools. Comprendiendo Toledo [trans. Understanding tions Books, 1982, p 5. Source / Fuente: (c) Gonzalo Toledo], Dibujar Madrid [trans. Drawing Madrid], La Arquitectura de Puga. la Diputación de Barcelona [trans. The Architecture of the Council 06. Canter, H., (1930). The of Barcelona], Dibujar Valencia [trans. Drawing Valencia], Valladolid Venerable Bede and the 07. City of Arles. Dibujado [trans. Drawn Valladolid], etc.1 are some of the many titles Colosseum. Transactions and which reflected the prolific exhibiting and editorial practices of these Proceedings of the American 08. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, university departments during the last quarter of the 20th Century. Philological Association, 61, 150- plan of Rome based on the These publications compiled all the beautiful drawings produced 164. doi:10.2307/282798 Forma Urbis Romae. Source / either in the school workshop or in the different student trips made Fuente: Le Antichità Romane, to study the historical Spanish cities, in a way, emulating those 19th 07. ROSSI, A., The Architecture 1756-1757, vol. 1. Century sheets collections such as Bellezas y Recuerdos de España of the City, New York, Opposi- [trans. Beauties and Memories from Spain], España Artística y Mo- tions Books, 1982, p 5. 09 y 10. Stadium and museum numental [trans. Artistic and Monumental Spain] or Monumentos Ar- at the same scale. Stadium insi- quitectónicos de España [trans. Architectural Monuments of Spain] 08. LATHOURI, M., “Escribiendo de the museum (scale 1:40). (fig. 01). The graphic anxiety of the Spanish Schools participated la geografía intima de la ciudad”. Source / Fuente: (c) Carmen from the contemporary international context of growing interest in En: CELEDON, A., FELL, S., Sta- Valdés. architectural drawings, proven throughout the vast revision of histo- dium, Zurich, Park Books, 2018. RA 21 223

rical graphic materials starred by the famous exhibition at the MoMA apprenticeship for a very similar education to the one we nowadays in 1975, “The Architecture of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts”. As pointed know, mainly focused on design. As Guadet pointed out by the end of out by Helena Iglesias –chairman of the School of Architecture of the 19th Century, the competition system set by the French institu- Madrid–, this “radical revisionism” had its origin in the preparations tion tried to emulate the triple division of professional practice: first, for the bicentenary of the United States, which was preceded by the the architect conceives; then, he studies; and finally, he builds. Thus, bicentenary of Philadelphia (1974). Precisely, the American founda- the process of design had as its starting point the submission of the tional celebrations had triggered “the recollection of all the possible “esquisse”, twelve hours in which the student would be locked up –en antiquities that could be related with the year of 1776”2. As Iglesias loge– in a room at the Ecole in order to produce his interpretation asserted, in-between these two dates, that framed the show of the of the proposed building programme –a floor plan scheme– known MoMA, it would be achieved the “major collection and exhibition of as “parti”, or “decision”, from which it would derive the section and architectural drawings ever seen before”3. elevation. This “parti” was stamped with the seal of the Ecole and Many institutions participated in this historical revision kept at the institution, whereas the student would take a copy to the by opening their cabinets of drawings to the public. In the architec- atelier, where he would proceed to further elaborate the project by tural context, beyond the show of the MoMA, in which 200 drawings means of the production of the Projet Rendu11. It was precisely in this were carefully curated by Arthur Drexler (fig. 02), in 1977 the IAUS sense that Guadet had defined the education received at the Ecole (Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies) organized the review as “a theoretical preparation to practice”, or as he would remark, at of 45 years of history of the Architecture School of Princeton by the Ecole “one did not learn how to build, but to design according to exhibiting the work of 30 students, Princeton’s Beaux-Arts and its what is buildable”. Following the French architect’s statement, Neil New Academicism: From Labatut to the Program of Geddes. In 1981, Levine stressed that “the rendered project thus stood in relation the School of Columbia also celebrated its centenary by means of to the working drawing as Guadet’s notion of ‘buildability’ does to a show, The Making of an Architect, 1881-1981: Columbia University building”12. in the City of New York, which took place at the Columbia Univer- This way, beyond attempting to seduce a possible client, sity Science Building as well as at the National Academy of Design this “beautiful drawing” established, for the architects educated at in Washington, D.C. In Paris4, several exhibitions that researched the Ecole des Beaux-Art, a certain relation of analogy with the rigo- the work of the architectural students of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts rous process demanded by architectural construction. Furthermore, were also organized. Among them, it should be highlighted the show it confronted the future architect, not only with the problematics of coordinated in collaboration with the city of Athens under the title construction, but with the articulation of some intellectual attitudes Paris-Rome-Athens: Le voyage en Grèce des Architectes Français that made possible to consider such a construction as Architecture. aux XIXe et XXe siècles (fig. 03). It opened in May 1982 at the École So in order to achieve the high quality required by the Projet Rendu, Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and travelled to Athens, different courses either on drawing or geometry –fundamentally Houston and New York5. This exhibition searched for inspiration in based on the exercise of copying– would be taught at the Ecole. The two previous successful shows, sponsored in 1980 by the French students, by carefully re-drawing the architectures of the past, would Beaux-Arts, Le Voyage d’Italie d’Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Pompéi. conform a historical conscience that would allow them to dispose Travaux et Envois des architectes français au XIXe siècle6. These at will of these diverse examples ready to be reinterpreted into their were particularly important because they expanded the scope of own design processes. Hence, the “beautiful drawing” became, these exhibitions by displaying Classical Antiquity as one of the within the Ecole, the par excellence medium to learn and apprehend indispensable referents for the students of the Ecole. However, all Architecture. these exhibitions, either American or European, shared a common By means of the beautiful drawings, the revisionist argument: the new interest in the beautiful graphic materials of the exhibitions of the last quarter of the 20th Century did not only frame past came to confirmed the new architectural context of the crisis a contemporary context of critique of Modernity, but they also of Modernity, which exposed not only a contemporary disciplinary intended, as proven by the revisionist shows of Columbia, Princeton, crisis, but the crisis of the professional architect. the Architectural Association or the ETSAB, to reflect a context of In Spain, the growing interest in historical graphic mate- both professional and school crisis capable of triggering the neces- rials was also taking place. In fact, two major shows were organized sary renovation of the pedagogical institutions, which, particularly in the country in the year of 1977: Arquitectura para después de in Spain, would take place in parallel to the process of the political una Guerra [trans. Architecture for after the War] and Exposición Transition (Transición) of the country. Thus, with democracy on the Conmemorativa del Centenario de la ETSAB [trans. Commemorati- near horizon, but still in the context of the General Law of Education ve Exhibition of the Centenary of the ETSAB]7 (fig. 04). In the former, of 1970, the Spanish Schools of Architecture confronted, for the first one hundred drawings served to prove that, despite being presented time, the drafting of their own individual curriculum. A process initia- as “the definitive alternative to the abstraction of the European mo- ted with the School of Madrid in 1975 and ended with the enactment dern movement, which was introduced in Spain in the period of 1925- of the School of Barcelona curriculum in 1979. All of them shared a 1936 as one of its cultural elements”8, the academicism displayed by common feature: they reflected the primacy of drawing that was also the architecture of the period of the dictatorial autarchy, throughout invading the international cultural panorama. However, whereas the “historicist imaginaries”, was no more than the masquerade allowing curriculum of Madrid preserved the traditional division established to dress up “hidden rationalist concepts”9. In the latter, one thousand since 1957 among the courses belonging to the field of Architectural drawings of the students of the Catalan School celebrated not only Graphic Expression –that is, the triple division among “Geometry”, its centenary, but promoted a historical review of the School aiming “Technical Drawing” and “Analysis of Architectural Forms (I and II)”13– to trigger its future renovation under one main argument: “there is no (fig. 05), the School of Barcelona, at the time directed by Oriol Bohi- practice without memory”10. gas, adopted a more radical approach by erasing from its curriculum The elaboration of a clean drawing, perfectly finished, all those “new” courses incorporated following the Technocratic and ultimately, thoroughly constructed, gained a crucial importance laws of the dictatorship –”Analysis of Architectural Forms (I and II)”, through the teachings of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Until the creation “Elements of Architectural Composition” (“Elementos de Compo- of the first Academies, architects were trained within the secrecy of sición Arquitectónica”), and even “Technical Drawing”– in order to the guilds, where the apprentices studied the craft of architecture propose a common denomination, “Drawing”14. This way, they were through everyday practice next to a master. However, by means trying to make no distinction between a supposed Technical and an of the Projet Rendu, the Ecole was able to substitute this type of Artistic type of drawing. “Drawing I” would be taught in first year of 224 RA 21

Architectural studies and “Drawing II” in second (fig. 06), but they architect, which confronted, especially in Spain, the professional also introduced a new subject within the curriculum, “Drawing III”15 type that had starred the great economic expansion during the years (fig. 07), taught in sixth year, the last year of studies, as a mandatory of the dictatorship: the architecnocrat. The construction boom of course for those specializing in Architectural Design (Proyectos)16. the 1960s internationally triggered a disciplinary debate about the This decision would not only give unity and continuity to the teaching professional architect and about the crisis that the Schools of Ar- of drawing in the School of Barcelona, but it aimed to place the chitecture were facing in every country, particularly, trying to bridge pedagogy of drawing as an intrinsic part of the architectural project, the distance between professional practice and the Architectural and consequently, the project itself, at the core of the architectural School23. In the case of Spain, parallel to the approval of the new profession. curriculum promoted by the Technocratic government, a specialized After the approval of the new curriculums that conso- debate emerged questioning the excessive technicalization and bu- lidated the primacy of drawing in the Spanish Schools of Archi- reaucratization –the excessive professionalization– of the architect. tecture, the last impulse for the “graphic subjects” will be given by Many argued against a commercialized professional, whose only the approval of the “Law of the Reform of the University” (Ley de interests were “efficiency, profit and rationalization means…”24. It was Reforma Universitaria, LRU) in 1983. The LRU, famous for having stressed that the architecnocrat never thinks about “the social re- granted to the Spanish Universities their autonomy, promoted the percussions of a better or worse housing or transport policy; instead, creation of the “University Departments” –thus the “Department he rehearses one solution after the other, with no further worry than of Architectural Graphic Expression” was created as a different that of maximizing the benefits and minimizing the costs”25. In fact, entity to the “Design Department”– and allowed them to search for during the following decade, one of the main causes of the contem- founding beyond the budget provided by the State University. The porary professional crisis would be precisely attributed to the lack of article 11 of the LRU17, triggered the close collaboration between the attention paid to drawing within the Schools of Architecture during Schools and the Councils, Town Halls and Local Governments, which the period of the Technocracy. As Santiago Roqueta –Professor of promoted the vast amount of exhibitions and publications that were Drawing and Director of the ETSAB (1991-1994)– pointed out in his from this moment onwards organized. They opened a source of Doctoral dissertation of 1980, “although once the most important economic profit to the “Graphic Departments”, as well as confirmed, subject of the architectural course, in the last years, drawing has on the one hand, the primacy of drawing that invaded the cultural practically been a forgotten subject for architectural education”26. and architectural contemporary context, and on the other, the “social Consequently, in both professional and academic contexts, character” of drawing, able to explain some architectural concepts architects and critics reported on the devaluation of the role of the that “could not be expressed otherwise”18. In fact, the professors of architect when “plain rationalist form becomes the result of market the graphic department expected that, throughout the organization economy rather than the outcome of a compositional process”27. As of these shows, the use of architectural drawing would “become Antonio Fernández Alba asserted in 1981, this was the ultimate proof popular and function as a complementary understanding to a series of the “architect’s loss of operative value within the cultural context of internationally renowned works of architecture”19. Furthermore, by of our time”28. making these drawings within the context of the University, not only In this sense, both the production and exhibition of these their social projection would increase, but “graphic expression would “beautiful drawings” appeared as a way to gain back the “cultural be asserted as a key element for architectural education”; as the tea- operability” of the professional architect. Confronting the aseptic ching team of the School of Barcelona claimed, this was particularly drawing attributed to the period of the Technocracy, a “critical figura- relevant, precisely “in a moment in which the image of the architect tion” was emerging under the architect’s agency. The architect would appear[ed] to be such a undefined concept to the society”20. not longer be solely understood as a technician, but also as an inte- With the proliferation of exhibitions and publications, llectual. In the same way, architecture was not solely be understood the double condition of these drawings became evident. On the one as a craft, but it aimed to be comprehended as a political and critical hand, the strong pedagogical qualities contained within the process activity, exercised and completed within the project, or what is to say, of their elaboration could not be doubted; but on the other, these on the drawing board. sheets, precisely because of their reproduction and propagation In Spain, Oriol Bohigas –Director of the ETSAB (1977- through exhibitions and publications, inevitably became consuma- 1980)– had already stated the failure of society to provide the desig- ble. The new open possibilities to obtain founding by means of their ner with a “position from which being able to influence the context products rose up a series of questions regarding the activity of these with an ideological proposition”29. During the technocratic period, Departments. As Professor Masides, from the School of Barcelona, the consumer society assumed as their own the options derived would argue, these extraordinary fundings questioned the function from neopositivism, the analytical methodologies and the works of of the University within the broader realm of culture: “who are our the analysts of language, thus establishing, according to Bohigas, “a potential clients in the private or public context?” “What is actually neutral philosophy”, or what is to say, a philosophy “with no concept our “product”?” “What are the conflicts of interest that those com- of the world”30. In this sense, through the radical reform of the curri- mercial transactions might generate in the technical and professio- culum of the School of Barcelona and the incorporation of new tea- nal bodies?” “What is the optimum contractual and juridical form chers willing to accept and implement his new agenda (i.e. Santiago for them?” “How can we manage to avoid that such a polarization Roqueta, Monserrat Ribas, Lluís Clotet or Enric Soria), Bohigas was influences research and pedagogical activities?”21. In a postmodern trying to reclaim the rhetorical attributes of architectural drawing. As context, where culture was many times understood as a consu- he explained, “the radical transformations of the last years had tried mer good, the position adopted by the University as a “particular? to exile drawing, substituted by other interests considered as a prio- service company” made that issues such as “marketing production, rity”31. This made specially necessary “to underline the importance promotion and positioning of the Graphic Architectural Expression of the role of the techniques of representation, not only as a means Departments” became especially relevant, since they introduced, to correctly read buildings, but as elements able to explain concepts according to Masides, “the economical and commercial slang” into and intentions, attitudes and poetic predispositions”32. the so called “academic ”22. The constant dissemination of architectural drawings “... and in order for this reading and this knowledge to trigger the necessary by the Graphic Departments was not only confined to the display intuitions, it is necessary that they can be confirmed by means of drawing. of students’ work. These shows, precisely through the exhibition of Surely, it is the safest instrument to proceed with the analysis, in order to the drawings, proposed a very specific definition of the professional make the interpretation and to set the path for analysis and interpretation RA 21 225

towards the creation of a poetic of one’s own. Thus, the education of Despite all the contradictions in which any pedagogical sensitivity, essential in the qualification of the cultural contents and in the project may incur, the vast production of graphic materials from the formation of poetic contents, has to go through reading and representation, Schools of Architecture during the last quarter of the 20th Century which in the case of architecture means drawing as well as other collateral would undoubtedly contribute to the creation of a cultural atmos- elements”33. phere that, not only meant the revision of modernity, but the revision of the professional role of the architect. This curatorial work carried According to Bohigas, it was precisely the neoposi- out by the Architectural Graphic Expression Departments was not tivist attitude of the period of Technocracy that made society to confined to the preparation of the exhibition or the consequent pu- erase “any possibility of introducing an ideological perspective into blication, but it started at the workshop, comprising the process that the realm of technical education –for instance, by implementing goes from the selection of the architectural example to be redrawn measures such as the incorporation of the Schools of Architecture and the composition of the sheet, until that “beautiful drawing” was as part of the Polytechnic Universities–, and consequently, erased able to be hanged. all possibility for the “technicians” [as architects] to be educated In this sense, the exhibitions became one of the main as political men”34. This way, the proposed alternative was the agents of the contemporary architectural culture. Due to them, also recuperation of “the academic role of drawing” by means of the internationally, the pedagogical practices were incorporated as part traditional practice of “measuring the monuments”. However, the of the architectural discourse and became almost more relevant type of drawing adopted, would not be one with annotations and than the architectural practice of the architects-educators that measurements, where pure line, aseptic and neutral, becomes starred them. This ceaseless activity had as its main protagonist the protagonist. On the contrary, it would be the elaboration of a Schools as the Cooper Union, Princeton, Columbia or the Archi- “beautiful drawing”, no doubt inspired by the contemporary revi- tectural Association. The Spanish Schools unquestionably paid sionist exhibitions of the time, whose ideological quality lied firstly, attention to this international context with extreme interest43. In fact, in the substitution of the bare line by the extraordinary display of this period of graphic excellence would end for the Spanish Schools, watercolour, secondly, in the chosen models to be redrawn –which not only with the promulgation of the new curriculums in the 1990s – belonged to any historical period, although an emphasis was made which introduced a drastic cut in the hours for the drawing courses–, on the 19th Century–, and finally, in the composition of the sheet. but also, with the travelling of these drawings to the Furthermore, the ideological capacity of these drawings was in in 1991. Whereas the School of Madrid, noticing already the ending of direct relation to their ability to explain the city. As Helena Iglesias the protagonism of the graphic courses within the School context, pointed out, the “expressive character” of these drawings is also would only exhibit the results of their design courses, Barcelona, the expression of “the city in which we intervene, that reflects its maybe also aware of the ending of a period, exhibited only those eclectic and historicist architecture”35. In the same way, Javier beautiful drawings produced along that brilliant decade of the 80s Seguí defended that, the drawings of this new period of the School –Gaudí, the Alhambra, or some of the most experimental drawings, confronted that “reductionist and technocratic pedagogy” in order although beautifully executed, elaborated in “Drawing III”. to discover the “symbolic and representative roots that” linked Definitely, these exhibitions confirmed that architec- “men to places”36. The students redrew architectural references tural drawings, as Robin Evans stressed, are much more than mere such as the Palace of Congress in Madrid, the Northern Station (fig. “technical facilitators”44. Drawing is not only constraint to transmit a 08) and the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo in Valencia, the piece of information in order to enable construction, but it cons- architecture of Gaudí, the Architecture of the Deputation (fig. 09), titutes a fundamental channel for the creation and elaboration of or the facades of the Ramblas (fig. 10) in Barcelona, etc. All of them architectural concepts. It would be precisely this understanding of examples of an idea already set forth by Bohigas when explaining the discipline the one to be instrumentalized by these exhibitions of the collective dwelling houses of Barcelona, they responded to the beautiful drawings in order to propose a very specific type of profes- creation of a “pleasant city”, or, as stated by Iglesias, “the most vivid sional architect, confronted to the technocrat, able to articulate the image of the “polyglot” character of the modern bourgeois city”37. political and ideological dimension of the profession on the drawing Nevertheless, these beautiful drawings, contrary to what table. it could seem a sheet thoroughly elaborated by a ‘virtuoso,’ were the result of excessive hours of work, enough time “for people who had never done a drawing before –as Santiago Roqueta explained– ended up obtaining an excellent result, even by means of such a complicated technique as watercolor, … students would make, at least, a fantastic drawing in their lives in order to prove to themselves their capability”38. In a sense, they followed the democratic spirit of María Álvarez García these years, intending to erase the old selective attributes acquired Has completed a Doctorate in Applied Creativity (ETSAUN, Pam- by the graphic courses in the Architectural Schools during previous plona), History & Critical Thinking MA (Architectural Association, periods39. The School had been understood as the place for the London), and she is an Architect (ETSAUN, Pamplona). María elite and to confront this situation there was only one alternative: the has been a Teaching/PhD Fellow at the University of Navarra, creation of a “Critical School”40. This understanding of the University Visiting Lecturer at the School of Creative Arts of the University of would invade every pedagogical ambience –and as a consequence, Hertfordshire (Hatfield, UK) and invited critic at the Architectural also the drawing courses– as the par excellence argument for its re- Association (London). Furthermore, she has participated in diffe- newal41. However, despite the critical spirit of the beginnings –a beau- rent international conferences, and currently, she collaborates tiful drawing able to express a reflection on the architectural value of with Fundación Arquia as a blog correspondent. the project of the city– as the decade of the eighties progressed, this drawing would become selfabsorved (ensimismado), in the sense that its ultimate aim, rather than the expression of some architectural idea, would be the achievement of a sheet able to be “appreciated... and to be hanged on the wall!”42. This way, the beautiful drawing, once a critical piece, would become part of the same market mechanisms against which its recuperation was argued. 226 RA 21

Tekenkunst? In 1976, after the 10. Escuela Técnica Superior hours per week to the “graphic” Notes show of Italian Rationalism in the de Arquitectura de Barcelona, and 6 hours to “projects I” in 01. See the architectural drawing Triennale of 1973, Il Razionalismo ed., Exposició commemorati- second year, and in third year, the exhibition catalogues in the e l’Architecttura in Italia durante va del Centenari de L’Escola students will dedicate 7 hours per appendix. il Fascismo would be exhibited d’Arquitectura de Barcelona. week to “Projects II”. at the Biennale (14th July to 10th 1875-76/1975-76, E.T.S.A.B., Bar- 02. IGLESIAS, Helena, “Dibujo October). Already in the 1980s, celona, 1977. 15. “Drawing III” (“Dibujo III”), as de arquitectura y “cuadro-dibujo it should be mentioned the show stipulated by the curriculum, had de arquitectura””, Arquitectu- at the London Fischer 11. See: CARLHIAN, Jean Paul, been proposed as a “subject de- ra, 1995, n. 304, p 22 (author’s Gallery, British and European Ar- “The Ecole des Beaux-Arts: Mo- pending on the Department”. This translation). chitectural Drawings, 18th – 20th des and Manners”, JAE 33, 1979, courses would be “coordinated Century: an Anthology in 1982 or, n. 2, pp. 7-17. by the Chairmen of the field” and 03. Iglesias will also point out that in the same year in Hannover, the their teaching would be generally the “works for the preparation of show that exhibited the drawings 12. LEVINE, Neil, “The competition assigned “to all the professors of the Bicentenary would turn the of Piranesi, Inventionen: Piranesi for the Grand Prix in 1824: a case that field and, specifically, to the United States upside down. I do und Architektur Phantasien in study in architectural education at ones assigned to that course”. not think that there is a paper, der Gegenwart. Also in Europe in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts”, AA.VV. See: Estudios de Primero y object or fabric of the period 1984, it is important to highlight The Beaux-Arts and Nineteenth- Segundo Ciclos, Escuela Técnica that had not been exhibited”. the exhibition organized in Paris Century French Architecture, ed. Superior de Arquitectura de Bar- See: Ibid. by the Pompidou, Images et Robin Middleton Thames and celona, UPB, Barcelona, Septiem- Imaginaires de l’architecture. Hudson, Londres, 1982, p. 123. bre 1980 (author’s translation). 04. Now, it would be explicitly Particularly in this show, not only pointed out the importance of the historical materials would be 13. This subject would be 16. The different branches of writing the texts of the cata- revisited, but also drawings by complemented with another knowledge offered to the students logues that, in the same way contemporary architects would course, also inspired by the law in the second part of the degree Drexler or Middleton had done be incorporated, thus sharing a of 1957 and created together with were organized in two “specializa- in the case of the Beaux-Arts, common argument about the re- “Analysis of Architectural Forms”, tions:” “Specialization in Design, could contribute to explain, presentation of architecture. By that was introduced as a course Urbanism and History” and through theoretical essays and the end of the 1980s, in 1989, the in-between the “graphic” subjects “Specialization in Building”. Both of commentaries, the proliferation Canadian Centre for Architectu- and those belonging to the realm them provided the students with of graphic materials as well as re would organize in Montreal an of “projects” (architectural de- different optional subjects. The to through light on the fields of exhibition to commemorate the sign): “Elements of Architectural former was divided into three diffe- art and architectural pedagogy. first decade since its creation. Composition”. It was taught in third rent groups for Design, Urbanism Furthermore, scholars from Paris In this show, the prestigious year, preceded by “Analysis of and History & Theory; the latter, would also stress that the majo- institution did not only share Architectural Forms II” in second into another three, one for Structu- rity of theses studies had been the materials of its archive, but year and followed by “Projects I” res, one for Construction and ano- made in English, so it was still edited a famous publication (Proyectos I) in fourth year. Thus, ther one for Services. See:Normes missing a precise and detailed including essays by Robin Evan a proper course in design (or Generals, Escola Tècnica Superior history of one of the most repre- and Helene Lipstadt, Architectu- projects, as it is literally translated d’Arquitectura, UPC, Barcelona, sentative cultural institutions re and its Image: Four Centuries from the Spanish) was not incor- Septiembre 1980. of their country in French. See: of Architectural Representation. porated within the Architectural Catalogue of the exhibition Paris- studies till fourth year. This way, 17. “The University Institutes, and Rome-Athens: Le voyage en 07. See: Escuela Técnica the role of design in first, second their professors being part of Grèce des Architectes Français Superior de Arquitectura and third years would be assumed them, could engage in contracts aux XIXe et XXe siècles (Paris: de Barcelona, ed., Exposició by the so-called “graphic courses”, with different public or private École Nationale Supérieure des commemorativa del Centenari distributed in 17 hours per week in entities, or with a physical person, Beaux-Arts, 1982). de L’Escola d’Arquitectura de first year, 6 hours in second and for the realization of scientific, te- Barcelona. 1875-76/1975-76, ET- 12 hours in third under the subject chnical or artistic works as well as 05. École Nationale Supérieure SAB, Barcelona, 1977; see also: of “Elements of Architectural the development of specialization des Beaux-Arts (12th May to TUSQUETS, Óscar; AMADÓ, Ro- Composition”. courses. The University By-Laws 18th July, 1982); Pinacothèque ser, DOMÈNECH, Lluís; CAPITEL, will establish the procedures in Nationale d’Athènes, Musée Antón; SAMBRICIO, Carlos, eds. 14. “Geometry I and II” (Geome- order to authorize such contracts Alexandre Soutzos (15th October Arquitectura para después de tría Descriptiva I y II) would be and the criteria for the implica- to 2nd January, 1983); The Mu- una guerra 1939-1949 [exhibition established as an independent tions of the obtained benefits and seum of Fine Arts, Houston (1st catalogue which took place in field of knowledge to that of the goods”. In: “Ley Orgánica 11/1983, Julay to 4th September, 1983); November-December, 1977, at so called “graphic courses”, but it de 25 de Agosto, de Reforma IBM – Gallery of Science and Art, the Museo de Arte Moderno de would be developed in a parallel Universitaria”, B.O.E., 1 Septiembre New York (2nd February to 24th Madrid], Colegio de Arquitectos way to “Drawing I and II”. The eli- 1983, n. 209, p. 24035 (author’s March, 1984). de Cataluña y Baleares, Comi- mination of the ambiguous course translation). sión de cultura, Barcelona, 1977. of “Elements of Architectural 06. Besides the already mentio- Composition” allowed the catalan 18. GARCÍA NAVAS, J., et al., ned, many other architectural 08. CAPITEL, Antón, SAMBRI- school to introduce the course of “Trabajo realizado por la Cátedra drawing exhibitions took place CIO, Carlos, “Arquitectura para “Projects” already in second year, de Dibujo II, para el Ayuntamiento in those years. Among them, después de una guerra”, El País, 8 thus coexisting with the graphic de Barcelona”, AA.VV. Actas del it could be pointed out the Diciembre, 1977. courses and responding to the I Congreso de Expresión Gráfica celebration of the 125 years of already mentioned intention of Arquitectónica. Sevilla 3, 4 y 5 de the Architectural Association in 09. AMADÓ, Roser, DOMÈNECH, introducing the first year student, Abril de 1986, Junta de Andalucía. 1972, and, in December of the Lluís, “Barcelona, los años 40: since the very beginning, into the Consejería de Obras Públicas y same year, another impor- Arquitectura para después de problematic of real architectural Transportes. Dirección General tant show opened in Brussels una Arquitectura”, Cuadernos de concepts. This way, they will de Arquitectura y Vivienda, under the title of Architecture arquitectura y Urbanismo, 1977, dedicate 13 hours per week to the Sevilla, 1986, p. 101 (author’s art du dessin? Architectuur n. 121, p. 4. “graphic subjects” in first year, 9 translation). RA 21 227

19. Ibid. 28. Ibid., p. 44. cronología histórico-biográfica sity, NY; Palacio de los Condes de la ETSAB desde 1962 a 1974”, de Miranda, Burgos)”, later 20. Ibid. 29. BOHIGAS, Oriol, Proceso AA.VV. Materiales para un Análi- published in BELLOSILLO AMU- y Erótica del Diseño, La Gaya sis Crítico de la Enseñanza de la NATEGUI, Javier, ed., Proyecto 21. MASIDES SERRACANT, Ciencia, Barcelona, 1978, p. 177 Arquitectura, ETSAB, Barcelona, y Didáctica: ¿Hacia una nueva Modesto, “Perspectivas de Cap- (author’s translation). 1975, p. 22. forma de Academia? Servicio tación de Recursos de los Dep. de Publicaciones del COAM, de E.G.A. en el Marco del Nuevo 30. Ibid., pp. 140-142. 40 “... But this solution, the crea- Madrid, 1983. Ordenamiento Legal Universita- tion of the Technocratic Universi- rio: de la Autarquía al Marketing”, 31. Ibid., p. 38. ty, is not the necessary solution 44. EVANS, Robin, “Architectu- AA.VV. Actas del I Congreso in order to obtain a true response ral Projection”, en Architecture de Expresión Gráfica Arquitec- 32. Ibid. to the students’ necessities. The and its image, four centuries of tónica. Sevilla 3, 4 y 5 de Abril only possible solution would be Architectural Representation: de 1986, Junta de Andalucía. 33. BOHIGAS, Oriol, “El Dibujo y achieved within the context of an Works from the Collection of the Consejería de Obras Públicas y la Sensibilidad”, AA.VV. Dibujos. University with no class privilege; Canadian Centre for Architectu- Transportes. Dirección General Selección de ejercicios realiza- however, this is not possible re CCA, Montreal, 1989, p. 21. de Arquitectura y Vivienda, dos en 6 curso de la ETSAB en- right now, so we only have one Sevilla, 1986, p. 49 (author’s tre los años 1978-1991, ed. Enric alternative: the creation of a Cri- translation). Soria, UPC, ETSAB, Barcelona, tical University”. See: E.T.S.A.B. 1991, p. 11. Professors Meeting held on the 22. Ibid. 26th November 1968, in: Ibid. p. 34. BOHIGAS, Oriol, Proceso 17 (author’s translation). Images 23. The different Conferences y Erótica del Diseño, La Gaya 01. Federico Kraus. “Grana- from the International Union of Ciencia, Barcelona, 1978, p.178 41. “... But in any case, what within da. Fuente central y detalles Architects that took place along (author’s translation). the school context should always del Patio de los Leones en la be done is to connect both, 1960s showed the current preoc- Alhambra.” Monumentos Arqui- cupation about the professional 35. IGLESIAS, Helena, “Introduc- graphic and conceptual teaching status as well as the critical ción” a Dibujar Madrid: análisis y by means of the ‘critique’”. See: tectónicos de España. Stone; situation of the Architectural propuestas gráficas sobre arqui- “Arquitectura de los años 80”, lithographic pen, ink and pencil. Schools. In fact, in 1965, the tectura madrileña. Trabajos reali- ANNALS de Arquitectura, 1983, 745x600 mm. Drawing by Rafael VIII Congress of the I.U.A. was zados en la Segunda Cátedra de n. 3, p. 96 (author’s translation). Contreras y Muñoz. dedicated to “the Formation of Análisis de Formas Arquitectó- the Architect”. A decade later, in nicas de la E.T.S. de Arquitectura 42. CLOTET, Lluís, ROQUETA, 02. Interior of the exhibition 1975, before the persistent crisis de Madrid bajo la dirección de Santiago y SORIA, Enric, “Una catalog. Drexler, Arthur. The of the Schools, the U.N.E.S.C.O. Helena Iglesias, Comunidad de conversación sobre el dibujo architecture of the Ecole des would commission a report to Madrid, dirección General de Be- en la escuela de arquitectura”, Beaux-Arts. Nueva York: The Mu- the I.U.A. where the following llas Artes; Ministerio de Asuntos AA.VV. Dibujos. Selección de seum of Modern Art; Cambridge, questions would be set out: “what Exteriores, Dirección General de ejercicios realizados en 6º curso MA: The MIT Press, 1977. kind of architect? What kind of Relaciones Culturales, Madrid, de la ETSAB entre los años education?” See: Report by the 1984, p. 16 (author’s translation). 1978-1991, compilación Enric UIA (Union Internationale des Soria, Escuela Técnica Superior 03. Catalog of the exhibition that Architectes) to the request of the 36. SEGUÍ, Javier, “Medio de Arquitectura de Barcelona, took place at the École nationale UNESCO, De la Formation des Ambiente, Dibujo y Formación Barcelona, 1991, p. 23. supérieure des Beaux-Arts, May architectes. Studies made on six Arquitectónica”, Comprendiendo 12 to July 18, 1982, at the Pina- world reports at the request of Toledo, ed. Javier Seguí, Colegio 43. As it can be proven by cothèque nationale d’Athènes, U.N.E.S.C.O., U.N.E.S.C.O., París, Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid, the numerous international Musée Alexandre Soutzos, Oc- 1975, pp. 3-4. la Delegación de Toledo, Madrid, congresses, workshop, etc. that tober 15 to December 15, 1982, 1983 (author’s translation). took place along those years. For and at The Museum of fine Arts 24. ELIZALDE, Javier, “Análisis instance, it could be consulted (Houston), June 17 to September crítico de la realidad social que 37. See: BOHIGAS, Oriol, TUS- the summary of texts presented 4, 1983. Hellman, Marie Christine; configura el trabajo del arquitec- QUETS, Óscar, Diàlegs a Barce- in the International Conference Fraisse, Philippe; École natio- lona, Editorial Laia, Ajuntament of Architectural Education at the to en España”, AA.VV. Ideología y nale supérieure des Beaux-Arts Enseñanza de la Arquitectura en de Barcelona, Barcelona, 1986, ETSAB in 1980. Among its atten- la España Contemporánea, ed. pp. 20-21. dees were Alvin Boyarski (Archi- (Francia); Jaques, Annie. Paris- Antonio Fernández Alba, TUCAR tectural Association, Londres), Rome-Athens: Le voyage en Ediciones, Madrid, 1975, pp. 114- 38. See: “Entrevista a Santi Lars Lerup (University of Berke- Grèce des Architectes Français 116 (author’s translation). Roqueta. El dibuix com a eina de ley, ), Robert Slutzky aux XIXe et XXe siècles. París: diàleg i coneixement”, Eupalinos, (The Cooper Union, Nueva York), Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 1983. 25. Ibid. 1999, n. 6, pp. 9-10 (author’s Jorge Silvetti (Harvard, Mas- translation). sachusetts), Rodolfo Machado 04. Josep Puig i Cadafalch 26. ROQUETA, Santiago, “Tra- ( School of Design, 1891, “Monumental Bridge.” tado de Dibujo”, Tesis Doctoral, 39. These concerns were already New England), Antonio Fernán- Last exercise. Watercolor and ETSAB-UPC, Barcelona, 1980 pointed out by both the profes- dez Alba and Antonio Vázquez ink, 137x83 cm. Graphic File (author’s translation). sional and academic debate as de Castro (ETSAM). See: BRAVO ETSAB-UPC. Drawing exhibited well as by the students’ protests I FERRÉ, Lluís y GARCÍA NAVAS, at the Exposició commemora- 27. FERNÁNDEZ ALBA, Antonio, against the course of “Techni- José, eds., L’Ensenyament de “El Ocaso de una Profesión. cal Drawing”-for being a highly l’Arquitectura, Publicacions del tiva del Centenari de L’Escola El lugar de los Arquitectos en selective subject and having an Colālegi Oficial d’Arquitetes de d’Arquitectura de Barcelona. la Sociedad Industrial”, CAU. outdated content-that took pla- Catalunya, Barcelona, 1980; see 1875-76 / 1975-76 that took place Construcción. Arquitectura. ce in the beginning of the 1970s also: “Seminario Internacional de from January 25 to February 27, Urbanismo, 1981, n.70, p. 43 in Barcelona. See: MUNTAÑOLA Arquitectura y Diseño Urbano en 1977 at the National Palace of (author’s translation). THONBERG, Josep, “Breve USA y España (Cornell Univer- Montjuic, Barcelona. 228 RA 21

05. Javier Murat Agreda, “Axo- Graphic Archive of the ETSAB- 06 nometric section of the Royal UPC Library. Drawing published Palace of Madrid.” Watercolor, in: Universidad Politècnica de graphite pencil and red ink. Catalunya. Càtedra de Dibuix Exhibited architecture. 57x90, 70x100 cm. Drawing II. Arquitectura de la Diputació published in: Iglesias, Helena. de Barcelona. Dibuixat pels Artistic transitions on Arquitectura en el Palacio estudiantes de l’Escola Tècnica Real. Dibujos realizados en la Superior d’Arquitectura de Bar- architectural photographic Segunda Cátedra de Análisis de celona, dirigits pels professors Formas Arquitectónicas de la Jordi Bertran i Castellví, Josep representation E.T.S. de Arquitectura de Madrid Bosch i Espelta, Modest Masi- bajo la dirección de Helena des i Serracant, Ignasi Rivera i Iñaki Bergera Iglesias. Madrid: Reales sitios Buxareu i Jordi Vila i Robert, de Españoles, 1991, pp. 78-79. la Càtedra de Dibuix II, al llarg Enrique Jerez del curs 1986-87. Barcelona: 06. Yolanda Boto González, Diputació de Barcelona, Escola If we can state that certain architectural production currently “Colonia Güell Church”, frag- Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura finds its origin and explicit accommodation in the field of the ment of the facade. Watercolor de Barcelona – Universitat exhibition, it is even more logical -considering the unavoidable on paper, 100x70 cm, Graphic Politècnica de Catalunya, 1988, visual culture- to assert that the images of architecture prevail Archive of the ETSAB-UPC lámina I. autonomously over the architecture they represent, becoming independent of the strictly disciplinary and exhibited illuminated Library. Drawing published in the aura of the artistic on the walls of a museum. To explore this in: Universidad Politècnica de 10. Joan Maria Barrufet, “Fa- argument in line with the subject from the current Ra’s issue, we Catalunya. Càtedra de Dibuix II. cade of the Rambla,” Drawing will review eight exhibitions, and their corresponding catalogues, Gaudí dibuixat pels estudiants II course 1984-85, watercolor held in different museums and art galleries from 1982 to 2018, and de l’Escola Tècnica Superior on paper, 100x70 cm. Graphic focused on exploring architectural photographic representation d’Arquitectura de Barcelona, Archive of the ETSAB-UPC and its translations to and from artistic practices. We aim not just dirigits pels professors: Santia- Library. Drawing published to make an exhaustive review of this reality, but to extract from its go Roqueta Matías, José García in: Margarit, Joan. Poema per analysis a contemporary critical reading of its potentialities and Navas, Javier Monedero Isorna, un fris: Façana de la Rambla, interpretations. Antonio Pérez Rodríguez, dibuixada pels estudiants Ernest Redondo Domínguez i de l’Escola Tècnica Superior Monserrat Ribas Barba, de la d’Arquitectura de Barcelona. Càtedra de Dibuix II, al llarg del Barcelona: ETSAB, 1987. curs 1983-84. Barcelona: Ayun- tament de Barcelona, Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona – Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 1985, lámina IX.

07. Josep María Fort Mir. Study of a pavement for a public place in Diagonal. Watercolor made in the subject of Drawing III in the 1983/84 course. Drawing pu- blished in: Soria Badia, Enric, ed. Dibujos. Selección de ejercicios realizados en 6º curso de la “Architectural photography is a closed system that refers strictly to its ETSAB entre los años 1978-1991. own canons of representation and only tangentially to the architecture in Barcelona: ETSAB, 1991, p. 53. question”. Lewis Baltz1 08. Héctor Conesa Hernán- dez, “General View Platform Introduction Undeniably, it is through its images that and Cover,” marker on paper architecture best presents and represents 59x42 cm. Drawing published itself, where it is revealed and unveiled. in: Universidad Politécnica de Architecture, as object and space, is there Valencia, E.T.S. de Arquitectura, but its images –when the actual and Departamento de Expresión phenomenological experience does not Gráfica. Dibujar Valencia III, obstruct it– become not only documents in themselves, but a Estación del Norte. reading and interpretation of it. Ever since the pop artist Ed Ruscha photographed some dull buildings in a street, and Bernd 09. Original drawing by Germà and Hilla Becher collected typologies of industrial buildings, tanks Català Torras, “Maritime and granaries or, later, Andreas Gursky explored the architectural Museum, Facade on the Paseo stages of the global consumer village, the photography of buildings de Colón de Drassanes.” Water- has fed off the aura of the artistic imbued with a potential that the color on paper, 100x70 cm. discipline of architecture, similarly subject to the rhythms of visual RA 21 229

culture, can no longer dismiss and ignore. This same complexity also phic collection Robert Elwall –a foretaste of his influential publication attracted artist-photographers of the ‘new topography’, the urban Building with Light first printed in 20046– where he sketched out voids or non-places and today continues to influence in some ways a the critical framework for analysing the extent of the relationship new intense architectural awareness of its own rich periphery. between buildings and their images. The catalogue progresses from Furthermore, today, artists such as Josef Schulz or Philipp Schaerer European gothic, to classical ruins, the first iron-constructed archi- are digitally manipulating architecture or directly projecting a tecture of the 19th century, the urban environment of the great Wes- fictitious architecture through photomontage, intended exclusively tern capitals, Russian , the architecture of Bauhaus, to be appreciated and exhibited as art. The identity and appearance the monumental and dynamic character of industry, the city as the of architectural language, thus loses its primary imperative to theme for the photographic collage, artistic contributions to archi- become exclusively an object of artistic and critical interpretation. tecture, the periphery, the construction processes, Having thus articulated these themes –the transfers of and the architecture of the great American practitioners from the the architectural image to and from the artistic universe– which is in- modern era. For the first time the artist’s perspective on architecture creasingly attracting attention as a research field, it therefore seems and the city was presented –Lewis Baltz, Bernd y Hilla Becher, Jan exciting and worthwhile to conduct research based on a rigorous Dibbets o Gordon Matta-Clark, among others–, for whom the urban and symptomatic connecting thread. We will examine the catalo- landscape and its buildings were not just a subject but a means of gues of eight exhibitions that were held in various museums and art exploration. galleries between 1982 and 2018, focused on exploring this subject In 2002 interest in this topic moved to France7, where from two angles. Firstly, celebrating the fact that the exhibitions were the Museum of organized another monographic exhibition themselves an example of ‘exhibited architecture’ by their physical gathering items from a number of institutional lenders and indivi- presence in spaces intended for artistic and cultural dissemination. duals8 (fig. 03), chronologically linking the two previous events for And secondly, by portraying the observable evolution of the relations the first time offering “an evolutionary perspective of all photogra- and reciprocal influence of art and architecture through the unitary phic production from the 19th century to the present”9. However, in medium of its visual representation. By the use of this supporting contrast to its predecessors the main weight of the exhibition’s narra- documentation, we do not aim to review a set of catalogues but to tive and catalogue was organized around names and the date of birth weave together a series of critical and theoretical comments and of the selected authors. The story starts with exhibits from the very thus assess the potential outcomes and interpretations of the disci- hands of the medium’s ‘inventors’, such as Louis-Jacques Daguerre plinary transition and convergence. and William Henry Fox Talbot, and the famous authors of the Mission héliographique like Édouard Baldus, the Paris of Eugène Atget, who Eight exhibitions We will begin our account in 1982, with a serve to inspire a firstly pictorialist, then modernist fascination for the for one NARRATIVE catalogue from the first exhibition great New York metropolis. The low-angle industrial scenes of Eugen dedicated to the single theme of architectu- Wiskovski opened the door to the ‘new vision’ of Man Ray, Aleksandr ral photography, Photography and Ródchenko, László Moholy-Nagy, etc. In this succession of authors, Architecture: 1839-19392 (fig. 01). Its whose works hint at certain thematic motifs such as the destruc- curator Richard Pare3 had been appointed tion of cities in war, begins a chronological exploration of the 20th a few years earlier by Phyllis Lambert –founder of the Canadian century combining the main architects responsible for architectural Centre for Architecture (CCA)– to create the museum’s own modernity (Werner Mantz, Lucien Hervé, Julius Shulman o René photographic collection, from which the exhibits were gathered. Until Burri) with others contributing a more personal regard view on these this point, the CCA’s collection, and therefore the catalogue, mainly “architectural vistas” (Ed Ruscha and the Bechers and their disciples contained photographs from the 19th century. The first part of the from the Düsseldorf School). If the previous exhibitions were used exhibition covered chronologically the origins of photography in the to present the theme, this made another step towards the overwhel- United Kingdom and , placing particular emphasis on the ming rotundity of its categorization, which presents us with a legacy archaeological photography of the traveller. A second section took that indisputably demands attention and recognition. its theme from the pre-modern fascination for the city –including the We then come to 2011, a decade in which the research perspective of classical authors that shifted between tradition and and publication potential of the material acquired exponential inter- modernity, such as Eugène Atget, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, est. The initiative came from the Museum of Architecture of the Mu- Berenice Abbott and Walker Evans–, primarily a panoramic vision, nich TU in Germany. The exhibition and its catalogue10 (fig. 04) was but also focused on documenting the processes for building selected from the museums own collection, displayed for the first skyscrapers in the burgeoning metropolises of the United States. time. The title, Photography for Architects, reflects a clear didactic The documentation of this odyssey puts the accent for the first time focus rather than speculative. The exhibition sought to show useful on the narrative –and on the author’s own gaze–, and not just on the and stimulating content for architects and students placing special object and the objective. The review of this personal history of emphasis on the instrumental value of architectural photography for architectural photography finishes by presenting the emergence of analyzing and carryout out projects. With a greater concentration on the avant gardes, with four photographs of various examples of the pre-modern era of the 19th century, the regard from and towards modern architecture in Germany. The catalogue is certainly art is limited to the occasional –and then categorical– reference, pioneering in uncovering the themes and tracing out a first roadmap such as the work of the Bechers. The first and longest thematic sec- to establish the canons and orthodox contents of the inter-discipli- tion of the publication “Photographs as a source of motifs and forms nary discourse4. for architects”, was mainly centred in the pre-modern 19th century Almost ten years later, in 1991, the London gallery The and the early 20th century and was structured geographically. The Photographers’ Gallery5 arranged a selective exhibition of items second section “Photography as a support for design” reviews exam- donated from museums and collectors (fig. 02). In some ways it pic- ples of the instrumental aspects of the medium. The third section ked up the baton left by the CCA exhibition, but placing the accent “Photography for the documentation of buildings”, gathered various on modernity rather than preceding episodes from the nineteenth building processes from architectural and engineering works. The century. The authentic texts that accompany the catalogue made last section “Architect and photographer”, tackled the circumspect this exhibition the first serious attempt to trace the relations between client relations between both professions with examples given of photography and art and their derivatives in the contexts of art. It is successful collaborations such as between Le Corbusier and Dr. worth highlighting the text from the keeper of the RIBA’s photogra- Lossen, Egon Eiermann and Georg Pollich, Eero Saarinen and Ezra 230 RA 21

Stoller or Mies van der Rohe and Hedrich-Blessing. It was therefore Notes and concepts Having related these experiences of an exhibition of photography designed by and for architecture, of an for a review exhibitions, we now move on to review them endogamous nature and with hardly any echoes of the indispensable in order to extract certain conclusions, conceptual or artistic influences. starting from the realization that the Continuing with the Central European focus, the next positioning of architectural photography in exhibition took place two years later in Switzerland, in the Fotomuseum an artistic context is evidence of the Winterthur in Zurich, thanks to a series of institutional and private loans identity and potentia- lities of this photographic sub-genre. The (fig. 05). It consisted of a curated project, with the same perspective image of architecture transcends architecture itself and its as the previous events, that tackled the general theme of photography endogamous intermediation. The key to exploring its potential reach and architecture in depth –to which the 440 pages of the voluminous derives simply from the uses that can be made of it, and artistic use catalogue are testament11– with a transversal rather than linear appro- in particular. The primal neutrality of the visual representation of ach, a complex narrative that seeks answers to the questions that the architecture is specified by the characteristic rhetoric of its theme raises. The catalogue design is coherent and contemporary operative and media contexts and, initially, by the nuances implicit in combining documentary rigor and a serious speculative assessment. its authorship, more profiled if possible in the case of the artistic Several headings for the eighteen sections in the catalogue –Grand gaze. The images that explore the latent potential and tensions of tour: from Talbot to Koolhaas” or “Construction, decline and des- architectural space provide their own narrative that eventually truction”– clearly express the evident attraction of the peripheral endow these photographs with the aura of the artistic. The visual influences –the aesthetics of the ordinary, ideology, power, destruction, ‘contaminations’ humanize the readings we make of constructed etc.– in the canonical discourse of architectural photography. space, making it more believable, questioning and seducing us more The catalogue12 (fig. 06) does not present any signifi- by what they do not say than by what they show. cant advances on the previous exhibitions, either in the selection of Of all the possible graphic representations of archi- photographs or in the number and depth of its texts. The catalogue tecture without doubt, photography captures its formal and spatial reproduces seventy-five photographs arranged chronologically reality more directly and truly. It is symptomatic that most architec- from 1842 to 2004. Their selection and display is justified more from tural exhibitions that have taken place and take place in galleries and an historiographical and stylistic contribution –with regard to the museums base their discursive thread on the primordial role of the evolution of architectural language– than from a critical objective. photographs (to the detriment of plans and mock-ups) to the point In other words, it is a question of the institutional contribution of the of claiming that an exhibition of architecture has in reality, come Californian museum to the current international dialogue. to be seen as an exhibition of architectural photography. On top of In 2014 one of the most significant and synthetical this realization and acknowledgment that photography does not exhibitions included in this account was held in the Barbican Centre guarantee the verisimilitude of the photographed object, we must in London. It was called Constucting Worlds. Photography and Archi- contextualize our critical reflection on the theme from the herme- tecture in the Modern Age13 (fig. 07). Similar to the exhibition held at neutics of the image, for example, the theories of Gadamer, who the Museum of Grenoble in 2002, but this time centered around the liberates the image from the icon or reflection of what it represents, modern and contemporary eras, the curator’s narrative was articula- granting it its own autonomy. The image is polarized between what ted around the names of the eighteen selected photographers, from is seen in it and what it represents, between the strictly visual and Berenice Abbott to Iwan Baan. Both were given equal treatment and the contents of the visible. Viewed from the perspective of art, an therefore a certain co-responsibility in the account. Following them, architectural photograph, endowed with the aura of the artistic would were authors that represented an explicit or personal artistic vision for Gadamer be imbued with a kind of ontological ‘increment’ of the such as Ruscha, the Bechers and their disciples Struth and Gursky, represented thing, in this case architecture: “The content from the those connected with instrumental photography such as Shulman image is determined ontologically as an emanation of the original and Hervé, or those that documented globalised contemporary image”17. A good photograph for Gadamer –with aesthetic and con- societies contextually such as Guy Tillim, Bas Proncen and Nadav ceptual values– is not a copy of the original, but adds to and presents Kander. The catalogue14 is a useful resource from a documentary additional content to the represented thing. perspective and should be reviewed in parallel with the book Shoo- However, with various meanings and nuances, as we ting Space. Architecture in Contemporary Photography15, a com- have seen in this review, certain photographer-artists –or artist- plementary and coetaneous publication from one of the curators photographers– have approached architecture from its meaning as that continued the Barbican exhibition’s discourse but widening the an object (notably the Bechers and their disciples). In furtherance of range of authors, and grouping them thematically, with a discussion the ‘new objectivity’ originating in Germany in the 1920s, this practice that hinged even more explicitly on photographic practices that were of photographers towards architecture is an expression of ‘straight justified by architecture, as their pretext. photography’, a useful photography that disassociates itself from the Although the Barbican show might be said to continue distinction between image and object. Yet this modus operandi was and close the connecting thread of this discourse, we will conclude so artistic that in its straining to revise the interpretive scope of the this account in 2018, with the last exhibition, Image Building16, held in architectural object it finished by erasing and dissolving it, really and the Parrish Art Museum in New York state from loans from a total of metaphorically, as occurs in the photographs that Hiroshi Sugimoto twenty-five institutional donors and individuals(fig. 08). The exhibi- takes of the icons of 20th century architectural modernity (fig. 09) or tion ignored the pre-modern era to deliberately focus more on the with Thomas Ruff’s project l.m.v.d.r. in which he visually re-elaborates images than the authors. Starting with Abbott, the number of photo- the legacy of Mies Van der Rohe. graphs and artists represented is relatively reduced, as many of the Previously we have written about the ethical aspects catalogue’s photographs –inserted into the main text written by the that have compromised and compromise the uses and abuses of ar- curator– feature the same authors, such as Shulman and Stoller. As chitectural photography in their professional contexts, defending as in previous catalogues, the book also includes photographs from the a valid possible alternative a support in the discourses and strategies ‘new topography’ of the Düsseldorf School, as well as photographers arising from this other architectural photography generated from representing the new sensibility (Hélène Binet) or critical realism within the universe of the artistic18. An example of this transformation (Iwan Baan), with whom they lay out the visual discourse of contem- has been explored by Phillip Ursprung analysing the collaboration porary architecture. between and the photographer Hans Danuser19. RA 21 231

Ursprung explains this collaboration as stemming from the contami- If the concept and identity of what we call architectural nation, within architecture and by way of the photographed object, photography is broad and diverse, so also is the profile and nature of the so-called ‘ironic turn’20, “a transition born out of the notion of of the agents responsible for its particular artistic expression, architecture as a system of signs, like a text or a language that can including artists, photographers and architects who use photo- be read, which understands architecture as an experienced image graphy. The success and popularity of architectural themes in the that affects the observer”21. Walter Niedermayr, who had done world of contemporary artistic photography to some extent lies in similar work to Danuser and Zumthor in this case with SANAA22, also their fascination for exploring, conceptually and documenting the faithfully represents this desire to search for, in the visual represen- critical aspects of the ordinary lives of city-dwellers and citizens. tation of architecture, a revelation of something hidden in the simple And life evolves in urban spaces, places for work and leisure, and documentation of the visible. Niedermayr in his work looked to “make especially the domestic domain. Yet why is this artistic exploration a photograph of something that allowed something to appear in the of the ordinary conducted through the medium of photography? photograph that was not visible itself, in the sense of being recogni- Because it is the medium of the every day. “The photographic has zed as the original image of the representation”23. achieved its greatest significance for art in its adaptability. This has been the source of its radical potential, of its fascination for artists Artistic impregnacion “Architecture tell us as much about the and its extraordinary capacity for renewal27. In particular, it is when of the visual historical state of photography as photography delves into and dwells on the city, through reporting, representation of architecture: photography about the historical status of that architecture serves as something more that simple background potentialities and architecture”24. The instrumental roles of scene. The architecture is expressed as urban space and in it is interpretations both disciplines are interchanged and encountered the life that gives the architecture meaning. As Gloria overlapped by means of their representa- Moure writes “the current interactive, experimental and semiotic tion. And this relation is further enriched by competition between concept of artistic creation, places architecture and urbanism in a influences and artistic strategies. The fact that architectural fundamental aesthetic place, as it is within the urban landscape that photography was used for instrumental and documentary purposes this conception finds its best application”28. –as exemplified best by the Mission héliographique of 1851 in We have seen in these exhibitions that architectural France– constricted it within the bounds of the purely imitative and it photography –and on occasions architecture itself– becomes had to adorn itself with a pictorialist approach to reach a higher and “artistic” when it directly incorporates an unequivocal critical and nobler plane and to construct an artistic dialogue with painting. The conceptual dimension. The regular presence of the work produced review of exhibitions that gave special attention to 19th century by the artist Ed Ruscha in the 1970s is significant. His photographic architecture reveals this clearly. work is artistic without appearing so, not for technical or aesthetic A century later, notably from the 1970s and 1980s, the reasons but for the message it conveys. We venture to compare its role of photography in the world of contemporary art and its means importance to that of Deschamps role in the modern era’s avant of dissemination achieved an importance that reached, if not sur- garde. The transformation of a urinal into a “Source”, to extract an passed the level of painting. Henceforth embedded in the discourses ordinary object from the sterile contexts of everyday normality to of post-modernism and conceptual art, both photography and endow it with artistic value through authorship could be similar to the architecture were inspired to explore the potential of their social consecrating effect of Ruscha’s casual photographs on the archi- roles as mediums of representation. Architectural photography thus tecture and urban spaces that he portrays as an objet trouvé, rather remained definitively atomized –with its logical spaces of confluence than car parks, petrol stations and the strip developments of the Ca- and interchange– between professional and artistic practice25. lifornian boulevard. Ruscha’s amateurism eschewed an interest in the To the extent that the overlapping of photography architecture and the photography. “I am not really a photographer. and architecture transcends mere visual reproduction of an object Photography is a pastime for me” His architectural photographs are enabling its sought-for alienation and the corresponding polysemio- simply a conceptual artistic activity that paradoxically subsequently tic interpretation by the photographer as author, yet also the obser- influenced the way of making and viewing architecture29. ver as receiver, we can affirm the logical placement of this photogra- If orthodox architectural photography experienced its phic sub-genre within an artistic development rather than among moment of apogee in post-war modernity with the Shulmans, Stoller, aseptic technical procedures. Photographs are not taken, they are etc. as primary exponents of that brilliant and mutable capacity made; the photographer constructs the photograph visually, as the –and Ruscha’s oeuvre mentioned above– or that of Dan Graham30– architects materially shapes the building. Therefore, the review of transforming it by imbuing it with a clear conceptual and critical these exhibitions’ contents could be in itself a review of the history of dimension, the work of the Düsseldorf School’s photographers, the photograph, from the pictorialist and documentary photograph firstly, Bernd and Hilla Becher and then their disciples, Candida of the 19th century, on to the new objectivity and experimentation Höfer, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, etc., in contrast turned into of the modern avant gardes and the fascination for the ordinary and the definitive artistic apogee of the relational scope of images and generic of the 1970s. architecture. From the 1990s their grand-scale pristine photographs It is symptomatic that the exhibition New Topographics: reappraised of the contemporary art market and its commercial and Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape26 occupies a central place exhibition spaces. Architecture, through their photography, entered in the transformation of artistic photography of the second half of the museum –literally and metaphorically– through the front door. the 20th century, as demonstrated by the repeated presence of the The neutrality and technical preciosity of the pieces participating artists in the exhibitions we have reviewed. The referen- explore rather the urban complexity of industrialization: “the contem- ce to the Bechers, along with Stephen Shore, Lewis Baltz and Robert porary city can be understood as a kind of palimpsest: while its surfa- Adams connects us back to the idea of the critical conceptualization ces may be potentially photogenic, underneath are hidden complex of the gaze on the building. For the artists of the ‘new topographics’ social and political relations”31. Urban photography thus finds a clear architecture was not a self-contained autonomous subject, but accommodation with the artistic sphere when in the wake of the rather a discourse to transmit ideas by adhering to aesthetic codes, definition of non-places or terrain vague the photographers explore a formalist sub-strata and aesthetic verging on minimalism. The the peripheries, the places in transition or ruined and abandoned abstraction of the delineated architectonic mass brings us back to a places. Thus, a professional practice that consecrates the aesthetics poetics that transcends the simple documentation and recording of of decontextualized architectural forms is replaced by –in continuity architecture and urban spaces. with the critical re-evaluation of modernity– an emancipatory pro- 232 RA 21

fessional practice of an artistic nature firstly virtuoso then focused of conceptual art: photography does not record but rather abstracts on the complex dynamics of the contemporary city and its undefined or appropriates through its own language the interpretative essence spaces, latent, peripheral and also abandoned. Photography explo- of architecture. The representation of architecture abandons its res the temporal tensions and contradictions between the new and accommodation to be imbued with the characteristic transforma- the old, development and decline. And this architectural-other also tions of a new geopolitical and globalized time and space. And, from becomes, through the images, an architecture for museums. this representation, architecture itself is readapted and configured in Architectural photography has been able to evolve from accordance with the new demands that its image generates. It is not its role of documenter and witness to finish illuminating not only the its photograph exhibited in a museum, but architecture itself, which narration of architecture’s progress but its embodiment of the eco- is the lens through which we can look upon the world “Architectu- nomic, cultural, social and artistic contexts which it serves. The fact ral photographs in any of their facets (professional or artistic) has that architecture is influential as a carrier of visual narrative in the contributed to changing the view of actual architecture, as they have spheres of art and culture is symptomatic of the processes of trans- infused like a fine rain the diffuse and scattered aesthetic percep- formation that the discipline has undergone at certain critical mo- tions of the relevant works in their collective reception as an artistic ments. As Ursprung states, “the research into the relations between and cultural fact”35. photography and architecture appears convincing because it reveals Note: At the time of the final proofreading of this text for processes that appear hidden when the histories of architecture and its publication on Ra Journal, the exhibition “Fiction and Fabrication” photography are examined separately”32. An intersectional analysis is taking place at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology of the relations between photography and architecture in the light of (MAAT) in Lisbon (March 20 to August 19, 2019). This exhibition their artistic interactions throws an even more disinhibiting regard on and its catalogue (GADANHO, Pedro (ed.), Fiction and Fabrication, both, if no other necessities intervene. Photography of Architecture after the Digital Turn, Hirmer Verlag, , 2019) would constitute the ninth, and almost definitive, con- Conclusions This journey through the discourse of tribution to this particular account: photography no more documents almost four decades between the first and the architectural object, but transcends it being photography what last of the eight exhibitions, linking the end digitally generates it in an unequivocally critical and artistic context. of the 20th century with the strictly contemporary, suggests a clear interpretive map. The first conclusion is that instrumen- tal architectural photography does not only document but also Iñaki Bergera interprets and manipulates its appreciation. Beyond professional Associate Professor of Architectural Design at the University of orthodoxy and through the artist’s intentional prism, the Zaragoza. He holds a PhD in Architecture and a Professional De- architecture’s representation is used to explore and reveal through gree from ETSAUN [School of Architecture University of Navarre]. multiple aesthetic strategies the cultural, social, economic and He holds a Master in Design Studies with Distinction (History and political conditions that underlie the collective experience and Theory of Architecture) from Harvard University. His doctoral understanding of the constructed fabric. As Alberto Martin has dissertation on Rafael Aburto was awarded and published by written, up until the 1980s architectural photography evolved through Arquia Foundation. A specialist in Spanish contemporary archi- “its search for autonomy as a creative practice, its broadening out tecture and in architecture and photography, he has produced and opening of its thematic field to anonymous and vernacular a wide research, published numerous scientific articles, written architectures, town planning, topography, peripheries, typologies or and edited more than 20 books and catalogues and contributed the rereading of modernity and its icons”33. In the later decades to around 40 international conferences. He was head researcher architectural photography has revisited these aspects more deeply, of the MINECO project “Photography and Modern Architecture richly and intensively, as the globalized complexity of contemporary in Spain” and curator among others of two exhibitions hosted by society has grown. the ICO Museum in Madrid (2014 and 2017). His work has received Therefore, our progress through these eight exhibition the Chicago Athenaeum Prize 2014, the COAVN Prize 2019, 2013 catalogues, enables us to construct a kind of historiography of and 2010, and the Saloni Prize 2006 - he was finalist in 2010 and the artistic movements of architectural photography and finally to 2007 - and was selected as finalist of the FAD Prize 2013 and 2010. confirm and justify the logical accommodation made between ar- Orcid ID 0000-0001-5497-4212 chitectural photography and the ecosystem of museum and gallery exhibitions. Photography is the ideal means of communication for Enrique Jerez architecture but it has also been transformed in the hands of artists Doctor and Assistant Professor of Architectural Design at the into an efficient and coherent means to critically analyze the cons- University of Zaragoza (accredited as Contratado Doctor since tructed space. Pictures of unbuilt or projected architecture are also 2015). He graduated as architect from ETSAUN in 2004 with useful for enriching architectural criticism through certain curatorial Honours and was awarded a PhD at the University of Valladolid practices. Thus, the exhibited image of architecture, becomes the in 2012. His doctoral dissertation studies built and unbuilt design filter to understand and analyze the societies and cultures in which it proposals for Spanish pavilions in International Exhibitions of the is erected. Reviewing the progression that these exhibitions lay out last century. His research then turned towards strategies in pro- up to present times we can affirm that architectural photography ject processes, in relation to modern and contemporary Spanish no longer documents to conserve or construct an account of what architecture, and particularly to exhibition pavilions, temporary exists but to explore all the potential facets of our permanent trans- architecture and domestic architecture. His built work has been formation. It is symptomatic that the last exhibition was entitled “How awarded, exhibited and published in the Spanish Biennial of Archi- photography transforms architecture” inverting the original process tecture and Urbanism (2018), the COAVN Awards (2019, 2013), the of simple documentation completely into the transformation of the Arquia/Próxima Awards for young Spanish architects (2012) and discipline itself (fig. 10). the Castile and Leon Architecture Awards (2018, 2011). Architectural photography should, said Ursprung, “pro- Orcid ID 0000-0003-2058-7198 vide an orientation within the spatial order that is no longer capable of giving reliable reference points”34. In and from the sphere of exhibi- tion spaces, architectural photography is vested with the objectives RA 21 233

Notes Unido. Language: English. For- in the photographic collection introduction by Alona Pardo 01. GREFF, Jean-Pierre; mat: 210x297mm, 93 pages. 74 of the Architekturmuseum TU and Elias Redstone, curators MILON, Elisabeth, “Interview photographs. Other contents: München. of the exhibition; text by David with Lewis Baltz - Photography preface by Sue Grayson Ford Campany; notes; selected is a Political Technology of (director of The Photogra- 11. AA.VV., Concrete. Fotografie bibliography; biographies of the the Gaze (1993)”, in American phers’ Gallery); texts by Martin und Architektur, Fotomuseum authors of the catalogue and the Suburb X, March 2011. https:// Caiger-Smith, Ian Jeffrey, Winterthur, Scheidegger & exhibition. www.americansuburbx. Robert Elwall, Janet Abrams y Spiess, Zürich, 2013. Coun- com/2011/03/interview- Peter Greenaway; List of pho- try: Switzerland. Languages: 15. REDSTONE, Elias (ed.), interview-with-lewis-baltz.html tographs, in alphabetical order German, English. Format: Shooting Space. Architecture [9.10.2018] of their photographers. 215x285mm, 440 pages. 233 in Contemporary Photography, photographs. Other contents: Phaidon, London, 2014. 02. PARE, Richard; LAMBERT, 06. ELWALL, Robert, Building the catalogue contains several Phyllis; EVANS, Catherine; with Light. The International texts with a clear transverse 16. LICHTENSTEIN, Therese, MUNSTERBERG, Marjorie, History of Architectural Photo- nature, which do not follow a Image Building. How Photogra- Photography and Architecture: graphy, Merrell, London, New certain order and are signed by phy Transforms Architecture, 1839-1939, Canadian Centre York, 2004. different authors; its final part Parrish Art Museum, New York, for Architecture, Callaway includes the credits of the ima- 2018. Country: United States. Editions, Montreal, 1982. 07. As a foretaste the CCA’s ges and texts, as well as the bio- Language: English. Format: Country: Canada. Language: itinerant show “Photography graphies of the 12 authors that 220x310mm, 144 pages. 57 English. Format: 310x255mm, and Architecture: 1839-1939” contribute to the publication. photographs. Other contents: 284 pages. 147 photographs. was exhibited in the Pompidou prologue and acknowledgments Other contents: introduction Centre in Paris in February 12. BALDWIN, Gordon, Architec- by Terrie Sultan, director of by Phyllis Lambert; text by 1984. ture in Photographs, The J. Paul the Parrish Art Museum; list of Richard Pare; biographies of Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the 25 donors of the exhibition; photographers, cataloged 08. The items came from 2013. Country: United States. Marvin Heiferman’s essay; text following the same order as institutions and museums Language: English Format: by Therese Lichtenstein; list their 147 photographs; selected like the Museum d’Orsay, the 190x225mm, 112 pages. 75 of the 57 photographs in the bibliography; index to locate Canadian Centre of Architec- photographs. Other contents: catalogue, arranged according the photographs by different ture, the National Library of before the catalog with the 75 to the alphabetical order of their criteria: photographers, places, France, the Pompidou Centre photographs, the publication corresponding photographers; architects, etc. and elsewhere. introduces a text by Gordon acknowledgments of the author Baldwin, entitled “Points of view: and photo credits. 03. On Richard Pare and the 09. AA.VV., Vues photographers and architectu- details of this curatorial assig- d’Architectures. Photographies re”; after the photographs a list 17. GADAMER, Hans Georg, nment see: BERGERA, Iñaki, des XIXe et XXe Siècles, Musée of them is presented, with their Verdad y Método. Fundamentos “Conversation with Richard de Grenoble, Réunion des corresponding technical data de una Hermenéutica Filosófica, Pare”, in ZARCH, n. 9, Decem- Musées Nationaux, Grenoble, (photographer, title, date, origin, Ed. Sígueme, , 1977, ber 2017, pp. 178-193. Paris, 2002, p. 5. Country: printing information, dimensions p. 189. France. Language: French. and catalog number). 04. Before the second Format: 215x270mm, 232 18. See: BERGERA, Iñaki, monographic exhibition takes pages. 176 photographs. Other 13. The exhibition took place “Photography and architecture. place, this road map to which content: introductory text by at the Barbican Art Gallery in From technical vision to art we refer has a new notable Serge Lemoine (director of the London from September 25, and phenomenological (re) episode for the purposes of Grenoble Museum); texts by 2014 to January 11, 2015; later it vision”, in CAIRNS, Graham (ed.), selective bibliography on the Anne de Mondenard, Michaël traveled to the Swedish Center Visioning Technologies. The Ar- subject. In 1987, five years after Jakob, Dominique Baqué and for Architecture and Design in chitectures of Sight, Routledge, the exhibition and catalogue Olivier Tomasini; biographies of Stockholm, from February 20 London, 2017, pp. 105-118. of the CCA, Architecture the photographers, accom- to May 17, 2015; and, finally, an Transformed was published in panied by the files of their adjusted version could be seen 19. AA.VV., Seeing Zumthor: the United States, a book that photographs in the catalogue at the ICO Museum in Madrid Images by Hans Danuser, Schei- aspired to narrate the “history and a short bibliography of between June 3 and September degger & Spiess, Zürich, 2009. of building photography” from each of them. 6, 2015. its origins. A book, in short, that 20. The German professor complements the catalogue 10. NERDINGER, Winfried (ed.), 14. PARDO, Alona; REDSTO- Gottfried Boehm and the of the CCA. It is a publication Fotografie für Architekten, Die NE, Elias (eds.), Constructing professor of the University of of architecture photography Fotosammlung des Architek- Worlds. Photography and Chicago WJ Thomas Mitchell with little affection in relation turmuseums der TU München, Architecture in the Modern Age, diagnosed simultaneously in to the artistic solicitations of München, 2011. Country: Prestel, München, London, New the 90s what they denominated the genre. See: ROBINSON, Germany. Language: German, York, 2014. The Spanish edition as “iconic turn” and “pictorial Cervin; HERSCHMAN, Joel, English. Format: 240x310mm, is PARDO, Alona; REDSTONE, turn” respectively, the origin of Architecture Transformed: a 240 pages. 253 photographs. Elias (eds.), Construyendo Mun- the “science of the image” in the History of the Photography of Other contents: introduction dos. Fotografía y Arquitectura context German and “visual stu- Buildings from 1839 to Present, and 5 short texts by Winfried en la Era Moderna, Fundación dies” in the Anglo-Saxon area. MIT Press, London, 1987. Nerdinger (director of the ICO, La Fábrica, Madrid, 2015. See: GARCÍA VARAS, Ana (ed.), Museum of Architecture of the Country: United Kingdom. Filosofía de la Imagen, Ediciones 05. CAIGER-SMITH, Martin; TU of Munich between 1989 Language: English. Format: de la Universidad de Salamanca, CHANDLER, David (eds.), Site and 2012); biographies and 215x265mm, 280 pages. 139 Salamanca, 2011. Work. Architecture in Photo- agencies of the photographers photographs. Other contents: graphy since Early Modernism, whose works appear in the preface by Jane Alison, director 21. URSPRUNG, Philip, “Surface The Photographers’ Gallery, catalogue; index of all the iden- of the Visual Arts Department at tension: Peter Zumthor and London, 1991. Country: Reino tifiable photographers present the Barbican Center in London; Photography”, in CAPETI- 234 RA 21

LLO, Christina; TOFT, Anne 29. COLEMAN, A. D., “I am Images 07. Cover of the catalogue Elisabeth (eds.), Questions of not really a photographer”, in 01. Cover of the catalogue Constructing Worlds. Photo- Representation in Architecture, FOGLE, Douglas (ed.), The Last Photography and Architecture: graphy and Architecture in the Arkitektskolens Forlag, Aarhus, Picture Show: Artists Using Pho- 1839-1939, 1982. Modern Age, 2014. 2015, p. 87. tography, 1960-1982, Walker Art Source: PARE, Richard; LAM- Source: PARDO, Alona; REDS- Center, Minneapolis, 2003, p. 22. BERT, Phyllis; EVANS, Catheri- TONE, Elias (eds.), Construc- 22. On the artistic relations- ne; MUNSTERBERG, Marjorie, ting Worlds. Photography and hip between architects and 30. The work of Dan Graham, Photography and Architecture: Architecture in the Modern Age, photographers, see: VASSALLO, Homes for America (1966), 1839-1939, Canadian Centre for Prestel, München, London, New Jesus, Seamless: Digital Collage collected in some of the exhi- Architecture, Callaway Editions, York, 2014. and Dirty Realism in Contempo- bitions presented in this text, is Montreal, 1982. rary Architecture, Park Books, the maximum expression of the 08. Cover of the catalogue Ima- Zürich, 2016. photo-essay, where images and 02. Cover of the catalogue Site ge Building. How Photography texts dialogue in the cons- Work. Architecture in Photo- Transforms Architecture, 2018. 23. BÖHNE, Gernot, Theories truction of a critical as well as graphy since Early Modernism, Source: LICHTENSTEIN, des Bildes, Wihelm Fink Verlag, artistic discourse about the new 1991. Therese, Image Building. How München, 1999, p. 108. See suburbs of the American city. Source: CAIGER-SMITH, Martin; Photography Transforms Ar- also: KÜNG, Moritz (ed.), Walter CHANDLER, David (eds.), Site chitecture, Parrish Art Museum, Niedermayr / Kazujo Sejima + 31. CAMPANY, David (ed.), Art Work. Architecture in Photogra- New York, 2018. / SANAA, Hatje and Photography, Phaidon, phy since Early Modernism, The Cantz Verlag, Ostfilddern, 2007. London, 2003, p. 110. Photographers’ Gallery, London, 09. Hiroshi Sugimoto, Villa 1991. Savoye –Le Corbusier, 1998. 24. LEE, Pamela M., “The 32. URSPRUNG, Philip, “On the Source: LICHTENSTEIN, Austerlitz Effect: Architecture, use and abuse of photogra- 03. Cover of the catalogue Vues Therese, Image Building. How Time, Photoconceptualism”, phy of architecture”, in FITZ, d’Architectures. Photographies Photography Transforms Ar- in FOGLE, Douglas (ed.), The Angelika; LENZ, Gabriele (eds.), des XIXe et XXe Siècles, 2002. chitecture, Parrish Art Museum, Last Picture Show: Artists Using Architectural Photography and Source: AA.VV., Vues New York, 2018, p. 136. Photography, 1960-1982, Walker its Uses, Birkhauser Verlag, d’Architectures. Photographies Art Center, Minneapolis, 2003, Basel, 2015, p. 13. des XIXe et XXe Siècles, Musée 10. Iwan Baan, Torre David, 2011 p. 186. de Grenoble, Réunion des Source: PARDO, Alona; REDS- 33. MARTÍN, Alberto, “Fotógrafo Musées Nationaux, Grenoble, TONE, Elias (eds.), Construc- 25. A clear case of this separa- y arquitecto no miran igual”, in Paris, 2002. ting Worlds. Photography and tion in the analysis of the nature Babelia, suplemento cultural de Architecture in the Modern Age, and scope of “professional” and El País, 22.8.2015, p. 11. 04. Cover of the catalogue Fo- Prestel, München, London, New “artistic” architectural photo- tografie für Architekten, 2011. York, 2014, p. 259. graphy can be seen in the two 34. URSPRUNG, Philip, “On the Source: NERDINGER, Winfried consecutive monographic is- use and abuse of photogra- (ed.), Fotografie für Architekten, 10. Cover of the catalogue sues that Rosa Olivares devoted phy of architecture”, in FITZ, Die Fotosammlung des Archite- Fiction and Fabrication. to the subject, with that double Angelika; LENZ, Gabriele (eds.), kturmuseums der TU München, Photography of Architecture meaning respectively, in Exit Architectural Photography and München, 2011. after the Digital Turn. Source: magazine. See: “Arquitectura I. its Uses, Birkhauser Verlag, GADANHO, Pedro (ed.), Fiction La mirada profesional”, in Exit, n. Basel, 2015, p. 19. 05. Cover of the catalogue and Fabrication. Photography 36, November December 2009 Concrete. Fotografie und Archi- of Architecture after the Digital - January 2010 y “Arquitectura 35. MARCHÁN FIZ, Simón, tektur, 2013. Turn, Hirmer Verlag, Munich, “La percepción estética de las II. La mirada del artista”, in Exit, Source: AA.VV., Concrete. Foto- 2019. n. 37, February-April 2010. arquitecturas a través de la fo- grafie und Architektur, Fotomu- tografía”, in Exit, n. 37, February- seum Winterthur, Scheidegger & 26. The exhibition was held at April 2010, p. 33. Spiess, Zürich, 2013. the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, in 06. Cover of the catalogue Ar- 1975. Selected artists were chitecture in Photographs, 2013. the following: Robert Adams, Source: BALDWIN, Gordon, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Architecture in Photographs, Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Angeles, 2013. Stephen Shore y Henry Wessel. See: AA.VV., New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape, Steidl, Gottingen, 2013.

27. CAMPANY, David (ed.), Art and Photography, Phaidon, London, 2003, p. 11.

28. MOURE, Gloria (ed.), La Arquitectura sin Sombra, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona, 2000, pp. 14-15. RA 21 235

07 se erected in the southern façade– establishing a symmetric balance between the elements and a certain play of volumes. The museum holds along its axis of symmetry, a north-south-oriented gallery, and Interventions in the to each side of this axis, two symmetric cubic empty spaces in the shape of two covered courtyards. This gallery is located on ground Rijksmuseum: the floor and is the passageway which connects the piece to the urban fabric dividing the building into two pieces. reinvention of the museum This segregation of both functions –as a museum and as a connecting element of the building and the city– forces the Aurora Fernández architect to project two symmetric entrances in the northern façade to each side of the passageway in relation to each courtyard. The interventions within the Rijksmuseum offer us an opportunity The museum area, on ground floor, is left divided into to raise new concepts linked to museum-related functions and two volumes. However, on level one, it retrieves its spatial unity, esta- its relationship with the city. The Rijksmuseum museum was born blishing some sort of circulation around the atriums. The courtyards with a series of conditions that have forced the building to be used are of use to illuminate the passageway and the semi-public urban under two superimposed premises: its form and museum-sort spaces which give service to both the museum and the public space. typology and its unique condition as a symbolic gate connec- The passageway uses the building as its hinge to incorporate the ting the centre and south of the city via this passageway. These urban dimension to the museum’s typology. The idea has an impact two superimposed premises have been key in its interventions, on the concept of unity behind the building and its relationship with revealing disparate situations throughout history, turning it into the museum, the street and the city. The passageway with its sym- an unfinished project. These functions - as a museum and as an bolic gate associated to the museum and the entrance to the city of infrastructure of connection - are linked and intertwined, therefo- re affecting the nearby spaces of the museum and its relationship turns it into a stage: Cuypers uses the passageway as a with the city. The analysis of the interventions carried out till now - cultural interior space which exhibits the collection of the museum including the last one by the architects Cruz y Ortiz - unveil a new and enables a relationship with the citizens. set of functions associated to the museum, creating a heteroto- The passageway is projected with a domed ceramic pia by means of a series of constellations that correspond to a structure anchored by refined iron latticework and decoration. The cultural and leisure-kind-of-space, that broadens the museum’s pedestrian walkway is clearly separated from that of the carria- function and project’s the day to day life of the city distinguishing ges, differentiated in height and type of paving(figs. 03 A and B). it from those particular spaces of the museum itself. The side walls of the archery of the passageway are covered with vertically-cut glass pieces. The north and south façades of the passageway have metallic doors, symbolizing the “new entrance doors” to the city created by the “infrastructures of transport”2. The façades opening towards the courtyards joined by the passageway are designed as urban façades, as exterior elements, with the aim of creating a rela- tionship between society and art. Thus, on the first floor, a series of windows are placed to illuminate the inside whilst on the second floor the openings do not let light in but constitute more of an ornamental element. These openings are decorated with a series of which cover the entire surface area connecting the cultural function of the museum and the space –open to the public– covered by skylights (fig. 04). In the northern and southern façades, on top of the passageway a series of covered cantilevered balconies could be seen. In the northern one, a vast glass window with a vertical-kind of rhythm is projected, opening towards the centre of the city. It New Babylon ends nowhere (the earth is round), it knows neither borders (since no national promotes symmetry in terms of its volume and its elevation creating economies exist) nor collectivities (since humanity fluctuates). Each place is accessible to a small entrance hall to the museum, to which one has access via a part and to the all of it. The entire earth becomes home for its owners. Life is the end of a the two staircases placed in parallel to the passagewa. In the case journey around the world which is changing so fast that it always seems to be another. of the southern façade, a partially-closed balcony with a niche as the (Constant, H.: 1974) coronation element of the gallery –as if it were an altar– is projected. Here is where the star painting of the museum is placed, which is Conclusions The Rijksmuseum museum locates itself in ’s Nachtwacht. The structure of the gallery, named the a building designed by the Dutch architect “Gallery of Honour”, is projected in the image of a nave of a church Pierre H.J. Cuypers at the end of the XIX oriented towards Rembrandt’s painting and just above the passa- century. Once the first project for its geway. construction is presented, he is obliged to It understands the museum as a “total work of art”, Ge- open an urban passageway within the samtkunstwerk3: The museum is the union of all the fine arts reunited building, enabling it to connect the centre of the city with the south of in just one building, distancing itself from the idea of a picture gallery it. This passageway emerged from the planning carried out by J. G. with less wall surface area where to exhibit the paintings and less van Niftrik en 18661, along an axis parting from the set of channels of storage area too. The excess of light of the spaces around the court- the centre of the city reaching its southern side (fig. 02). yard force a number of successive reforms. The museum grows until The passageway, the infrastructure, is placed on top of it becomes an “unfinished work”, a building in constant renovation. the north-south axis of the museum. Cuypers’ proposal reveals the contradictions under The design consists of an articulated prism with its four which the Rijks museum is projected: What is a museum? And what corners shaped by a series of differentiated volumes –especially tho- are the conditioning elements that an infrastructure –the passa- 236 RA 21

geway– creates when, as it is so in this case, it is not linked to the There is also a great debate regarding the museum. function of the museum in the building. Is this function of the museum There are two main questions which arise regarding museographic subordinated to the urban project? Is the connecting passageway a projects: Should the museum grow unlimitedly? And, what should new utopic proposal of the outskirts? the contents of the exhibitions be? These events set the attention The urban connection finds its limits in the backs of back on the Rijks museum, the passageway and its relationship with the bourgeois villas which draw a spare space at the rear end of the the city. buildings4: remnant public space. The urban space from the passageway retrieves its pedestrian condition allowing cyclists as well, however, eliminating AVENUE MUSEUM The museum is extended towards the south road traffic. Activism has come to be part of the streets and uses of with different constructions which public space in Amsterdam. complement its museum-like and urban The reshaping of the public space located at the back of functions. They create a complex of the museum turning it into a square –what today is known as Museu- volumes around the main building, creating mplein– during the mid-1990’s, transforms this vast area in a leisure an “open space” which expands the sort of area around the neighbouring museums. These museums connection of the passageway from the centre towards this empty create their extensions opening towards this garden, something unplanned space with the will of establishing a direct relationship which gives back the passageway its urban function of public infras- between the Rijks museum5, the city and the new neighbourhoods tructure, even if by then it was considerably deteriorated. –still to be planned– towards the south. There is a plan carried out to try and organize and im- Museum and passageway, building and infrastructure prove the spaces of the museum and its relationship with the Museu- of connection, they turn into spaces in permanent construction and mplein. The museum is completely obsolete and the museographic change. The functional relationship between the main building, the proposal is linked to retrieving the concept of museum suggested spaces created with the southern fragments of the museum, the by Cuypers and the lost relationships between the passageway, the rupture of the building with the passageway and the location of the museum and the city, to turn the museum into a modern cultural museum in relation to the channels and the idea of a rear space space with sense and coherence. acquire an ambiguous character, denaturing the relationship with the passageway and therefore, with the city as well. A series of solutions THE MUSEUM OUT In the year 2001 there is call for tenders –a are given where the urban outcome in relation to the museum are FOR TENDER restricted international competition is changing: villa-museum, garden-museum, avenue-museum (figs. 05 carried out– for the rehabilitation of the A, B, C and D). museum which included among its aims: the In 1928 a new opportunity arises in terms of suggesting maintenance of the passageway as an urban new urban relationships between the museum, the passageway and connection, the improvement of accesses, the vacant urban space towards the south. The winning proposal of circulations and installations of the museum and the inclusion of a the competition of the concerts hall shows a large connecting ave- plan for the layout of the gardens within their urban context. The aim nue with the Rijks museum, coinciding with the idea also submitted to was to find a proposal which did not search to create a conflict as a the contest by Cornelius van Eesteren (fig. 06). method to establish a contrast between the old and the new. The During the 50’s Cornelius Van Eesteren, in his role as proposal should be a combination of that something new with the municipal architect, decides to open to road traffic the central street. already existing prior to any future intervention. The proposal Following his idea of creating a large avenue within that empty space, presented by the Sevillian team of architects Antonio Cruz and the passageway within the museum would be transformed into a Antonio Ortiz was the winning proposal (fig. 08). passageway open to vehicle traffic. Among the presented proposals, those of the Dutch ar- The museum needs to grow during the 60’s. That is chitects are discarded because they had not followed the aforemen- why he builds walls within the courtyards and adds a series of slabs tioned aims of the competition, and the one by Franchesco Venezia to enable more exhibition space for the museum. The museum was also discarded since it suggested an intervention which included becomes a real labyrinth in terms of circulation. The entrances to the the Museumplein space where he projected an underground palace- museum located on the northern side of it, are incapable of guiding museum, liberating entirely the original museum from its function. the crowds of visitors to the museum. Only two proposals were seriously considered by the jury, the one by The reconversion of the courtyards of the museum into the French architect Chemetov and the one by the Spanish archi- exhibition halls transforms the illuminated passageway into a tunnel. tects Cruz and Ortiz. The walls of the passage are of use to advertise the exhibitions. In Paul Chemetov suggested a continuous base-platform the large open space towards the south of the museum, a series of under the courtyards, where the entrance is located in the passa- rows of trees are designed to somehow continue the central avenue geway facing the western courtyard and at the back of that same and serve as an adornment to the rear of the buildings which can be courtyard he adds a dense vertical glass wall containing the vertical found there. communication systems. He lets natural light in reaching this sugges- The passage, reconverted into a high-speed road ted base-platform. The jury understands the clarity of the proposal because of its strategic location is a rapid connection between the but has its doubts concerning the creation of this platform under the centre of the city, the airport and other close-by cities. Museum and courtyards which are technically unfeasible. passageway are understood as separate functional spaces. The The proposal by Cruz and Ortiz, apart from being very ambiguity with which they were created loses all its sense. The urban clear, placed value on the former building and gave a precise and avenue is thought out from a vehicle perspective. blunt solution to the two problems that the Cuypers museum had This is the starting point of a great mobilization in order raised and which had not been solved till then. The first, is the design to fight for a safe street and public space, occupied by citizens since of a great hall to welcome the public and give service to the museum, the 70’s. The protest is against road traffic colonizing the centre of and the second, is the retrieval of the passageway as a connecting Amsterdam and for a change in habits, creating an alternative one element between the centre of the city and the museum, opening to the use of vehicles as for example, the use of bicycles and public towards it its main doors, enhancing the motto of the competition transport: “No more children deaths” <> (fig. –“Ahead with Cuypers”6– and strengthening the idea of a gateway 07), is the motto citizens chose for their mobilizations. which at last unified the museum and the design for the urban space. RA 21 237

The project by Cruz and Ortiz was the only one which vision on the renovation of the museum unified the fragments solved the issues of the museum within its own limits, making use of around the main volume of the building, with a precise language in the great values of the pre-existing elements and safeguarding its contrast to that of Cuypers, and they conceived the entire set of identity without relinquishing its contemporary character, exploring buildings as units of dialogue with an open leisure space opening new functions, spaces and connections and accepting the structure towards the south and open to future expansions. A hinge of the original building as designed by Cuypers. connecting the centre of the city via the passageway and as Antonio Cruz in an interview summed up the project in Moneo8 would describe, they conceived the museum as a cultural the following ideas: renovating, not carrying out a restoration because campus, offering a common scenario towards the south and a of the underlying idea that the museum was never finished, new desig- compact image towards the centre of the city. The museum is no ns for new functions, a balance between architecture and exhibition longer a space which gathers together all the fine arts as Cuypers spaces and an integrated design instead of one made out of patches. suggested, but a superimposition of functions which complement The projects sets its attention on the creation of it. They reinvent the museum via the set of different buildings, that great hall, a space, which some have named “tabernacle for suggesting different constellations associated to the pre-existing Cuypers” and which holds the visitors’ entrance and the information fragments which qualify and broaden the function of the museum desk and reshapes the areas for the uses of the shop, restaurant and and the compiling of works of art. events hall. It is a low space located to both sides of the passageway The opening of the new pavilion dedicated to Asian which joins both courtyards. It transforms them into a great illumi- culture, as well as the small extension of the Teekenschool and the nated atrium. The idea of emptying and (once again) illuminating the new restoration building, create a front made up of a series of pieces courtyards gave transparency to the passageway and organized which enhance and open Cuypers’ proposal, extending the space the project for the museum. The new illuminated elements of the which is the museums’ as such, beyond its limits to project a new courtyards give light to both architectures –the new and the old– relationship with public space. conveying an overall sense of coherence to the museum. The passageway, the main building and other buildings The new semi-buried pavilion, located in the far west and around the museum have continued a parallel history which talks south end, is a space left for the Asian art in continuity with the gar- about the relationships between the social construction of the street den, adding greater complexity to the annex buildings of the museum and the urban space of day to day use and the cultural representa- and working on new scales and topography for the exterior garden, tion of a country. The museum-like function of the Rijksmuseum also adding up fragments creating a new relationship between new angles holds restoration workshops for the works found within the museum, and new perspectives. The architects place within the passageway, conferences and classes. in its central area, the entrance to the museum. Apart from that, they The best response to the rehabilitation of the Rijksmu- maintained the connection between the centre and the southern part seum might not be the space of the museum itself or the “great hall” of the city, reinforcing its condition as a symbolic gate to the centre of giving access to it, but the set of spaces that are joined via the pas- the city and its connection to the Museumplein. Placing the entrance sageway where both the tourist and the citizen share that “atrium”9 to the museum via the passageway, unifies the entrance and leads in its connection with the Museumplein space and the sum of the you straight towards that large atrium that is anticipated in the passa- buildings around it which add a new scale, and a new function to both geway. The architects retrieve the combination of public museum-like the museum and the city. space and that space belonging to pedestrians and cyclists. This space –a cultural stage and campus– we build The entrance to the museum and its relationship with with our imagination makes us become closer to the concept of the passageway is going to be the key to the problems that are going heterotopia defined by Foucault. This set of constellations of both to occur regarding the renovation works of the museum: the partial the museum and the infrastructure it holds, joined to the presence of closing of the passageway to the general public and the bicycle other buildings, creates a counter-space –museum versus campus lane resulted in a citizen’s mobilization driven by the associations and street versus museum which coincides with a contemporary of cyclists of Amsterdam, who under the motto of “Let’s save the cultural and leisure kind of space which projects the day to day life of passageway”, led to the temporary cessation of the works on the the city and it distinguishes it from the specific museum–type spaces museum until they found a valid solution for the citizens7. characteristic of that use, with several layers of deep meaning (fig. This situation forced to change the position of the en- 09 A, B and C). trance to the museum. The solution for this new entrance, presented The Rijksmuseum which was born during the Enlighten- by the architects, was to open four perpendicular and symmetric ment as a pedagogical institution was enshrined during the Roman- swinging gates to the passageway, occupying the sides of the ticism as an instrument of exaltation of the national identity of the pedestrian areas with a perpendicular development to the direction country. Via the rehabilitation carried out by Cruz and Ortiz for the of circulation through the passageway. This solution, which had been museum, supplemented by the citizens’ voice who have demonstra- agreed with the citizens and the cyclists associations, was not howe- ted their implication via mobilizations and activism, the urban areas ver of unanimous satisfaction to the architects. around it have acquired the highest of considerations in relation to These final accesses make it difficult to find one’s way other international museums: it is a product which exports Dutch towards the main hall of the museum. However, new categories culture in two aspects, as an element which is part of the city and as associated to them from an urban point of view and from the point of a museum. Moreover, because of its location and the creation of a view of a day to day use arise, enabling non-programmed events and large cultural and leisure-like square which is shared with other mu- actions which had not been contemplated in the project . seums, it is part of a cultural fabric and a monumental centre which has been able to enhance the city and improve an urban park where REINVENTING THE The role the main architects Cruz and bicycles, citizens and tourists come together. The passageway has MUSEUM Ortiz and the role of the Dutch restoration become a symbolic gate to the centre of the city and to the cultural architects were to have was unclear and and leisure-like park. the elaboration of the general premises The renovation of the museum and the passageway regarding their tasks did not coincide. have created a new typological space of museum with great urban They and Cuypers were confronted by a and infrastructural quality connected. It is the “new campus mu- third party: the interior designer of the museum. Despite all these seum” suggested by Cruz and Ortiz which includes the Museumplein problems, Cruz and Ortiz with their intervention and their general “reinventing”10 the Rijksmuseum from an everyday approach. 238 RA 21

Aurora Fernández Notes 06. Hans Ruijssenaars is the ar- Professor within the Architecture Projects department of the 01. The plan by Niftrik places chitect of the Museum between ETSAM. She belongs to a research group under the title of “Teoría the Rijksmuseum on the left 1996 and 1998. He is the one y Crítica del proyecto y de la arquitectura moderna y contem- side of the axis, towards the who creates this motto for the poránea” depending of the UPM. She has published a number west. However, Cuypers places rehabilitation of the museum. of research articles in Congress, books and national magazines the museum in the centre of See HUISMAN, Jaap, The New such as Arquitectura, RA, Arte y ciudad revista de investigación, the axis. There is another plan Rijksmuseum Cruz y Ortiz Cuadernos de proyectos arquitectónicos and coordinated the dating 1876 by J. Kalff which architects. Rotterdam: Nai010 publishing of the book “Oíza 100 años”. I have participated in the already places the museum in publishers. Netherlans, 2013. process for selection in scientific architectural journals as PPA the centre too. BOSCHIERO, Progreso, proyecto y arquitectura and Zarch magazine. Patrizia; LATINI, Luigi; and 07. See https://bicycledutch. LUCIANI, Domenico, cura, wordpress.com/2013/07/18/ MUSEUMPLEIN DI AMSTER- bicycle-underpass-rijksmuse- DAM Premio Internazionale um-amsterdam. See activism Carlo Scarpa per il Giardino, MEUERS, Paul & VERHEIJEN, diciannovesima Treviso: edizio- Marc: In Transit. Mobility, city ne, Fondazione Benetton Studi culture and urban develop- Ricerche [email protected] ment in Rotterdam. Rotter- www.fbsr.it 2008. dam Nai publishers. 2003 e MEURS, Paul & VAN THOOR, 02. The new gateways of the M. Therese,The transforma- XIX century cities are train sta- tion of the Rijksmuseum tions. See PEVSNER, Nicolaus, Amsterdam. 2013 http://www. Historia de las tipologías arqui- archimaera.de ISSN: 1865-7001 tectónicas, Barcelona: Gustavo urn:nbn:de:0009-21-42544 Gili ed. 1980. September 2015 #6 “Einfügen”.

03. See NEVZDODIN, Ivan, 08. MONEO, Rafael, Jaulas Me- Transformatios of the Rijks- tafísicas allí donde había patios museum. Between Cuypers & The Rijksmuseum Ámterdam. In Cruz y Ortiz. Pages 78-93 in Ulargi, Jesús coord.: 12 edificios/ Paul Muers y Marie Thérèse 12 textos. Madrid Exhibition’s van Thoor: The Rijksmuseum Catalogue: Ed. ICO Foundation. Amsterdam. The restoration 2016. & transformation of a national monument. Rotterdam & TU 09. CRUZ, Antonio ORTIZ, Delft Ed. nai010. 2013. Antonio, The Rijksmuseum, rehabilitation, adaptation and 04. See WAGENAAR, Cor,The enlargemment. Memoria en Rijksmuseum and the City. A inglés. Sevilla: Estudio Cruz y Hundred Years of Planning for Ortiz arquitectos. 2013. Museumplein. Pages 204-221 in Muers, Paul and van Thoor, Ma- 10. Taking the words of Win rie Thérèse: The Rijksmuseum Pidjes: “The museum is not only Amsterdam. The restoration rehabilitated, but reinvented” & transformation of a national PULIDO, Natividad, Cruz y Ortiz monument. Rotterdam & reinventan el Rijksmuseum de T.U.Delft Ed. nai010. 2013. Ámsterdam. Special Envoy to Amsterdam ABC newspaper 05. The museum was inaugu- 18/03/2012. rated two years after 1885. The entrance is carried out via the passageway of the museum. See OXENAAR, Aart, Design & context. P.H. J. Cuypers and the Mise en scène of the Rijksmu- seum. Pages 51-67 in Meurs, Paul and Van Thoor, M. Thérèse: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Restoration & transformation of a National monument., Rotter- dam and TU Delft: Netherlands Architecture Institute Ed Nai010 2007. RA 21 239

Images 08 01. Aerial view of te Rijksmu- 09. A The Amsterdam Mara- seum & he Musempli thon crossing the passageway of Rijksmuseum 2016. … Let us take an excursion 02. Picture of the plan by J. G. B A view from the passageway 1 van Niftrik dating 1866 towards the great hall. around the world! C A view from the hall of the 03. A. Picture of the passa- Rijksmuseum and at the back of Monument and copy as geway by Cuypers showing the the image, the passageway. urban nature of it. 1885. curatorial practice in the B. Interior of passageway with its ceramic finishing, decora- international exhibitions ted with carpets, curtains and flowers, photography dating and their museums of 1935. collections, 1854-1929* 04. Drawing carried out by Pie- rre J.H. Cuypers of the northern Carolina B. García-Estévez façade, cross-section showing the passageway, the covered, In December 2018, the Victoria & Albert Museum reopened Cast illuminated courtyard and the Court after a period of intensive rehabilitation. Its collection of entrances to the museum of the plaster casts of the principal monuments and works of art is one northern façade covered by a of the very few that is still held in the original place for which they canopy. It includes the image of were designed. The impact of this encyclopaedic, exhaustive and the tramway passing through universal collection on visitors to what was then London’s South the passageway, 1885. Kensington Museum was summarized as “an excursion around the world”, in a spirit close to that which lit up the Great Exhibition of 05. Proposals for the exten- 1851. Originally, the dual function of museums as teaching works- hops and catalysts of the general public’s critical culture placed sions on the southern side: A) collections of full-scale architectural reproductions in the ambi- Site plan of the museum within guous terrain between the academy and the market. Architecture the plot and its surrounding in the museums took on board the risks of defining the value of the by Cuypers 1876. Cuypers copy, its pedagogic purpose and its circulation as manifesto. This understands the continuation of article concentrates on two reproductions of Spain’s architectural the passageway as a boulevard. heritage that allow us to reconstruct this journey: from the Court B) Site plan of the International of the Alhambra to the Pórtico de la Gloria. Exhibition’s Pavilion for the Trade and Exportation of the Colonies Fair dating 1883 and its relationship with the Rijks museum floor plan facing the entrance. The surroundings become a large garden, with very clear limits. It is close to a suburban villa. C) Proposal for a square carried out by Cuypers and Akersmit 1891. D) Proposal for the park developed by H. P. Berlage 1895-96.

06. J.F. Staal, winning proposal for the competition for the opera house building. To the north, the From the Exhibition On October 11, 1851, the Great Exhibition of Rijks museum, to the south, the Gallery to the Mu- Works of Industry of All Nations closed its seum: nailing down concerts hall and to the west the the ephemeral and doors in Hyde Park after being visited by over Stedlijk museum, 1925-1928 transitory, 1854-1873 six million people. Its success and the problem of what to do with most of the 1.1 The Crystal Palace 07. Citizen mobilization during at Sydenham collections on exhibit soon aroused in English the mid-70’s in the central ave- society a desire to give continuity to the effort nue of the Museumplein “Stop involved in constructing the Crystal Palace. kindermoord” Taken down in 1852, it could then be rebuilt somewhere else. Just two years later, on June 10, 1854, the second Crystal Palace, built at 08. Floor plan of the new buil- Sydenham, was opened by Queen Victoria. Considerably larger than dings shaded light violet around the original, the new building also differed in its exhibition intentions: the the Museumplein, suggested by commercial impulse behind the 1851 Exhibition gave way to a general Cruz and Ortiz. Rehabilitation of pedagogic project in 1854. This was a purpose shaped by Owen Jones the Rijks Museum 2013 and Matthew Digby Wyatt in their well-known Fine Art Courts. 240 RA 21

The sequence of courts was designed to show, through 1.2 The 1867 Convention The growing success and acceptance of full-scale plaster reproductions and replicas, the general principles the international exhibitions in Paris in 1855 of a universal history of art: from the Egyptian, Greek and Roman and London in 1862 encouraged Henry Cole courts, with special emphasis on the Niniveh Court, the Pompeii to formulate a framework agreement for House and the Alhambra Court, through to Byzantine, medieval and the reproduction and marketing of works of . The effect on the visitor can be summari- art: “The knowledge of such monuments is zed in the words of exhortation in this article’s title, an all-embracing necessary to the progress of Art, and the reproductions of them panorama of the to our times2. The immense would be of a high value to all Museums for public instruction”9 (fig. and infinite gallery of the new Crystal Palace, through the initiative 05). Though signed by Great Britain and Ireland, Prussia, Hesse, of Henry Cole, brought together in one visit a premonitory Strada Saxony, France, Belgium, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Italy, Austria Novissima of the history of architecture in Sydenham’s new Noah’s and Denmark, Spain remained outside the agreement, though it was Ark (fig. 02. a source of reproduction industries, as the agreement affirmed: Booklets describing the spaces were published about “the commencement of a system of reproducing each of the courts. Jones, along with others, was responsible for Works of Art has been made by the South Kensington Museum, and the Alhambra Court3. His introduction provides very important illustrations of it are now exhibited in the British Section of the Paris information about the procedures and techniques used to reproduce Exhibition, where may be seen specimens of French, Italian, Spanish, the fragments of the original monument. Science and art combine Portuguese, German, Swiss, Russian, Hindoo, Celtic and English forces, both in his well-known plates Plans, elevations, sections, and Art”10. details of the Alhambra and when, on his second trip to Granada, in Some of the reproductions promoted by Cole’s Conven- 1837, he made plaster-casts and tested the printing of his plates. A tion reflected England’s colonial power in Africa and South-east Asia. team of artists and industrial craftsmen made this possible, integra- There were several industries and workshops engaged in reprodu- ting the historical technique of ornamentation into the teaching of cing monuments, among them that of Domenico Brucciani11, at the architecture of the time. The Alhambra Court had two rectangular Galleria delle Belle Arti, 40 Russell Street, Covent Garden, where he areas joined to each other: the Court of the Lions, connected to the was active from 1864 in working for English institutions such as the sequence of the Justice Hall, the Hall of the Abencerrages and, at British Museum and the Royal Architectural Museum. the end, the Cast Room (fig. 03). The Paris International Exhibition of 1867accepted the A team of artisans completed the Sydenham museum Convention and the architecture of the Alhambra then travelled project, with outstanding pieces from the workshop of Rafael there. Part of it was the collection of plaster casts from the Rafael Contreras4 produced in Sevilla and Granada. These pieces found Contreras workshop, whose pieces were placed in Group 1 - Section a final home in the permanent collections of the South Kensington 4of architectural drawings and models with “models and reductions Museum5: of the most interesting architectural fragments from the Arab Palace of the Alhambra”12. These models were included in a Renaissance “The Crystal Palace at Sydenham represents a number of key paradigms pavilion in a neo- style constructed by the architect in Victorian culture: the emphasis upon visuality as a means of acquiring Alejandro de Gándara, alongside the reduced-scale reproductions and conveying knowledge, the use of display as a vehicle of both education of the same monument by N. Pérez, the arabesques of J. Pelly from and entertainment, the desire to construct unifying historical narratives, 6 Seville, and the collection of engravings sent by the Commission for and the emphasis upon rational recreation” . Architectural Monuments, represented by Narciso Pascual Colomer, Director of the School of Architecture of Madrid. The past as invention and rediscovery is one of the constants guiding the spirit of the Western tradition. The first co- 1.3 The Cast Court in As a direct consequence of the 1867 llections of plaster casts reproducing art works stemmed originally the South Kensington Convention, the South Kensington Museum Museum from royal initiatives. Francis I of France (1530) and Philip IV of Spain opened The Cast Court on July 10, 1873. Its (1640) fixed their eyes on a Rome to be evoked by reproductions collection of plaster casts of the main of monuments and statues. In addition, the taste of the aristocracy monuments and works of art is one of the of the time added to the fashion of exhibiting some of these pieces only ones still located in the original place as fragments of their private collections. At the other extreme, for which they were intended. The Weston Cast Court (46B) holds architects like John Soane in London or the painter Johann Raphael the Italian collection; the Ruddock Family Cast Court (46A) exhibits Mengs in Dresden accumulated large private collections for teaching Trajan’s column and a great many plaster fragments of works from purposes. The revolution brought about by archaeology and the England, Spain, Germany, France and Scandinavia; and between the enlightened discoveries of many monuments of the past shaped an two stands the Central Gallery (46) (fig. 06). entire society, which finally made its own the ideal of J.J. Winckel- The energy and optimism of the curators to reconstruct mann who placed sculpture and moulding as the highest of artistic a virtual history of European architecture was concentrated in one and academic practices. space. This history was encyclopaedic and universal, outside time, If, in Aby Warburg’s words, “every age has the Antiquity like the longings for an excursion around the world13 of the American it deserves”7, the past as invention and copy guides the steps of writer Moncure Daniel Conway on entering the museum space. these first full-scale architecture collections. The Museums of Art From the creation in 1837 of the first collection of Gothic plasters in Reproductions for the first time do not reflect a previous life, but London’s Somerset House, to the subsequent donation of architec- embrace the success of the utopia of encyclopaedic universalism tural models by the Royal Architectural Museum on George Gilbert and its successful expressions in the Universal Exhibitions. Among Scott’s initiative, the collections of the South Kensington Museum the pioneers was the Gipsformerei, founded in 1819 in by King (1857-1866) steadily increased its holdings, as photograph albums Frederick William III with the aim of bringing together the work of such as Bedford Lemere’s Specimens in the Royal Architectural major XIXth century sculptors8. The huge head of the goddess Juno Museum, Westminster (London), testify. As well as donations, a dominating the Junozimmer in the Goethes Wohnhaus (1782-1832), number of trips were undertaken through Europe in search of buyers set alongside the anachronism of a clock, predicts that what was an or reproductions for the collection. Among these trips, John Charles exquisite preserve of the elites would soon be assimilated by the new Robinson, the museum’s first curator, visited Santiago de Composte- culture of masses and spectacle (fig. 04). la in 1865, which had a profound impression on him14. Example of the RA 21 241

unsettled art that has characterized Spain’s architectural heritage, 2.2 International At the other extreme, and the end-point of the Cathedral of Santiago wrote the full stop to an architecture in Exhibition for our survey, the huge exhibition El Arte en Electrical Industries, motion from the Central-European routes of devotional Romanes- Barcelona 1929 España imagined for the interior halls of the que art. National Palace for the International The Pórtico had been commissioned from the sculptor Exhibition for Electrical Industries aimed to and architect Maestro Mateo at the end of the XIIth century under bring together for the first time, as if it were the rule of Ferdinand II of Leon15. A structure of three arches, with a a Natural History Museum, the 4,840 items, both original pieces and central tympanum that shows the visions of the Apocalypse of St. reproductions, that were going to be shown in the 47 halls available28. John and the throne of a Christ in majesty16, in a setting similar in Josep Puig i Cadafalch led the enormous project of arranging this intensity, according to Robinson, to the roof of Michelangelo’s Sistine iconographic inventory under the attentive gaze of the historian Chapel: “I consider it incomparably the most important monument Manuel Gómez-Moreno29. Again, this time as loans and to Barcelona, of sculpture and ornament detail of its epoch, the 12th century, I have the Pórtico de la Gloria continues its travel, along with the reproduc- ever seen or heard of”17. tion of Santa María de Sangüesa (Navarra), the main altarpiece Cole at once commissioned a replica from the workshop (dedicated to St. Peter) of Vic Cathedral, by Pedro Oller, 1420, and of Domenico Brucciani. In November 1865, Brucciani travelled to the reproduction of the Sepulchre of Charles the Noble of Navarre Santiago to draw the plans for the mouldings of the monument (fig. and his wife, Leonor de Castilla, in Pamplona Cathedral (work of 07). On July 2 1866, he left London for Spain with a team of artisans. Janín Lome de Tournai, 1416)30 (figs. 08 and 09). To protect the original polychromy of the portico, the casting process Some of the pieces came from the Museum of Artistic was supervised by Juan José Cancela, painter and professor at Reproductions and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy18. This work took nearly two and were finally acquired by the V&A in its 1926 exchange progra- months. The size of the portico meant that its copies could only mme. The main pieces are the reliefs of the New Testament from be exhibited in sections until, on July 10 1873, the Cast Court was Santo Domingo de Silos (1100)31 and the Capital / Pilaster of the Holy opened with the portico as its main piece19. It would leave no-one Chamber of Oviedo Cathedral (1175-1200)32. Together, the Arch from indifferent, awaking in visitors “impressions that can scarcely be inside Santa María la Blanca, Toledo (1250-1300), and the corner effaced, seeing the Cast Court for the first time seems a first glimpse of the cloister of the San Juan de los Reyes Monastery, Toledo, by of Mont Blanc”20.The peak of a horizon, whose sinuous profile opened Juan Guas (1477-1504)33, both acquired by Riaño in 1871. Unsettled the way to so many other museums yet to exist: from the Musée architecture, from Mozarabic to central Gothic that embraces a des Monuments Français (1882) of E. E. Viollet-le-Duc in Paris to the commitment to ornament as origin. In the essay “El Guix” (Plaster) Hall of Architecture and Sculpture in the Carnegie Museum of Art, published in the journal Arts i Bells Oficis on occasion of the Inter- Pittsburgh (1907)21. national Exhibition, Joan Sacs presented the casting technique as an art ranging between the two extremes that we have explored in 2 . From the Museum In journeys in reverse, many of the our explanation: and Islam34, claiming for to the Exhibitions architectural copies that were once the manual technique the inclusion of lost polychromy. Among the Gallery: Architecture in movement, 1873-1929 conceived to occupy the halls of Museums masters, of the stature of the legacy of Rafael Contreras’s workshop, and Academies would soon return to the were Pere Sunyer Olivella and his son Pere Sunyer i Julià35 with their 2.1 The Centennial place where they were first imagined and pieces and their teaching in the Workers’ Athenaeum in Barcelona’s International Exhibition, Philadelphia 1876 consumed by the masses. Whether through Montcada street. Their works and replicas found a home in the city’s their circulation as loans or as new Municipal Archaeological Museum (fig. 10). reproductions, the Alhambra Court and the Pórtico de la Gloria were sent on new tours that enable us to reconstruct the polemics and “There is nothing to say on whether these reconstructions in plaster could manifestos concerning XIXth-century architectural styles by which also be useful in Archaeology. You can see, however, in the attached print, the debate of the time was defined: the invention of Romanesque the convincing result of the collaboration with the architect César Martinell through fin-de-siécle culture. in the theoretical reconstitution of the basin in the Poblet cloister, which was the subject of so much talk a couple of years ago. Given this result and Part of the collection of full-scale replicas at the recently others confirmed here by the photographic reproductions, it really makes opened Barcelona School of Architecture travelled to the Philadel- you think –If only the architects who sabotaged Gothic Barcelona when phia International Exhibition in 187622 in the guise of two opposed they opened up the vía Laietana had sought from this Pere Sunyer good monumental recreations. Their presence was recorded in La Llu- physical reproductions of the numerous mediaeval houses and mansions manera de Nova York23, a Catalan illustrated magazine published by that they were about to destroy!”36. the writer Arturo Cuyás Armengol and the illustrator Felip Cusachs. Those pages that accompany the Spanish section attest to the fate We stand in the eternal contradiction between con- of the Arabesque and its replicas as well as the neo-classical archi- cealing time and conserving its form, something that W.G. Sebald tecture that was part of the exhibition’s museum project. warned us of in Austerlitz: “The new building of the Bibliothèque Together with these recreations, part of the collection Nationale […] was almost, Austerlitz said, the official manifestation of architectural monuments sent from Spain ended up as depo- of the need that declared itself ever more insistently of finishing with sits in Pennsylvania’s Fine Arts Museum and in the holdings of the everything that still had a life in the past”37. Yet, despite this, recent Industrial Arts school, which also received the plaster models of initiatives38 remind us that, in the new age of digital reproduction, the Arabic architecture24. A year later, in 1877, following the success of plaster models of our monuments are now unique. the above exhibition, the Museum of Artistic Reproductions was set up in Madrid on the initiative of the President of the Government, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, under the direction of the scholar Juan Facundo Riaño25. This was situated in what was then the Casón del Buen Retiro26. Its catalogue shows the close commercial relation- ships with London, particularly some architectural fragments from the Parthenon that “have been made by the formatore of the British Museum, D. Brucciani”27.This is just one example, but one showing that commercial circulation was its true raison d’être. 242 RA 21

06. HELMREICH, Anne, “On the 18. El Pórtico de la Gloria en Carolina B. García-Estévez Opening of the Crystal Palace la Inglaterra victoriana: la Doctor in the Theory and History of Architecture (UPC 2012), at Sydenham, 1854”, BRANCH: invención de una obra maestra, Serra Húnter Professor in the History of Architecture at the Britain, Representation and Ministerio de Cultura, Santiago Higher Technical School of Architecture, Barcelona (ETSAB Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. de Compostela, 1991, p. 94. 2019) and Visiting Scholar at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Dino Franco Felluga, Romanti- Heidelberg, and the University of at Urbana-Champaign. cism and Victorianism on the 19. At present this is exhibited in She has published in journals such as Casabella, Lars, Boletín de Net [05/02/2019]. the Ruddock Family Cast Court, la Institución de Libre Enseñanza, l’Avenç, ZARCH and PpA. She Room 46ª, Repro:1886-50, V&A is part of the research team in the project “ 07. WARBURG, Aby, “Confe- Museum. in the international media: publications, congresses, exhibitions” rencia sobre Rembrandt”, Atlas (HAR2017-85205-P). Her recent research focuses on the history Mnemosyne, Akal, Madrid, 2010, 20. The Builder, 1873. pp. 173-178. of Spanish architecture as a cultural transfer with its international 21. The fortune of many of these context and the invention of heritage through literature and the 08. We refer to sculptors such can be followed through the web circulation of its images. Among her contributions on Spanish as Christian Daniel Rauch, page of the International As- art and architecture in the XIXth and XXth centuries, the following Ludwig Wilhelm Wichmann and sociation for the Conservation should be highlighted: A.C. La revista del GATEPAC 1931-1937 Christian Friedrich Tieck. In and the Promotion of Plaster (MNCARS, 2008); Casa Bloc (Mudito & Co., 2011); Las Catedrales 1830 the museum merged with Cast Collections: and Destino Barcelona, 1911-1991. Arquitectos, viajes, intercam- zu Berlin. For the collection and bios (Fundación Arquia, 2018). its fate, see: HELFRICH, Miguel, 22. Some of the stocktaking of Orcid ID 0000-0002-9109-1176 Masterpieces of the Gipsfor- these objects is being conduc- merei. Art manufactory of the ted as part of research by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin author: “Monuments in Motion. * English text by Michael Eaude. This research was supported since 1819, University of Chicago Exhibiting the Full Scale Repli- by the competitive project “The Spanish Architecture in the Press, 2012. cas from the Barcelona School International Media: Publications, Exhibitions, Congresses” Collection (1817-1929)”, Frascari (HAR2017-85205-P), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy 09. Convention for promoting Symposium IV: The Secret and Competitively and the European Regional Development Fund universally reproductions of Lives of Architectural Drawings from the European Union (FEDER). works of art for the benefit of and Models: From Translating museums of all countries, A. to Archiving, to Collecting and Lainé and J. Havard, Paris, 1867. Displaying, Kingston School of Art, London. Department of 10. Ibid. Architecture and Landscape, June 27-28, 2019. 11. WADE, Rebecca, Domenico Notes maquetas de La Alhambra: de Brucciani and the Formatori of 23. Some of its moments are 01. CONWAY, Moncure Daniel, proyectos de restauración a ob- 19th-Century Britain, Blooms- caught in the numbers: n. 14 year Travels in South Kensington with jetos comerciales”, Las maque- bury Visual Arts, London, 2018. III, New York, June 1876; n. 15 Notes on Decorative Art and tas de la Alhambra en el siglo year III, New York, July 1876; and Architecture in England, 1882. XIX: una fuente de difusión y de 12. Comisión Regia de España, n. 17 year III, New York, October información acerca del conjunto Catálogo general de la sección 1876. 02. With this I refer to the recent Nazarí, doctoral thesis, Univer- española para la Exposición article Strada Novissima on the sidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universal de 1867, Madrid, 1867. 24. LASHERAS PEÑA, Ana Be- 1980 Venice Biennial: SZACKA, 2017, pp. 240-281. On line: http:// lén, España en París. La imagen Léa-Catherine, Exhibiting the hdl.handle.net/10486/679834. 13. CONWAY, Moncure Daniel, nacional en las Exposiciones Postmodern: The 1980 Venice Many of these pieces finally Travels in South Kensington with Universales, 1855-1900, Univer- Architecture Biennale, Marsilio returned to their place of origin Notes on Decorative Art and sidad de Cantabria, Santander, Editori, Venice, 2016. For this in the exhibition “Owen Jones y Architecture in England, 1882. 2009, p. 60. Along with these, purpose Charles Jencks’ article, la Alhambra. El diseño islámico: the list of official exhibitors “The Presence of the Past” descubrimiento y visión”, organ- 14. “A Glory to the Museum: summarizes the architectural (Domus nº 610, October 1980), ized by the Patronato de la the casting of the Pórtico de la contribution in: Departamento II. is still essential. Alhambra y Generalife and the Gloria”, V&A Album, n. 1, 1982, Educación y Ciencia. Clase 302. Victoria and Albert Museum in pp. 101-108. 117/ Escuela de Bellas Artes de 03. The Alhambra Court in the Charles V’s palace in 2011. Barcelona, programa (82); Clase Crystal Palace, erected and 15. LABORDE, Ana; PRADO, 310. 346/ Real Academia de described by Owen Jones, 05. SANDHAM, Henry, Francisco, “La restauración del Ciencia y Arte (96); “Ingenieros, Crystal Palace Library and Bra- Catalogue of the Collection Pórtico de la Gloria de la Cate- Arquitectura, mapas y represen- dbury & Evans, London, 1854. Illustrating Construction and dral de Santiago de Composte- taciones gráficas”; Clase 330. Along with: Description of the Building Materials in the South la”, Concha Cirujano, n. 6, 2012, 404/ Miquel Garriga i Roca, Egyptian Court erected in the Kensington Museum, London, pp. 183-195. Barcelona (103); Departamento Crystal Palace by Owen Jones, 1862, p. 156. For further informa- IV. Arte. “Dibujos industriales y Architect, and Joseph Bonomi, tion, see: RAQUEJO, Tonia, “La 16. “La culminación de la cate- de arquitectura, modelos y de- Sculptor, with an Historical No- Alhambra en el Museo Victoria dral románica: el Maestro Mateo coraciones”; Clase 441. 112/ José tice of the Monuments of Egypt and Albert. Un catálogo de pie- y la escenografía de la Gloria y Oriol Mestres, Barcelona. Mode- and The Greek Court erected in zas de la Alhambra y de algunas el Reino”, Valle Pérez (ed.) 2013, lo arquitectónico; 113/ Federico the Crystal Palace. obras neonazaríes”, Cuadernos pp. 989-1018. Soler, Barcelona. Proyecto de Arte e Iconografía, Tomo I-1, Arquitectónico; 115/ Miquel Ga- 04. GÓNZALEZ PÉREZ, Asun- 1988, pp. 201-244,on line: http:// 17. V&A Archive, MA/3/16. rriga i Roca, Barcelona. Planos ción, “Rafael Contreras y sus hdl.handle.net/10514/88 Robinson’sreports Box, pp. 17,19. y proyectos de arquitectura; RA 21 243

116/ Ramón Tenas, Barcelona. Moreno, Imprenta de Eugenio Images Seis cuadros que componen Subirana, Barcelona, 1929. 01. El Arte en España, Room X: 08. El Arte en España, Room X: proyecto de iglesia; 117/ Antonio reproduction of the Pórtico de la reproduction of the Pórtico de la Rovira y Rabassa, Barcelona. 30. Both of these are seen in Gloria (V&A Museum) and Santa Gloria (V&A Museum) and Santa Proyecto de monumento”. In: items [4629] and [4630] of El María de Sangüesa (Museum of María de Sangüesa (Museum of Exposición Internacional de Fila- Arte en España: guía del Museo Artistic Reproductions, Madrid), Artistic Reproductions, Madrid), delfia de 1876. Comisión General del Palacio Nacional, reviewed Barcelona, National Palace, Barcelona, National Palace, Española. Lista de Expositores, by Dr. Manuel Gómez Moreno, 1929. © Archivo Fotográfico de 1929. Archivo Fotográfico de Imprenta de T. Fortanet, Madrid, Imprenta de Eugenio Subirana, Barcelona, AFB C.110.355. Barcelona, C.110.381. Right, El 1876. Expediente general sobre Barcelona, 1929. Arte en España, Room XXI: la Exposición Universal de Fila- 02. Ground-plan of the Fine Art reproduction of the altarpiece delfia celebrada en 1876. Archivo 31. V&A, Museum Courts in the Crystal Palace, of St. Peter, Vic Cathedral, in Histórico Nacional, ULTRAMAR Repro.A.1926-14&17. Sydenham, 1854, The Illustrated front of the reproduction of the 100, Exp.2. London News, June 17, 1854. Sepulchre of Carlos the Noble of 32. V&A, Museum Navarra and his wife, Leonor de 25. TRUSTED, Marjorie, “In Repro.A.1926-10&12. 03. “International Electric Castilla, in Pamplona Cathedral. all cases of difference adopt Exhibition at the Crystal Palace: Barcelona, National Palace, Signor Riaño’s view: Collecting 33. Both executed by José de Great Chandelier in Alhambra 1929. Archivo Fotográfico de Spanish decorative arts at South Trilles y Badenes (1871), Real Court”. Barcelona, C6.465.17. Kensington in the late nineteenth Academia de Bellas Artes de century”, Journal of the History San Fernando. V&A, Museum n. 04. Goethes Wohnhaus, Junozi- 09. El Arte en España, ground- of Collections, vol. 8, n. 2, 2006, Repro. 1871-60 y 1872-261. mmer, 1782. plan of the National Palace of pp. 225-236, DOI: 10.1093/jhc/ Arts and the museum project of fhl013 34. “If we bear in mind that much 05. Convention for promoting its 47 rooms, Barcelona, 1929. of the sculpture in plaster pro- universally reproductions of Redrawing by the author. 26. BOLAÑOS, María, “Bellezas duced in the Middle Ages (and works of art for the benefit of prestadas: La colección also before the Middle Ages) was museums of all countries, by A. 10. Joan Sacs, El Guix, Revista nacional de reproducciones not sculpture moulded in plaster, Lainé and J. Havard, Paris, 1867. Arts i Bells Oficis, March 1929, artísticas”, Culture & History i.e. a mechanical reproduction pp. 46-51. Digital Journal, n. 2, 2013, e025, of sculpture in another material, 06. Work in the Cast Court, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/ but rather was sculpture carved 1873, V&A Reports; South Ken- chdj.2013.025 in the plaster mass itself, just as sington General Guide to the today some artists sculpt plaster Collection, 1914, V&A. 27. Red. Catálogo del Museo with stylus or chisel, as if they de Reproducciones Artísticas, were cutting stone or wood. And 07. Left, John Charles Robinson, Madrid, 1881, p. 54. Among the it is well-known that in Muslim drawing of the Pórtico de la Glo- pieces in the current collection architecture, plaster, which was ria, 1865, V&A Reports M/A/3/16. are reliefs of the extreme south the main construction material, of the east pediment of the Par- particularly in the Islamic sculp- thenon that were prepared by ture of Spain and North Africa, Domenico Brucciani, “Formatore was cut in the mass when the (Moulder) & Modeller to the Sci- aim was to produce ataurique, ence and Art Department” of the lazo or high-quality epigraphy”. British Museum and the Royal SACS, Joan, “El Guix”, Revista Academy of Arts, one of the Arts i Bells Oficis, March 1929, most renowned copiers of the p. 46. end of the XIXth century, based on the originals held in the British 35. Ibid, p. 49. Museum. He used a complex system of Italian-style moulding 36. Ibid, p. 51. in parts, CR00006. 37. SEBALD, W.B. Austerlitz, 28. For further information, see: Anagrama, Barcelona, 2010, p. Macari Golferichs Losada, “Ex- 284. posición de Barcelona. Palacio Central. Planta Piso Principal”, 38. 150 years later, motivated by n. 3213, H3; Macari Golfercihs the Cole Convention, the V&A Losada, Comissió Especial Muni- Museum launched the project cipal del Parc i Palau de Montjuïc, Reproduction of Art and Cultural núm. d’expediente 107/47191, Heritage (ReACH, 2017), with the 5-00-H-8-00-C-47191. Archivo aim of conserving archaeological Municipal Contemporáneo de sites at risk. A year earlier, the Barcelona, AMCB. 15thVenice Architecture Biennial, Reporting from the Front (2016), 29. PUIG I CADAFALCH, Josep, evoked in its exhibition A World “L’exhibició de l’Art d’Espanya a of Fragile Parts the tremors felt l’Exposició de Barcelona”, Anuari before time as destruction, the de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, denial of history and its conceal- 1927-1931, volum VIII, 1936; ment in its replicas. Red., El Arte en España: guía del Museo del Palacio Nacional, reviewed by Dr. Manuel Gómez- 244 RA 21

09 which include mini-works from six well-known artists, lead one to question the very notion of what a museum is. Some might argue that it also represents one of the most exciting adventures in the history A museum on the moon? of 20th Century art, embodying the spirit of a decade of optimism and The Moon Museum, faith in the redemptive power of technology. THE STORY The idea stemmed from the sculptor exhibition space off limits Forrest “Frosty” Myers. Born in Long Beach in 1941 and educated at the San Francisco Rafael Guridi Art Institute, Myers had been living in New York since the early 1960s. In 1969, Myers The idea of ​​a ‘museum’ on the moon seems to be taken from a participated in the “Experiments in Art and B-movie or a pulp science fiction magazine, although the surprising Technology (EAT) meetings organized by Johan Wilhelm “Billy” thing is that it actually is a reality, of sorts. Just how a miniature Kluver2, an engineer from Bell Telephone Laboratories who was artwork by six of the most important American artists of the 1960s seeking to combine art and technology by getting artists and came to be surreptitiously etched onto a small ceramic wafer the engineers to cooperate in creative projects. size of a SIM card attached to one of the legs of the lunar module of According to his memoirs3, Myers had been obsessed the Apollo 12 mission and secretly dispatched to the moon in Nov- with space travel since the Soviet Sputnik mission of the previous ember 1969 (the second manned mission), has all the ingredients decade. This led him to propose, in the moon landing year, the ins- of a mystery film and questions the very notion of what a museum tallation on Earth’s satellite of a tiny ‘museum’, to be transported by is, representing as well one of the most exciting adventures in the the next scheduled space mission, Apollo 12. The museum, in effect history of 20th Century art, embodying the spirit of a decade of optimism and faith in the redemptive power of technology a micro-art installation, would contain works from some of the most important American artists of the time. To that purpose, he spoke to , , David Novros, Robert Rauschenberg and John Chamberlain, who gladly agreed to be part of what would become the first moon-based art exhibition. Myers contacted NASA, first directly and later through a major institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, whose American Art director, Henry Geldzahler, supported the idea. But as the launch date approached without a response, Myers and the group of artists decided to proceed illicitly by contacting an en- gineer working at Grumman Aircraft Corporation4, the company that manufactured the lunar modules. This individual’s name was kept –and still remains– secret. He is only known by the code name, “John F”. (probably an allusion to President John F Kennedy, promoter of the Apollo missions). Given the secretive –not to mention illegal– nature of the operation, it was decided to make a small artwork featuring reproductions of works by the artists –including Myers himself– to be installed secretly in one of the legs of the “Intrepid” module. The Moon Museum, 1969. Various artists with Andy Warhol, Claes Thus each artist contributed a drawing, which was reproduced and Oldenburg, David Novros, Forrest Myers, Robert Rauschenberg, John miniaturized in Bell Telephone Laboratories. Under the guidance of Chamberlain. laboratory director Fred Waldhauer, engineers Robert Merkle and “The Moon Museum is thought to be the first artwork to have travelled to Burt Unger etched the drawings on a 19.05mm x 12.7mm ceramic the moon. American sculptor Forrest Myers worked with scientists from Bell Laboratories to produce an edition of tiny ceramic tiles onto which wafer 0.64 mm thick, about the size of a SIM card (fig. 02). drawings by him and five other artists were inscribed. He reported that he The laboratories used pioneering techniques for printed had one of the tiles covertly attached to the Apollo 12 spacecraft and that circuits and Merkle was an expert. Each of the drawings was reduced it was left on the moon along with other personal effects transported by photographically so it fitted the dimensions of the wafer, which was the astronauts”. mounted on glass. In all, twelve official copies were produced. Each MoMA Collection Files1 tiny ceramic plate featured a metallic layer of tantalum nitride and a layer of photosensitive material. Both pieces (glass and ceramic) On November 19, 1962, the lunar module “Intrepid” from were combined and exposed to light, which produced a kind of pho- the Apollo 12 mission landed on the lunar surface. Three days later, tographic contact copy, leaving the drawings engraved on a ceramic during his trip back to earth, the New York Times reported that it had piece resistant to the extreme conditions of both the space trip and secretly transported the first “museum of the moon”, a ceramic chip the ultimate resting place5. with miniaturized reproductions of artworks by Andy Warhol, Claes Several copies were made, and the glass molds were Oldenburg, David Novros, Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain, destroyed in order to prevent future unauthorized copies. There is and Forrest Myers. The story had all the ingredients of a mystery film. debate over the final number of plates since some of them found Of course, one question is whether the so-called ‘Moon Museum’ sur- their way to Bell Telephone laboratory technicians. Robert Merkle vived the harsh conditions of the trip and remains in place, as no one says twelve copies were made in total6, but Jade Dellinger, director has been able to check the fact ­–even though the installation was of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery in Florida, has stated that the total later acknowledged by organizations such as the New York Times number could have reached forty, although he recognized that far and MoMA in New York (fig. 01). fewer have actually been located7. Its existence breaks several records: the farthest mu- Finally, John F, the secret contact of the artists and seum from anywhere in the world and the tiniest in the solar system. technicians, was assigned to Cape Canaveral. On 12 November 1969, Its unique size, the way it was installed and its artistic components, two days before launch, John F sent Myers a confirmation telegram: RA 21 245

“YOUR ON ‘A.O.K. ALL SYSTEMS GO” (fig. 03). The telegram forms a concert or recitation involve listening. However, the 20th Century part of the Moon Museum legend: it’s been included in exhibitions has provided numerous examples that contradict the previous about the museum and its text, including syntactic errors, has led to statement: In 1961 the Italian conceptual artist Piero Manzoni put on titles of publications and conferences8. the art market his famous “merda d’artista” (artist’s shit), hermetically The Apollo 12 mission spacecraft, with astronauts sealed in 90 cans six centimeters in diameter and five centimeters Charles “Pete” Conrad, Alan L Bean and Richard Gordon, took off on high. Weight for weight, the suggested price was the same as gold, 14 November at 16:22 UTC. The lunar module “Intrepid” landed at the which has seen the price soar for any items resold at a later date. Oceanus Procellarum Selenita on 19 November at 06:54 UTC. Since Apparently, no can have been opened so far to verify its contents. then, the Moon Museum has remained attached to one of the lunar The well-known musical work 4’33¨ by John Cage module’s leg without anybody being able to confirm its presence. (1952) consists of four minutes, thirty-three seconds of absolute During the mission’s return trip, Forrest Myers sent the silence, divided into three movements. Since music is a combination New York Times a summary of the facts, along with a reproduc- of both sounds and silences, governed by different time signatures, tion of one of the plates. The newspaper published the news on 22 nothing prevents a work being composed of silence alone. The liter- November –“New York sculptor says Intrepid put art on moon” –and ary work Bartleby y Compañía by Enrique Vilamatas (2001), includes included the photo of the plaque, giving credibility to the story and an array of textless writers (scarce or non-written work), if this notion triggering the legend of the first museum on the moon(fig. 04)9. is possible. Apart from the prologue, the book is only readable in the footnotes accompanying a blank text. In 2003, artist Santiago ARTWORKS According to Myers, all the artists took the Sierra was named curator of the Spanish pavilion at the 50th Venice project very seriously10. Due to the Biennale. The artist decided to exhibit nothing, leaving in the pavilion diminutive size of the object and the agreed the empty spaces and the crumbling remains of former exhibitions. reproduction technique, every artist opted In effect, his only input was to rigorously control access to this artistic for simple line drawings, generally linked to vacuum so that only those people with a Spanish ID card or passport their personal interests at the time (fig. 05). (in Italy!) could enter the pavilion. The upper left corner features a drawing by Andy Warhol, in which Artworks that cannot be seen, music that cannot be he combines his initials AW with the outline of male genitals. Some heard, wordless literature, exhibitions with no content, would all seem people also see the basic shape of a rocket, which would link better to contradict the communicative imperative inherent in every artistic with the project’s aim11. To the right, Robert Rauschenberg drew a creation. The above-mentioned examples exemplify a frequent simple horizontal straight line. According to Jade Dellinger, the works strategy in contemporary art: replacing sight/vision with conceptual of Warhol and Rauschenberg attempted to portray a kind of concep- awareness. Manzoni’s work questions not only the limits of art’s tual footprint, equivalent to those left by Neil Armstrong’s boots on commodification –as the author himself pointed out– but the very the moon surface12. essence of the artistic nature of a commonplace or ‘banal’ object, The rest of the artists presented drawings in line with following the lead already given in 1917 by Marcel Duchamp and his works they were making at that time. David Novros produced a Fountain sculpture, a urinal. Sierra exposed the arbitrary character photo-negative composition of white lines on a black rectangle. For of the concept of national borders and the Kafkian (but very real) Dellinger, the white lines were a two-dimensional representation of consequences of this arbitrariness. Cage, meanwhile, indicated that the discrete box shapes he’d been working on. John Chamberlain 4’33” emphasized the value of silence as a musical element, but fea- produced a geometric scheme with echoes of a printed circuit. red his work would be interpreted as a mere “boutade” (a witticism) We must give a special mention to the drawing of and would not be taken seriously. That same seriousness was the Claes Oldenburg, whose work is characterized by the large-scale general attitude held by the artists of the Moon Museum, according enlargement of commonplace or ‘banal’ objects taken from popular to Myers (fig. 06). culture. Forced this time to work on a tiny scale, the artist presented a micro-version of his gigantic stylised head of Mickey Mouse, a ARTISTS’ MUSEUMS The idea of ​​the Moon Museum seems to fit work in progress under the name of Mouse Museum / Ray Gun Wing into a tradition recently referred to as (1965-1977). “artists’ museums”. These are private art Finally, Forrest Myers himself contributed a drawing that collections assembled by the artist himself depicted a 3-D geometrical shape, echoing a series he was working or by others, usually featuring smaller on called Computer Drawings. Along with Chamberlain’s effort, this transportable artworks. They don’t need to was the closest work to the technological spirit of the mission. exist in museums but they have, in a limited way, the minimum It should be noted that in the photo published by the features to be considered as museums. New York Times, a thumb held the chip by its upper left corner, One of the first examples of this concept can be seen concealing Andy Warhol’s phallic drawing. –once again– in Marcel Duchamp’s famous Boîte-en-Valise (1935- 1945), a portable suitcase-museum where the artist stores miniature A MUSEUM The idea of ​​a museum without visitors samples of all his works. This idea was taken up three decades later WITHOUT seems, at first, a contradiction. The most by various artists. In 1968, another Marcel (in this case Broodthaers) VISITORS? prestigious dictionaries define the term opened his Musée d’Art Moderne in his own Brussels house, which ‘museum’ as being linked to works or items contained his own or other people’s artworks –often objets trouvées on public exhibition. The Merriam Webster, (found objects) or commonplace items. a significant reference in the English More ambitious and personal is the Schubladenmuseum language, gives two meanings, the second of which defines ‘museum’ (the drawer museum), devised by the Swiss artist Herbert Distel in as ‘a place where objects are exhibited’. In the RAE Dictionary (the the 1960s and 1970s. It offers a selection of 500 artworks from both Spanish language’s supreme authority), the term is defined in an decades, miniaturized and housed in small boxes about five centime- almost identical way: ‘Lugar donde se exhiben objetos o curiosi- ters wide and displayed in twenty cupboard drawers13. dades’ (Place where objects or curiosities are exhibited). The other Closely linked to the Moon Museum concept, the Ame- meanings refer to the institution or the building itself. rican artist Claes Oldenburg also developed his own artist’s museum, Hence the museum concept encompasses the idea of ​​ the Mouse Museum / Ray Gun Wing, conceived between 1965 and public exhibition, just as paintings are on display in an art gallery or 1977. This is an accessible container with an outline of a stylised 246 RA 21

Mickey Mouse, housing 400 objects that range from sketches and his gallerist in New York. Finding similar obstacles that Myers had works by the artist to ready-mades and other objects. It is precisely confronted two years before, they contacted the astronauts directly this drastic reduction of scale that the artist uses for his contribution and the latter agreed to leave the work with certain conditions: a to the Moon Museum (fig. 07). minimum size, the absence of gender or identifiable race and the Since the sixties, artists’ museums have proliferated, addition of a plaque bearing the names of Soviet and American with examples such as the Salinas Museum, dedicated to vilifying astronauts who had died in space missions. Mexican president Salinas de Gortari. It was installed by the Mexican Commander David Scott deposited the figurine at the artist Vicente Razo in the bathroom of his own house; the artist appo- Mare Imbrium landing site, photographed it and made it public at inted himself director of the Salinas Museum and even published a the press conference that was held on their return. Unaware of the guide, the official Museo Salinas Guide. Other examples of ‘personal Moon Museum, both Commander Scott and artist van Hoeydonck museums’ include the Homeless Museum of Art (HOMU), a movable claimed to have placed the first artistic object on the moon. The New street cart devised by Filip Noterdaeme (2002), the Museum of the York Times responded, claiming that accolade for the Moon Museum street by the Cambalache collective (Bogotá, 1999) and the Food and criticizing the operation as a mere marketing stunt by the artist Culture Museum by Catalan artist Antoni Miralda (Hannover Expo, and his gallery, who were relatively unknown in New York’s artistic 2000). circles. The controversy snowballed when the sculptor attempted to Artists’ museums have been the subject of recent stud- commercialize copies of the statuette, despite a previous agreement ies, such as the one by Mexican Tomas Ruiz-Rivas14, or exhibitions not to do so16. such as Museum Show, held in the Arnolfini Centre for Contempo- Recently, the planet Mars has replaced the moon as the rary Arts, from September to November 2011 in Bristol, UK15. Starting target of some artists. In 2003, the European Space Agency (ESA) from Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise, the exhibition featured a good launched the Mars Express mission, whose landing module, Beagle sample of artists’ mini-museums, including, of course, the Moon 2, incorporated a 10cm aluminum plate with colored circles (quite Museum. similar to a watercolor palette) by British artist Damien Hirst. This plate was also designed to calibrate the onboard X-ray equipment. BACKGROUND The Apollo program was the culmination Unfortunately, Beagle 2’s signal was lost on landing, due to an uniden- and symbol of a decade characterized by tified systems failure. great optimism, faith in scientific progress Hirst’s plate, probably still attached to the module, or to and economic progress, demonstrating its remains, was not alone on the Martian surface for long. In January how the western world had overcome 2004, NASA introduced a new rover, called Spirit, to the red planet, post-war hardships. It was also the Baby featuring another artistic object. This time it was a DVD, conceived Boom era of huge demographic growth and empowerment of by the Australian artist Stephen Little, containing four million names younger generations, something unprecedented in recent history. of people who wished to leave their mark on the planet. The landing The 1960s remains the decade of the counterculture, beatniks, was successful and Spirit was operational until 2011. hippies and other alternative lifestyles, and witnessed the so-called One might question the artistic nature of both creations, sexual revolution –known in English-speaking countries as the since the Hirst plaque was a calibration tool and Little’s DVD was “Swinging Sixties”– the explosive years of pop-rock and psychedelia, merely a list of names, but that is not an issue to be discussed here. of James Bond and ‘flower power’. Art may return to the moon in future, thanks to the initia- At the time, science was widely viewed as a force tive of Japanese millionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who plans to make a for optimism and redemption spanning all of society, from popu- private trip to Earth’s satellite accompanied by six artists in order to lar culture to academia. In architecture, these were the years of give a joint artistic performance. The Dear Moon project will not take Archigram, Superstudio or Archizoom, of Yona Friedman, place before 2023 and neither the nature of the performance nor the and Buckminster Fuller, Kenzo Tange and the Japanese Metabo- names of the chosen artists have been revealed17. lists. Certain developments in the final years of the decade give us Such projects are very different from the Moon Museum. a perfect portrait of the era’s zeitgeist: the 1967 Montreal Expo, with All of them are conceived via personal initiative (such as the artist pavilions by Buckminster Fuller and Frei Otto, and for which Peter van Hoeydonc and the promoter Maezawa) and could be seen as Cook even designed a tower; in 1968 James Stirling finished the self-promotion. Alternatively, as exemplified by the Mars cases, it Seeley Historical Library at Cambridge University, Johana Mayer- would seem that the two space agencies, European and American, Archigram presented his Instant-City (fig. 08), and sought out well-known artists as a kind of advertising initiative. Both set up a research group at Yale, called Learning from Las Vegas or objects (colored calibration plate and DVD of names) could have Form Analysis as Design Research. been transported to the planet without the mediation of famous That same year saw the release of films like Yellow artists. Submarine (Georges Dunning) and 2001: a Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick), the latter depicting moon colonization with great scientific Conclusions Though positioned at the very limit of what realism only one year before Apollo 11’s arrival (fig. 09). it means to be a “museum”, the Moon The Moon Museum shared the optimism for the future Museum meets the minimum requirements shown by contemporary projects, merging art and technology as to be declared as such. It involves a suggested by the EAT meetings, where the idea was born. Linked to collection of artwork by prominent artists this, the lawless –possibly illegal– nature of the project gave it added exhibited in an open space, just not on meaning as a transgressive action or an act of cultural ‘micro-terro- Earth. The difficulty of public access does not invalidate its museum rism’ –harmless but highly symbolic, connecting it to the rebellious status since future technological advances could enable access. values ​​of the time. Other museums are very difficult to reach, such as Lanzarote’s The Moon Museum was one of the first projects to link submarine museum or those located in the houses (and bathroom) art with the space race: the idea was soon followed by other initia- of Marcel Broodthaers and Vicente Rizo. tives, albeit with different goals. In July 1971, the Apollo 15 mission As mentioned above, “conceptual displacement” can placed a new artwork on the moon, Fallen Astronaut, an aluminum replace the physicality of artistic work with an underlying idea or figurine a few centimeters high that represented a stylised astronaut. concept: such as the value of silence in Cage’s work, or the arbitra- The idea came from a Belgian sculptor, Paul van Hoeydonck, and riness of borders in Sierra’s. The Moon Museum claims for itself the RA 21 247

value of technology and scientific discovery as part of its creative Notes 09. GLUECK, Grace, “New identity. The important thing is that the object is on the moon and 01. V.V.A.A., Andy Warhol, York Sculptor Says Intrepid that it was placed there in the same year that man arrived. The way Claes Oldenburg, David Put Art on Moon”, The New the project was carried out, as a kind of “guerrilla art” which leaves Novros, Forrest Myers, Robert York times, November 22nd, objects in unauthorized places, at minimal cost, adds to the whole Rauschenberg, John Cham- 1969. En: archivo histórico del adventure’s significance –imparting a far greater value than that of berlain, The Moon Museum, periódico: https://www.nytimes. the individual works alone. 1969. The Museum of Modern com/1969/11/22/archives/new- Conceptual displacement allows us to value, first and Art (MoMA); Various Artists, york-sculptor-says-intrepid- foremost, the idea of ​​the museum itself, not forgetting the faith nee- | MoMA”. MoMA. https://www. put-art-on-moon.html?sq=art ded in accepting that the artwork is actually on the moon. Manzoni’s moma.org/collection/wor- +on+the+moon%253F&scp=1 sealed cans, while featuring a different content, also demand a ks/62272. &st=p (última visita: 9, febrero, certain belief. The advantage of the Moon Museum is that we can 2019) contemplate the twenty or so facsimile copies of the micro-artwork 02. KLÜVER, Billy, J. Martin, that circulate in museums and galleries without the need to visit the Barbara Rose (eds.), Experi- 10. DELLINGER, Jade, ANNICK moon. ments in Art and Technology. Bureaud, op. cit. Tiny, distant, unreachable (for the time being), trans- New York: E. P. Dutton, 1972 gressive (if not actually illegal), cost-effective in its installation, the 11. “He created a stylized Moon Museum surely represents one of the most ambitious projects 03. MYERS, Forrest, History version of his initials which, in the artistic field, a worthy representative of a decade of technolo- of the Moon Museum. Forrest when viewed at certain angles, gical optimism and faith in the future that sought to bring “all power Myers Archives. En: http:// can appear as a rocket ship or to the imagination”. jiminy.medialab.sciences-po. a penis”. STINSON, Eliza- (English translation: Rafael Guridi & David Worwood) fr/eat_datascape/project/295 beth. “We Sent a Dick Pic to (última visita: 9, febrero, 2019) the Moon-And We’re Doing It Again” en; WIRED: https://www. Rafael Guridi Garcia 04. Grumman Aircraft Corpo- wired.com/2015/05/we-sent- ETS Arquitectura, UPM ración, fundada en 1929, par- a-dick-pic-to-the-moon/ Departamento: Proyectos Arquitectonicos ticipó en la construcción de 13 Architect and PhD. Architect (ETSAM), thesis cum laude deser- módulos lunares para la NASA, 12. “Like Neil Armstrong’s boot ved both honorable mentions in UPM Doctoral Thesis Award and en el programa Apolo. En 1969 impressions on the lunar sur- National Biennial Thesis Award, Arquia Foundation. Professor of cambió su nombre a Grumman face, both can be interpreted Architectural Design (ETSAM since 1998), Theory and Interven- Aerospace Corporation, y as the conceptual footprint of tion Techniques in Heritage (ETSAM 2005 to 2010), Fundamen- en 1994, tras una fusión de an artist”. DELLINGER, Jade, et tals of Intervention in Heritage (ETSAM, since 2010); Professor in empresas, paso a llamarse ANNICK Bureaud.op. cit. the Master of Advanced Architectural Projects and in the Final Northrop Grumman Degree Project. Member of the research group “Theory and 13. En la actualidad, en el Kuns- Criticism on Architecture”, member of the University-Business 05. MERKLE, Robert, The His- thaus de Zurich: http://www. Chair- G + I_PAI on Industrial Heritage, the Ibero-American tory Detectives Team. “ Moon kunsthaus.ch/de/sammlung/ Heritage Network PHI, Board member of the National Industrial Museum Update | History restaurierung/beispiele-aus- Heritage Plan. Guest professor in international universities: Tech- Detectives | PBS “. PBS, 23 juin der-praxis/herbert-distel/ nische Universität München (March, 2012), Universidad del Litoral, 2011. http://www.pbs.org/opb/ (ultima consulta: 10, febrero, Argentina (June, 2013), University of Tongji, Shanghai (November, historydetectives/blog/moon- 2019) 2013. January 2014); Visiting Scholar un UC Berkeley (Academic museum-update/. year 2017-18). 14. RUIZ RIVAS, Tomas, Mu- Orcid ID 000-0001-6033-3948 06. Ibid. seos de artistas, Edición digital del Antimuseo, Ciudad de Mé- 07. “The total number of xico 2014. www.antimuseo.org copies remains uncertain: as many as forty seem to have 15. https://www.arnolfini.org.uk/ been produced, but reports whatson/museum-show-part-1 are contradictory and far fewer (última consulta: 10, febrero, have actually been located”. 2019) En: DELLINGER, Jade, et AN- NICK Bureaud. “All Systems 16. Associated Press (21 Are Go: A Museum for the July 1972). “Commercialism Moon”. Festival @rt outsiders Taints Another Apollo Me- 2009. (In)habitable L’art des mento”. Modesto Bee. p. 7: en: environnements extrêmes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 2009. pp. 20-22. Fallen_Astronaut

08. DELLINGER, Jade, AN- 17. https://dearmoon.earth/ NICK Bureaud, op. cit. 248 RA 21

Images 10 01. Model of “intrepid” lander from Apollo 12 and chip (origi- nal, right angle) with signature Oteiza and Oíza: the from Forrest Myers. Exhibition The Moon Museum en: E.A.T. Exhibition Space as temporal Experiments in Art and Tech- nology, Museum der Moderne Perception Salzburg Jorge Ramos 02. The Moon Museum, MoMA Files, NY, 1969 Fernando Zaparaín (Code: 0156592) Pablo Llamazares 03. Telegram from ““John F”. a Forrest Myers (12/Nov- There are not many examples in the architectural panorama of ember/1969) anouncing the museums built to house the visual artwork of a single artist. Even successful setting of the chip in less when the artist actively collaborates in the architectural con- the lander module (Wikimedia ception of the space that should receive his legacy. This research commons/ Wikipedia) establishes a relational reading to understand the connections bet- ween the way in which Jorge Oteiza (1908-2003) proposes that his sculptures should be exhibited, exemplified in the exhibition mon- 04. The New York Times, The tage suggested for his participation in the IV São Paulo Modern Art Moon Museum, 22 de noviem- Biennial in 1957, and the project for the Foundation and Museum in bre de 1969 (fragment), The Alzuza, Navarra, the work of his good friend Francisco Javier Sáenz New York Time- files de Oíza (1918-2000). In both cases, the use of time as an instrument for controlling perception will be essential to achieve greater cohe- 05. The Moon Museum, Art- rence between the museum space and the displayed work. works (Author, on n. 2)

06. Moon art scale fingers, http://www.forevergeek. com/2010/06/nasa_astron- auts_smuggled_artwork_onto_ the_moon/

07. Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (April 14–August 5, 2013). Photo: Jason Mandella. © 2013 The Museum of Modern Art.

08. Instant City, Jhoana Mayer, Archigram, 1955-1968 The very concept of a museum revolves around the 09. 2001 An Space Odissey dialectic relationship between the works it houses and the exhibition (Kubrick, 1968), Scene on the container. In the last few decades, the focus seems to have shifted moon. (Matthew J. Cotter / towards architecture, which has tried to share the importance of the Flickr2Commons). collection it should represent and has sought the expression of the exhibition itself1. The Khunsthal in Rotterdam (Koolhaas), the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Helsinki (Steven Holl) or the Guggenhe- im in Bilbao (Gehry) could illustrate this assumption. Although fewer in number, there are also buildings that are intended to be built according to the institution they house. This is the case of the Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza in Alzuza, Navarra (1992-2003), the latest project by Sáenz de Oíza, carried out in active complicity with the sculptor, as on previous occasions2 (fig. 01). The itinerary through the museum, the concatenation of exhibition areas and the museographic project itself are indebted to a specific way of understanding the relationship between pieces, space and spectator that Jorge Oteiza established throughout his artistic career. In such a specific museum as Alzuza’s, it seems reasona- ble to expect that the experiences accumulated by Oteiza would have come together when he had to face the exhibition of his works, and even those of other artists3. In his career, the intimate experience of the Chalk Laboratory stands out but, above all, his participation in the RA 21 249

IV São Paulo Modern Art Biennial in 1957, for which he had to propose, but advanced over the access. Another perpendicular wall rests on it, even graphically, an arrangement of his sculptures that expressed the and a third one comes out of it diagonally. Thanks to this mechanism, Experimental purpose that he was trying to carry out with them. the interior of the space is divided into three sectors that will serve to Based on the previous assumptions, this research aims to sequentially discover the sculptures, according to Oteiza’s wishes. relate the exhibition montage proposed at the São Paulo biennial, with As a collage, black and white cardboards are glued onto the project of the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation, in order to verify the drawing, which, according to the legend, represent the sizes and to what extent the museum space is adapted to the requirements of heights of the supports of the sculptures. In black, the high bases, temporal control in the perception of the work proposed by the sculptor. 14 with a square shape and the highest 4 with rectangular bases; in white, the lower bases, 4 with square shape and a large rectangular THE EXHIBITION The fourth edition of the São Paulo Modern table7 (fig. 03). MONTAGE OF Art Biennial is the first to be held at the Two aspects are outlined in this proposed layout. Firstly, OTEIZA IN THE SÃO PAULO BIENNIAL recently inaugurated Industrial Pavilion, most of the pieces are placed close to a wall, so that they cannot be IN 1957 now known as the Cecilio Matarazzo surrounded and their perception is restricted to a preferential point Pavilion, in honour of the curator of the of view. On the other hand, the bases are not orthogonal regarding fourth centenary of the city of São Paulo. the walls that serve as their backdrop, except for number 1, in the The architect chosen to design the set of public buildings that would central axis of the room. This enhances the diagonal vision of the make up the new cultural centre of the city (exhibition centre, prismatic supports. auditorium and planetarium) was (1907-2012)4. As for the order of the sculptures, their number on The Biennial pavilion highlights for its presence within the plan corresponds to the grouping by families of the catalogue the complex. It is configured as a great longitudinal prism of about of the Experimental purpose8. Along with the numbering, circular 250x50m, organised around a structural mesh of 10x12m, with lines with arrows indicate the planned route, along the perimeter circular pillars. The volume is divided into two sections: a ground walls, in a quick side scan of the works, until returning to the starting floor with three corridors and a glass enclosure that leaves the point. It is as if an explosion had pushed all the sculptures against structural rhythm visible, on which rests a volume distributed over the perimeter, without apparent order, leaving a wide central space two other levels suspended above the longitudinal façades to protect free for circulation. As it can be seen in the drawing, after having the accesses along them. These façades, also with glass enclosure, colonised three of the four sectors into which the floor plan is divided, are protected with a skin of mobile aluminium sheets that conceal the spiral path leads to the third wall of the room. The arrows collide the free plant distribution. By means of the inclusion of intermediate with the empty canvas, a visual rest on the route, before closing the mezzanines with sinuous shapes on each of the two main floors, circle towards the fourth sector, devoted to the last category of the spaces are created at various heights that thus configure an interior catalogue dedicated to the Funerary stelae. enclosure of great dynamic expressiveness. This initial project favoured a rather linear temporality, In this area, the works of the Spanish representation limited to a sequence of predefined views of each piece. The variable were to be distributed, composed mainly by the painters and perception around each sculpture was not allowed and a static sculptors José Planes (1891-1974) as figurative and Jorge Oteiza from spatiality resulting from the unique point of view was chosen. The abstraction5. We do not know if the latter had previous information on active void that Oteiza was pursuing would not come so much from the characteristics of the space where his pieces were to be exhibi- the movement of the gaze as from the dynamic relations between ted, but his idea of how they should be shown has been documented. the contours through the internal relational space. According to a premeditated classification strategy reflected in the But the meticulousness with which Oteiza managed all corresponding catalogue, the 28 sculptures he sent to the contest the details of the exhibition was not free from those contradictions must have looked like 10 (maximum limit according to the Biennial’s so frequent in him. Firstly, he was in conflict with his prevention re- bases), without losing their presence inside the room. He wrote seve- garding exhibitions, even more so at the intermediate moment of his ral years after his participation: artistic research. Several years after his participation in the Biennial, “If I limit myself to the ten sculptures that I was asked he still abided by the famous QuousqueTandem…! for, the country that represents me does not give the impression [of] doing so as a candidate for the international prize [...] In addition, our “Not until the artist completes his inquiry about his work of art, does this mixed works appeared and, as soon as I arrived, I organised with my one belong to others. It belongs to his preparation; the artist is inside his la- works a coherent, independent whole”6. boratory. That is why we should consider art exhibitions stupid for people”9. But this idea of exhibiting his works with his own organi- zation was developed even before the shipment to Brazil, as eviden- Secondly, when Oteiza arrived to São Paulo, he had to face ced by a page belonging to the preparatory documents in which he important changes in the final exhibition montage, because he shared a draws a floor on a scale of 1:50, marking on it the exact position and room with the paintings of Millares, Tápies or Feito, and his works were type of support on which each and every one of the 28 pieces should placed indistinctly next to a clear wall in case there were no paintings, or be placed. The use of a specific graphic scale, as well as the type of in front of a dark dividing wall in which the paintings were hung. drawing (schematic but precise) with which he built the floor, indicate What is paradoxical is that Oteiza, always jealous and the importance for Oteiza of the way in which his sculptures should controversial, acknowledged having participated in this redistribu- be observed in order to better understand his message, controlling tion, as we have seen above, and did not show much concern for therefore the exhibition space (fig. 02). such a notorious change over what had been planned. Their state- In this montage plan, a 10x7m space is drawn with a ments did not mention the issue and focused more on congratulating straightedge, completely closed on three of its four sides. The remai- each other on participating in the Biennial10. In contrast to their initial ning long side is left open, through which access to the room will take idea, as the period photographs (fig. 04) show, the pieces were place, partially closing it at its ends, as some hand-drawn features arranged with their orthogonal bases to the divisions and without seem to express that would represent panels in accordance with the following the classification by families of the catalogue, so that they layout of the sculptures that exist in those areas. Two discontinuous could be completely surrounded. It seems as if the display finally lines, perpendicular to the main axes of the room divide the space into adopted had allowed him to confirm the values brought by another four virtual sectors of similar size. One of these auxiliary lines, also by vision different from the one he had. The possibility of surrounding hand, serves to indicate a dividing wall in the central area of the room, each piece made evident another type of dynamism by superim- 250 RA 21

position of plans broken down temporarily, which until then he had do this, Oteiza imposes a mental perception on us, in which we ma- self-denied, although it was inherent to the cubist inheritance that nage to maintain the receptive properties that distant vision offers us beat in the suprematism of its Unidades Malevich11. in spite of a position closer to the sculpture. The reduced scale of his pieces ensures this double TIME IN THE Through the observed dialectic, the vision. Thanks to their small size we are able to stand very close to PERCEPTION importance that Oteiza gave to visual them, but perceiving them in their totality, without hardly needing to OF THE OBJECT perception in the construction and reading surround them to understand all their spatial expansion. In short, the of his works is sensed. The relationship intention is to place ourselves ‘inside’ the inner void of the sculpture, between spectator and object introduced a but we cannot do it personally as in architecture, but through an phenomenological component that placed experience of mental and static contemplation. the time factor at the centre of the creative act. The need to exhibit removed the sculptor from his solitude before the work and raised THE JORGE In both sculptural and architectural new time-space relations that forced him to reflect on how to control OTEIZA MUSEUM perception, time is a parameter referred to FOUNDATION. perception. His search for a formally stable object, without ROUTES OF the duration of the object’s aesthetic expression, had to fight against the temporary activation in the RECEPTIVE experience and, therefore, dependent on process of contemplation, caused by the spectator’s freedom of PERCEPTION the spectator’s movement. Architecture, movement around the exhibited work. due to its nature, allows a physical This dichotomy of stability and dynamism was present movement through its space and thus generates a succession of since the end of the 19th century in the distinction made by Fiedler perceptions around, through and within the object that, nevertheless, and then Hildebrand between ‘kinematic and distant perception’ as remains stable as a three-dimensional reality. On the other hand, it structuring elements of the two fundamental ways of experiencing does not belong to the essence of sculpture to have a scale of use, space12. On the one hand, ‘near perception’, the kinematic, scientific, nor to create an internal void, although Oteiza pursues the latter. In positivist, dynamic, analytical and three-dimensional perception, sculpture, the course of time depends more on the movement of the runs through the work with a constant ocular movement characte- gaze than on real displacement. In the case of Oteiza, moreover, ristic of the scholar, equivalent to a tectonic and tactile vision. On the dynamism is achieved by taking advantage of the capacity of the other hand, the ‘distant perception’, the visual, typical of the artist, void created to establish relationships. synthesises the shapes in two-dimensional languages, then drifting The building for the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation towards the concept of pure visibility13. of Alzuza was particularly devoted to dialogue with the two modes of Hildebrand, for example, distinguishes various types spatial experimentation announced by the harmony between its author of visions of form and appearance: the ‘distant vision’, of a timeless and the strong spatiality of the sculptor whose work it would house. character, will be the one that presents the object to us in a two- The idea behind the project is based on the creation of a dimensional way, capturing its unity and the relations between the pure container. It is Oteiza himself who demands Oíza that it be a box, parts. In front of it, the ‘near vision’ fails to perceive the totality and an unequivocal empty concrete cube reflecting his own sculptural needs to form a temporal image created by the succession of visual conclusion. This is how Oíza explains it: fragments resulting from the ocular movement. Finally, the ‘tactile “The box that we propose for the Oteiza Foundation, annexed to the Alzuza vision’ is achieved by experiencing the spatial relationship of the house-workshop, wants to be an experimental deposit of his work, stone various points perceived in the near vision by means of movement or word, which will bring us closer to discovering his greatness as a creator. or quick visual scan. Oteiza uses these concepts for his aesthetic Because of that Sator opera tenet opera Sator (the creator contains the work, the work contains the creator), according to the classic saying. Archi- justification as follows: tecture as spatial experience, which becomes such, like poetry or music, “S [space] with T [time] becomes F [force], in an external with time. As a corbusierian promenade architecturale. Related successive property of S [space], the near vision appears, advances towards H spaces, governed by light, substantial protagonist of form. From the me- [horizon]. mory of the tunnel-workshop of Aránzazu, where we had the opportunity to F [force], without T [time] is an internal property of admire him as a teacher or father of all”15. S [space], it is the peculiarity of the receptive art, inherent to the distant vision. This declaration of intentions announces the double I return to the distant, where it is silent and immobilised, spatial characterisation that is intended: a static cube combined with where the absence of T [time] is produced. It is necessary to return movement systems that allow a dynamic experience. this image, to the near vision without losing its properties of the dis- On the one hand, a receptive spatial container, a stable tant. What the distant image has inside is what the next image does deposit tailored to the artistic experimentation of the Oteiza’s pro- not have outside: S [space] only”14. duction, where everything is space, pure void. The dominant tunnel- Thus, in the search for stillness, containment or spatial like space’ is presented isolated, protected by side aisles, and being receptiveness of his sculpture, Oteiza forces us to get distance from mysterious16, full of a thick light that arrives from the roof crossing the the object in order to maintain a coherent contemplative staticity openings in the structural walls that separate it from the lateral en- that does not alter the predominantly spatial properties that he closures. As a complement, at the back of the aisle, the combination has defined. This explains why in the exhibition proposal for the of the interior space with the exterior is obtained, thanks to a large Biennial he wanted to place his sculptures close to a limit, preventing hole at ground level that relates the spectator to the natural lands- movement around them. But he also ended up being aware that cape and produces a backlight effect that enhances the contours of the spectator seeks closeness to the work and for this he will try a the works placed there. This vision comes closer to the way Oteiza route with which to understand it from different points of view, from himself had so many times photographed his small sculptures. different moments. Following Renato Bocchi’s interpretation, the encap- Oteiza’s sculpture is sensitive to both types of vision, sulated space in this central aisle would be put in parallel with the static and dynamic, but because of its scale it prevents us from research on the idea of the ‘wall-light’, developed from various essays entering it and its observation is always external. We can surround it, by Oteiza applying light in scale models of glass sheets, straight or cross with our gaze the empty spaces it captures, but we will not be curved, in which he inserts small pieces of paper as collages in refe- able to experience that space in its entirety and we will have to settle rence to Malevich’s paintings17. For Bocchi, the ‘wall-light’ proposes for a subjective reconstruction of a transcendent nature. In order to the void as a gelatinous material, capable of incorporating fragments RA 21 251

of matter itself, in a kind of inversion of terms. According to this until it completely disappears. From a frontal position to the access, thesis, we would find ourselves before a solid empty space capable only the old farmhouse is appreciated and, floating perceptively on of containing forms, such as empty space in zero gravity18. In this its roof, the dramatic skylights appear before the gaze (fig. 10). way, the main space of the museum would resemble the system tried The entire inner path is directed towards them, out by Oteiza in his models: a viscous body that incorporates in its conceived as a spatial route that allows Oteiza’s knowledge to be interior three-dimensional and floating elements, which in this case advanced through a succession of perceptive experiences. A single would be the sculptures exhibited there19 (fig. 05). architectural and exhibition project that attempts to combine the On the other hand, the aim is an architecture that spatial, Oteiza’s metaphysical stillness of the container space with provides a dynamic spatial experience, where displacement is used the dynamic fluidity of a phenomenological or narrative character as one other material. The circulations are designed in such a way as typical of a museum. to allow both the sequentially guided route and the free movement Jorge Oteiza would sum it up by stating: through the exhibition spaces (fig. 06). The guided promenade is “WHAT WE SEE IN S [space]: structure of the image. WHAT WE UNDERS- articulated with a battery of ramps placed at the opposite end to the TAND IN T [time]: structure of the story”21. opening of the container to the landscape. Its cross-sectional display to the rooms allows the three levels of the building to be interwoven: two floors above ground for permanent exhibition (tunnel-like space and side aisles) and a lower level for temporary exhibitions, confe- rence room and documentation and archive centre (fig. 07). On the route through the ramp, the space is compres- Jorge Ramos Jular sed due to the low free height between each section. An atmosphere PhD in Architecture and is an Assistant Professor of Architectural in semi-darkness simulates that of a tunnel-like space. The light falls Projects at the ETSA in Valladolid. He has been a Visiting Profes- indirectly from the roof of the open shaft at all levels where the ramps sor at the IUAV di Venezia (2018) and professor of Architecture go up laterally. Cutting off the thick density of this light, horizontal Theory and Projects at the Universidade da Beira Interior (Por- holes are opened in the wall at ground level of the ramp, which again tugal). Author of several publications on architectural categories extend the look towards the landscape. in other media, especially in Oteiza, to which he dedicated his The system of circulation through this broken route thesis with international mention, published by his Foundation offers different perspectives of the central space-tunnel, forcing with the title: Hoyo, agujero y vacío. Conclusiones espaciales en changes in the direction of the gaze towards lateral visions that Jorge Oteiza. He has been a researcher in a national R&D project broaden the constricted perception that we suffer between the on the subject, has collaborated in audiovisual creations and has sloping planes of the ramps. The well-known effect of the prome- curated exhibitions, seminars and workshops about Oteiza in Italy, nade architecturale of the Villa Savoye is resorted to, whose ramp Portugal and Spain. forces the eye to behave like a camera that accumulates different Orcid ID 0000-0002-4213-0060 perceptions of space along the path. The cubist objective of sliding objects with each other is reached by superposition and transparen- Fernando Zaparaín cy of fragments, but this is achieved not by moving the objects, but PhD in Architecture and is an Associate Professor of Architectural by moving the observer20 (fig. 08). Projects at the ETSA in Valladolid. Concerning the space in the Not only does the displacement of the gaze occur plastic arts, he has published books such as Cruces de caminos: when moving along the ramps. The arrival at the spatial heart of the álbumes ilustrados, construcción y lectura, chapters such as Off- museum takes place laterally through a ‘filter space’ that locks the Screen: The Importance of Blank Space (Routledge) or articles in volume of the museum with the house-workshop in which Oteiza indexed journals such as Las Meninas, perspectiva, luz y tiempo, spent his last years. The diagonal view through the lateral courtyard in the magazine Goya, and several others in Ra, A&V, Disegnare, that serves as an articulation between the two buildings allows us to EGA, Rita, Zarch, PPA o En Blanco. He has been a researcher in a guess what is yet to come. national R&D project on the subject, has coordinated a confe- But without a doubt, the greatest depth of perception rence about Oteiza in the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid and has occurs when we are on the upper level of the side aisles facing the directed Jorge Ramos’ thesis. main tunnel-like space’. Through the holes in the concrete walls that Orcid ID 0000-0002-9659-2906 separate the different areas, we can look out over the central void and build again the diagonal visions that greatly enlarge the interior depth. Pablo Llamazares Blanco To this, it was added the expressive dynamism, produced by the proxi- Architect, holds a Master’s degree in Research in Architecture mity of the three skylights that roundly cut the box in its upper plan and by the University of Valladolid and is a PhD student of the same, make the substantial light the protagonist of the form (fig. 09). where he has also enjoyed a Collaboration Fellowship in the De- Finally, it is possible to analyse the perceptive capacities partment of Architecture Theory and Architectural Projects. He of the Museum, understood as an object prepared to be discovered has published research articles focused on the study of space as in the landscape. The dialectic between distant (spatial) and near an architectural concept in indexed journals such as PPA, Zarch, (temporal) vision, which Oteiza detected when reflecting on how to Rita or En Blanco. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis perceive his sculptures, can also be appreciated from the outside. about the spatial categories in the work of , directed Thanks to its position in front of the small urban centre by the two previous professors. of Alzuza, from the beginning of the access road, the museum Orcid ID 0000-0002-5159-3817 appears as a firm massive container, in which the large size of the skylights expresses a first state of tension. From this distant viewpo- int, the original house-workshop is not appreciated, so the new con- The authors create the ESPACIAR Research Group for the study crete box emerges as the only protagonist of the whole. Like the Par- of space in different artistic disciplines. They are currently develo- thenon in the Acropolis, the building rises on successive platforms ping the R&D Project “Planimetric, spatial and photographic seated on the slope, which serve as a transition and connection with analysis of pioneering audiovisual installations in the Iberian Pe- the lower levels of the building. The path through the terraces up to ninsula since 1975”, ref. PGC2018-095359-B-I00, of the National the access level progressively dissolves the initial power of the box Research Plan. 252 RA 21

Notes Paulo, designed in turn by the sculptures of the third family are conceived as a negative tra- 01. FERNÁNDEZ-GALIANO, landscape architect Roberto placed in a correlative position peze) in his sculptures. Oteiza Luis, “El Arte del Museo”, in AV Burle Marx (1909-1994). In an on high pedestals, following the defines them as “small surfaces Monografías Museos de Arte, interview that Oteiza offered table of the family II, following a of a light, dynamic, unstable 1998, n. 71, p. 5. to the journal Manchette, line marked on the floor which, and floating formal nature”. See once awarded his prize at the next to the diagonal of the first in OTEIZA, Jorge, Escultura 02. Francisco Javier Sáenz de Biennial, he referred to the family, directs the perspective de Oteiza. Catálogo. IV São Oíza and Jorge Oteiza begin Niemeyer’s project: “Niemeyer towards one of the vertices Paulo Modern Art Biennial, 1957. their collaborations on the is a genius. He broke everything, of the room, where Poliedro Propósito Experimental (Ex- occasion of the election of this putting everything upside abierto en flotación is located. perimental purpose), 1956-57, one to execute the monumen- down. See his pyramids: they On the back wall, the rest of the Madrid, 1957. tal set for the façade of the are always inverted”, quoted pieces of family IV (in a single ta- Santuario de Nuestra Señora in MANZANOS, Javier, “Viaje ble) and family V are displayed 12. MONTANER, Josep Mª., Ar- de Arantzazu (1950-54), project a São Paulo”, AA.VV. in IV São then in high and low pedestals, quitectura y crítica, Gustavo Gili, won in a contest by Oíza and Paulo Modern Art Biennial. 1957, except for Permeabilidad del Barcelona, 2002, p. 24 y ss. Luis Laorga. Oteiza also partici- São Paulo, Brasil. Museum Foun- poliedro, which is the strangest pates as a member of the team, dation Jorge Oteiza, Alzuza, in this series and is placed in 13. The so-called modernity together with Oíza and José 2007, p. 67. front of the rest of its compa- has used these two ways of Luis Romany, for the project nions, next to one of the central observing reality. The architec- of a Chapel in the Way of Saint 05. As for the Spanish delega- walls. Next to the second corner tural avant-gardes, for example, James (Camino de Santiago), tion, see DE LA TORRE, Alfonso, of the room, in the large-format mixed the typical isolation of with which they won the Natio- “La contradictoria presencia low table, it is planned to bring the visual object with a kinetic nal Architecture Prize in 1954. del arte español en la IV Bienal together the circular sculptures approach to the buildings. This A third collaboration between de São Paulo (1957)”, in Ibid pp. of the series Desocupación de la is the case of Le Corbusier, who both is the housing project in 129-193. esfera (family VI), Desocupación from the outside generates Irún for themselves and Néstor del cilindro (family VIII) and two autonomous objectual buildings Basterretxea, begun in 1955. 06. PELAY, Miguel, Oteiza. Su of the pieces of family IX. In front although he proposes the interi- Finally, Oíza decides to stay in vida, su obra, su pensamiento, of the table, the Estela funeraria ors as a succession of dynamic Madrid and the definitive project su palabra. La gran enciclopedia para unas monjitas appears on stimuli. All these disquisitions for Basque artists will be com- vasca, Bilbao, 1978, p. 475. a high pedestal, although due to about our way of observing missioned in 1956 to Luis Vallet. its dimensions it would be very the artistic object led it to stop Many years later, between 1988 07. According to other prepara- complicated to place it on this interpreting itself as something and 1989, they collaborate tory documents with dimensio- 35x35cm base. static, in the way again, together with Juan Daniel ned measurements of these ba- did it. Since the beginning of Fullaondo and his team, in the ses, the square ones would have 09. OTEIZA, Jorge, Quousque- the 20th century, the object contest for the Alhóndiga Cultu- a size of 35x35cm and a height Tandem…! Ensayo de interpre- has been seen from a relative ral Centre in Bilbao. of 120cm, while the rectangular tación estética del alma vasca, perspective, not being based ones would be of 120x75cm and 6ªed., Paimela, Pamplona, 2009, on itself but on the position of 03. Another of the collabora- with a height of 70cm. In the p.172. In the short compared the subject. The work of art tions between Oíza and Oteiza, case of the lower bases, they critical dictionary, the term: depends on the point of view of this time together with a large would be cubes of 35x35x- craftwork and exhibitions. the observer, who moves within cast of architects, artists and 35cm. The large-format low space and time. See ZAPARAIN, academics, is in the project table is not represented in these 10. In a text that is being Fernando, “Imagen y espacio”, for the exhibition montage of documents. As an annotation prepared for publication in the teaching guide of the PhD the Spanish Pavilion for the concerning the floor indicates, National Journal of Architecture Modernidad, contemporaneidad Universal Exhibition in Brussels this table would have a height (Revista Nacional de Arquitec- en la arquitectura, Depart- in 1958, a building designed of 55cm, and if we analyse tura) after the Biennial, it stands ment of Architecture Theory by José Antonio Corrales and its measures in the drawing, out, for example, that it is found and Architectural Projects of Ramón Vázquez Molezún. For quite reliable as verified with the an artistic coherence in the abs- the E.T.S. Architecture of Val- further information about the pieces of cardboard, would have tract tendency of the Spanish ladolid, University of Valladolid. work process and the characte- dimensions of 180x105cm. artists present. OTEIZA, Jorge, Available in the documentary ristics of the exhibition montage Archivo Fundación Museo Jorge Repository of the University of project, see RAMOS, Jorge; 08. First of all, one of the most Oteiza Reg. 3.197. Valladolid. http://uvadoc.uva.es/ ZAPARAÍN, Fernando, “De la characteristic pieces sent to the handle/10324/11525. valencia química a la geometría Biennial appears, Homenaje a 11. Based on Malevich’s influence espacial. The Berlanguian mon- Malévich (Homage to Malévich). on his work, Oteiza takes the 14. OTEIZA, Jorge, File Jorge tage of the Spanish Pavillion of From there, its two companions unstable geometric figures used Oteiza Museum Foundation Reg. Brussels in 1958”, AA.VV. in Las from the first family follow each by the painter as a basic ele- 10.084. exposiciones de arquitectura y other in a diagonal line creating ment of his formal vocabulary. la arquitectura de las exposicio- a recognisable group. Opposite, The Unidades Malevich will be 15. Quoted in QUETGLAS, J., nes. T6) Ediciones. Pamplona, marking the access to the ex- the geometric modules that he ZUAZNABAR, G., MARZÁ, F., 2014 559-566. hibition, there is a table with the uses as a combinatorial system Oíza, Oteiza. Línea de defensa two sculptures of the family II. to relate them in multiple forms en Alzuza. Honourable Associa- 04. These projects were located One of them, Expansión espiral (straight or incurved plans, as tion of Architects of Catalonia, in the Ibirapuera Park, the true vacía, is elevated on a cube in faces of three-dimensional Barcelona, 2004. green lung of the city of São relation to its solid referent. The volumes or as empty spaces RA 21 253

16. HERNANDEZ, Joaquín, “Jor- 19. The Museum’s original Images 06. Sketches of system of ge Oteiza Foundation in Alzuza museographic installation is 01. Jorge Oteiza with Fco. Javier routes in plant. Fundación (Navarra)”, AA. VV. in Revista the work of Madrid architects Sáenz de Oíza drawing. Behind Museo Jorge Oteiza, Alzuza Anales de Arquitectura, 2000 Concha Lapayese and Darío Javier Sáenz Guerra, son of (1992-2003), Francisco Javier n. 8, Department of Architec- Gazapo, great connoisseurs Oíza. 1990. Source: Archivo Sáenz de OÍza. Published in ture Theory and Architectural of the relations between Jorge Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza QUETGLAS, J., ZUAZNABAR, Projects, University of Valladolid, Oteiza and architecture, as (AFMJO) Reg. 22453. G., MARZÁ, F., Oíza, Oteiza. Valladolid, p. 135. evidenced by their activity Línea de defensa en Alzuza. as curators of the exhibitions 02a. Collage for distribution Colegio de Arquitectos de Cata- 17. Oteiza writes along with “Oteiza y la arquitectura. study of the works presented IV luña, Barcelona, 2004. photographs of the models: Múltiple reflejo.”.., developed at Biennial of São Paulo, 1957, Jor- “Glass model used in research the COAM Foundation in Madrid ge Oteiza (AFMJO Reg. 3183). 07a. Floor plans of the project concerning the new hyperspace in 1996, and which resulted in Published in AA.VV. IV Bienal del process. Published in HERNAN- nature of the plane in painting the catalogue of his authorship Museo de Arte Moderno. 1957, DEZ, J., “Fundación Jorge Otei- and the void in the statue. This entitled Oteiza, el arquitecto, São Paulo, Brasil. Fundación Mu- za en Alzuza (Navarra)”, AA. VV. cut in the light, which is the flat co-published by the COAM seo Jorge Oteiza, Alzuza, 2007. en Revista Anales de Arquitec- glass that corresponds to the Foundation and Pamiela that 02b. Assembly with photogra- tura, 2000 n. 8, Departamento physical plane of the Wall, is an same year; or the exhibition phs of the sculptures made by de Teoría de la Arquitectura unoccupied transparent plate, “Oteiza: paisajes, dimensiones”, the authors. y Proyectos Arquitectónicos, which is alert as to all spatial organised by the Eduardo Capa Universidad de Valladolid. events... the Wall provides the Foundation in Alicante in 2000. 03. Drawings and indications of 07b. Definitive floor plans Jorge formal physical reference, However, the current exhibition the bases for the sculptures of Oteiza Foundation Museum. but nothing else. The plan is montage (since 2014) is the the IV Biennial of Art of São Pau- Survey graphic by authors. empty and due to its sensitive work of the Navarrese artist lo. (1957), Jorge Oteiza (AFMJO dynamics, it concentrates or Javier Balba. As stated in the Reg. 3198). Published in AA.VV. 08a-08b. Fundación Museo weakens communicating in the information offered by the Jorge IV Bienal del Museo de Arte Jorge Oteiza, Alzuza (1992- formal game of its light and open Oteiza Museum, in the exhibition Moderno. 1957, São Paulo, Brasil. 2003), Francisco Javier Sáenz language... Cf. AA.VV., Oteiza, project called musTz 10, Balda Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza, de Oíza. Views of the commu- 1933-68; in Revista Nueva For- proposes a reflection on the Alzuza, 2007. nication ramp. Photographs by ma, Biblioteca de Arte, n. 1,1968, elements that mediate the Jorge Ramos. Madrid, p. 38. contemplation of Oteiza’s work 04a. Images of the Spanish and the mechanisms involved pavilion of the IV São Paulo 09. Fundación Museo Jorge 18. Interpretation develo- in his museum exhibition. This Biennial, 1957 (AFMJO Reg. Oteiza, Alzuza (1992-2003), ped in the conference “La installation, carried out on the 19831 a 19840). Publicado en Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza. construcción del vacío. Desde occasion of the tenth anniver- AA.VV. IV Bienal del Museo de Views of the side wall. la escultura espacialista de sary of the centre, questions Arte Moderno. 1957, São Paulo, 09a) Views of the first floor side Oteiza a la arquitectura del the spectator’s mechanisms of Brasil. Fundación Museo Jorge room under skylights (Fig. 9b). Museo de Sáenz de Oíza”, at perception and the way in which Oteiza, Alzuza, 2007. Photographs by Jorge Ramos. the Jorge Oteiza Foundation the use of supports and bases 04b. Distribution plant of the Museum, held on 22 Novem- (many of them used in previous works presented IV Biennial of 10a-10b. Fundación Museo Jor- ber 2012. The conference has temporary exhibitions in the São Paulo, 1957. Graphic survey ge Oteiza, Alzuza (1992-2003), been reproduced in: BOCCHI, history of the museum), lights, by authors. Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza. Renato, La construzione del texts and images condition and 04c. Oteiza Museum room dedi- View from the access road and vuoto. Dalla scultura spazialista articulate the interpretation of cated to the São Paulo Biennial. from the village, access to the di Oteiza all’ architettura di Oteiza’s work, introducing new Photography by Elena Martín. house-workshop. Photographs Saez de Oiza, L’Espresso S.p.A., codes and languages involved by Jorge Ramos. Roma, 2015. Another research in its public dimension. In the 05a. Model of light, 1956, Jorge that refers to the relationship case of the room devoted to Oteiza (AFMJO Reg. 3024). Pu- between Oteiza’s experien- the works presented at the São blished in OTEIZA, J., Escultura ces on the ‘wall-light’ and the Paulo Biennial, Balda proposes de Oteiza. Catálogo. IV Bienal Jorge Oteiza Museum, with the reconstruction of the bases de São Paulo, 1957. Propósito the Ronchamp Chapel by Le designed by Oteiza for their experimental, 1956-57, Madrid, Corbusier as a bridge between permanent exhibition. 1957 (Facsímil, Propósito both ideas, is that developed Experimental 1956-1957, Alzuza, by Emma López-Bahut in the 20. ZAPARAÍN, Fernando, Le Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza, article LÓPEZ-BAHUT, Emma, Corbusier, Sistemas de movi- 2007. “De los collages y maquetas de miento y profundidad, COA- 05b. View of the central space vidrio de Oteiza al hormigón de CYLE, Valladolid, 2001, p. 34. ‘space-tunnel’ of the Jorge Sáenz de Oíza”, in AA.VV. VLC Oteiza Foundation Museum. arquitectura. Research Journal, 21. OTEIZA, Oteiza, File from Photography Jorge Ramos. 2016, Vol. 3 n. 1, pp. 55-83. Jorge Oteiza Museum Founda- tion Reg. 6.498. 254 RA 21

11 of certain architectural events within their development, business and personal plans. The three large groups of this segment, led by the Pinault family (Kering), Miuccia and Bernard Arnault The definition of an urban (LVMH), have significant headquarters due to their position in the city and the historical values of that buildings1. El 40th of the Rue des and global icon. Sevres in Paris, from where Pinault runs his emporium, is a relevant example. It is a place very close to the Eiffel Tower, The Invalides and Public-private strategies the Luxembourg Gardens, in the District VII of Paris. The building, cataloged as a Historical Monument by the French administration, for the regeneration of the is the old Laennec Hospital, a very interesting piece built in the 17th century that is now used as a business headquarters. We can Museum “Palazzo della study the personal and cultural project of its founder: the Pinault Foundation with branches in Venice, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Civiltà Italiana, Rome” Dogana2. In 2019, this institution will inaugurate its new venue, the Paris Stock Exchange, also monument which has been rehabilitated Fernando Moral-Andrés according to ’s project after having reached an agree- ment with the municipal government of Anne Hidalgo3. The role that historically played certain institutions as effective The Prada Epicenter of Tokyo, by Herzog and De creators of the cultural city presents a new variant with the Meuron, New York, by OMA and the headquarters of its founda- configuration of important international business conglomerates. tion, also according to the project of the Dutch Rem Koolhaas, are These groups, capable of articulating different socio-economic remarkable data of this architecture-Prada connection. Its new structures, also produce an architectural reality linked to their Productive Headquarters, in , developed by Canali associa- needs, from a strictly functional horizon or as representative ti, is a finalist of the Mies van der Rohe Awards 20194. LVMH, the iconic values. The case of the Palazzo de la Civiltà Italiana, largest global luxury conglomerate is no stranger to these actions. projected by Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula and Mario Its president, Bernard Arnault, commissioned the construction of Romano, and started in 1938, is revealing of this contemporary the headquarters of the Louis Vuitton Foundation to , business paradigm. It was conceived as the emblematic museum which was opened in 2014 in Paris. This building rises in the public of the failed Universal Exposition of Rome, 1942 and has been in a continuous process of programmatic redefinition since those forest of the Bois de Boulogne after having reached an agreement years that saw it stand up and that augured a destination for it with the different administrations involved in the management of as Museo della Civiltà. Different cultural approaches have been this site, after having overcome certain neighborhood opposition5. filling it but in no case with a relevant repercussion neither for Outside of different specialized sectors, these quality works do not its immediate environment nor for the effective construction achieve recognition by the general public as it happens with mythical of the public city. Currently, after the agreement reached in Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. 2013 between the management company of the property and the FENDI house, its exhibition spaces have been reduced THE INVOLVEMENT Private capital, from different sources has significantly, but it has a new program that has regenerated it as a OF COMPANIES IN been an agent capable of promoting CULTURAL POLICIES headquarters building program and as a global icon. cultural policies at different levels. Important private headquarters, with vocation for public service, have been formalized under the umbrella of the benefits achieved by certain entrepreneurs. This situation has led to a transfer of knowledge and human resources from the canonical museum institutions, cultural references of governments, to the corporate structures. Here are two examples to focus on: Richard Calvocoressi, former Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, migrated as director and senior curator to the Gagosian Gallery in London6. This situation has led to a transfer of knowledge and human resources from the canonical Suzzane Pagè, director of the Museum of Modern Art of the Villa de Paris, has been the artistic director of the Louis Vuitton Foundation since 20067. The economic strength of these new centers makes possible the configuration of museum projects that use to replicate standard formulas that public institutions had built through extensive experience. These policies THE CONSTRUCTION The definition of the corporate architecture have been accompanied by arrangements of public-private OF THE BUILDING is a complex process and presents different collaboration, as exemplified by different sponsorships. At this point, REALITY OF THE CORPORATIONS headlines. Some of these are defined by stand out the 25 M euros contributed by Tod’s for the restoration of certain functional scales, others for the Colosseo8. These dynamics also generate different conflicts questions of company policy or historical during the execution of the works. The covering of monuments reality. In 2017, Foster + Partners carried out generates different conflicts such as the disappointment of those the project of the flagship store of the Apple company on Michigan who travel miles away just to see a hidden monument. This was Avenue in the city of Chicago. This small pavilion is covered by a evident during the restoration works of the Fontana della Barcaccia, carbon fiber sheet that evokes the Macbook pro and while in the Roman Piazza di Spagna9. Later experiences with methacryla- transferring to urban scale those symbols of lightness and elegance te fences, for example, have improved this situation. The conserva- typical of such electronic equipment. tion of heritage, the exhibition programs have been significantly If we make a brief study of the above topics, among the promoted by this collaborative way. European magnates of the luxury sector, we can verify the relevance RA 21 255

THE NEW REALITY The fashion house FENDI was placed in the modern extensions of the capital20. Urban planning for EUR / 42 star- OF PALAZZO DELLA Largo Carlo Goldoni, 420, Rome, a ted in 1936 and would be led by Marcello Piacentini, one of the most CIVILTÀ ITALIANA bourgeois palace of the sixteenth century relevant architects of that moment and inside the history of the dis- that closes at one end the Via Condotti, a cipline in Italy21. It would be a true model of fascist city that connects world reference for this commercial sector. with the ancient city and also with the Mare Nostrum through Ostia22. This was the representative building of the It was menat to reflect the environmental and scenographic values ​​ brand in the city; today, inside, we could find a shop, of this new ideology. It would be located in the southern periphery, a hotel and one restaurant. The building has been with an area of about​​ 400 ha. This and new place was design to transformed into a complex of functional programs that could help have a pentagonal perimeter, organized by clearly defined axes, with eventual customers and that can be complementary to each other. relevant aquatic areas along with a large group of buildings23. This was possible after the transfer to a new headquarters of the Adalberto Libera, architect, must be pointed out: staff fom this place. In front of the main façade, Fendi commissioned the symbolic Arch would have been his24 and his is the built one, the artist Giuseppe Penone to carry out a work, Foglie di Pietra, Congress Hall25. This urban operation, over historical and ideological which now boasts the honor of being the first permanent, contempo- distances, could be read from a “patriotic colossalism” similar to the rary sculpture in the Roman public space that was given to the city, in Mall of Washington26. After Italian participation in World War II, the the year 2017 by Italian Company10. This item shows us a new way of project collapsed, as an ephemeris and as a new neighborhood. After culture, administration and business triangle. this dramatic crisis, only a few buildings had been erected and the urbanization was partially executed. The place recovered gradually THE FAILED In 1922, Benito Mussolini ordered the March and in 1953, the Esposizione Internazionale dell’Agricoltura would PROCESS FROM on Rome to his acolytes to carry out a be held there. In 1960 part of the Olympic venues will be arranged in THE PALAZZO TO THE MUSEO DELLA demonstration of strength that led him, in the EUR and is currently considered to be the financial complex of CIVILTÀ October, to the appointment as Prime the city with different established companies headquarters27. The Minister of Italy11. This year was sanctified in area is governed by the public company EUR spa, which has been the fascist myths and that is why around it a transforming its legal structure over the years until in 2000 it acqui- program of commemorations was articulated, among which the X red its current shareholding where 90% is owned by the Ministry of Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista (1932) and the Universal Exhibition Economy and Finance and the 10% remaining is in the hands of the Rome (1942) which never never celebrated. The first one was municipality of Rome28. inspired by Dino Alfieri, president of the Fascist Insitute of Culture of The emblematic building, the Palazzo della Civiltà . It was held at the Exhibition Center of the Via Nazionale in Italiana, which was the keypoint to the program of the Universal Rome and had the project of Adalberto Libera. The architect worked Exhibition of 1942, was built, accidentally, between 1938 and 1942 with Mario de Renzi and Antonio Valente and we could emphasized with an intermediate open ceremony in 194029. It is the magnum opus the construction of a façade attached to the main one that created a of Ernesto Lapadula, Giovanni Guerrini and Mario Romano after new urban scenography dominated by four monumental refined having been winners in an open competition versus other names of fasces12. The second one, and failed, had already been a victory for great relevance and capacity of that times as Mario Ridolfi, who was the regime to have obtained the permission, on the part of the recognized with the third prize in the call30. competent international organism, to change the date of 1941, It is a 51 X 51 m block in plan and, an approximate, height officially foreseen for the celebration, by the one of 1942, coinciding of 68 m that rises on a great podium with ceremonial staircases. with the twentieth anniversary of the arrival to the power of the There is an area under the body of stairs and six levels of floor, plus Duce13. EUR / 42 universal fair should have been the turning point for terrace, above this ceremonial access. This volume has a repetitive the national character of the Mussolini movement to reach an façade system on all four sides. This is configured by a series of peri- international diffusion and to be understaood from a universalist meter galleries, with 216 false identical half-point arches31. These ar- perspective14. The exhibition of 1932 had established the message chs articulate a setback of the effective closing glazing of the internal that, a decade before, not only the renaissance of Italy had spaces of this building. The space housed in the stylobate and the developed, but also that of the whole of Europe and that of the whole access plant do occupy the entirety of its perimeter and in the other of civilization15. The project of 42 should present the primacy of the levels is located a central courtyard, 10 X 15 m32 that perforates them country and the ideology that governed it in a global framework16. vertically together with the communications kit. If we add surfaces The exhibition aim was defined by a singular political vision. of central patio and galleries we could check that these ones reduce, After the “first Rome”, the Imperial one. After the “se- remarkably, available surface of each level33. This image of refined cond Rome”, that of the Popes one, the “third Rome”, the fascist one, arches connects with the idea, “(...) essential of the Roman and Italian would be built. An idea that involved the structuring of a new capital17. architectural art”, demanded by competition general rules34. It is This plan was based on different strategies, one of the most impor- obvious the connection with the Flavian Amphitheater but also pre- tant being that which made “demolitions” an extraordinary creative sents the debate to discern what was the fascist architectural style, act. This phenomenon protected the elimination of historical addi- if the rationalist, leaded by the editor of the magazine Quadrante, tions in order to edit a true and unique urban environment linked to Pietro Maria Bardi or another more historical and “metaphysical”35. It the imposed fascist values. The primo colpo di piccone activated an is true that arcades are one of the most characteristic architectural architectural and ideological machinery. The planning-demolition-re- structures of the cities built during this political regime régimen36. creation sequence is what leads to “cosmicization” as Mircea Eliade The Palazzo would house the main exhibition to be points out18. A process designed to formalize the prevailing ideology held during this 1942 universal exhibition and it should show the in the city. Different restoration programs, such as those set up in influence of the Italian civilization in different events and epochs, Arezzo, Siena or San Gimignano, also showed how the urban project being understandable both for people of refined culture and for can be put at the service of a determined ideological rhetoric19. general citizenship37. It would establish a sequential track capable of For the truncated event of 1942, this dynamic was not explaining the Italian civilization from its origins to our days, keeping followed and a new construction was projected that would suppose in mind that this proposed museography should be configured with the prolongation of the city according to the urban plans emanating a goal of durability over time38. The dialogue with the building would between 1925 and 1926, which anticipated the dialogue between the be complex. The Palazzo had been conceived as a symbol above any operations developed in the historic centre together with new and other functional program and the spatial configuration that we have 256 RA 21

previously indicated involved a deep reflection on how to effectively between heritage, biodiversity and the economic development of the articulate the different elements that would make up the exhibition. area48. A place where we can locate an important inflation of cultural Groundfloor, according dimensions and structure, was the level that buildings, although, of not very well known by great public that lives could offer better conditions as a museum. In the upper floors, di- and visits the city. mensions and orientations, to mention some points of relevance, we could not find same options. This situation, in a certain sense, links it THE LINK BETWEEN We will not enter into the exegesis of the to same problems that we would locate in the New National Gallery CASA FENDI AND brand, but in 1918 the FENDI house was ROME of Berlin of Mies van der Rohe, but in any case, the building does not founded, focused on the manufacture of verify the solutions that modernity would understand as necessary leather goods. Its recent history is marked in these kind of buildings: flexible grid isotropic (flexibility), glazing by the lost of its original independence and (exterior interior continuity) and white cube (neutrality)39. We could its integration in the LVMH conglomerate. consider that lack of modernity and functionality40 has conditioned This group together with Prada had paid around 1,000 M euros for its consideration as an adequate space for art but has helped to build 51% of the company. In 2001 the French conglomerate buys the its iconic condition from other parameters. 25.5% that was in property of Prada with a disbursement of about In 1938, expert panels of the general program began 295 M and to be able to control effectively the company49. its activities under the presidency of Pietro De Francisci, rector of 2013 will be key for the new “romanization” of the Sapienza41. This very previous year, certifies a relevant interest of this company. At this momento, It was designed a brand new logo in operation and this time of reflection that would take this project. Ex- which the word Roma appears under the name of the company for hibition program had an important challenge: to condense hundred the very first time in its history50. Same year there was also a decisive of events derived from a history of thousands of years. It must also event for the immediate future of the company: Fendi agrees with be able to educate while activating the sensibility of the visitor, local the public company, EUR S.p.A. the exploitation of the Palazzo della and foreign. It is here where the instruments proposed to build this Civiltà Italiana for a period of 15 years, at a rate of around 2.9 M euros visual essay became transcendental: maps, dioramas, schemas and per year51. To this new location, emblematic and conflictive as few in pictorial figurations, among others were studied. A list of exhibition the contemporary history of the city, will be where the Italian house tools, in line with those used in other modern universal fairs, and moves its central headquarters52. Undoubtedly, these are two issues that could lead these challenges by synthesis and clarity through that reinforce the link, the association, between the company and this museographic discourse42. Ernesto Lapadula had been one of the city. the designers most involved in the Mostra autarchica del Minerale Italiano at Circo Massimo between 1938-1939. This event, focused on THE FUNCTIONAL Between 2013 - 2015, architect Marco dualities: science-technique, art-culture, can be considered one of REGENERATION OF Constanzi53, functionally rehabilitates the THE MUSEUM-ICON the exhibition antecedents closest to what the museographic system AS A NECESSARY building in order to be able to accommoda- to be developed in the Palazzo should have been43. In the sketches STRATEGY FOR THE te new tenants, its administrative and of the project that had to be produced, we see how all those didactic CONSTRUCTION OF A creative departments together with a small NEW GLOBAL IMAGE elements dialogue with original and emblematic pieces for the spe- exhibition and dissemination activities cific message that each room would transmit. We must emphasize centre of design made in Italy open to all type of audience54. This that, in most of them, we do not locate any trace that places us in the building is occupied by 450 Fendi employees55. These will settle on Palazzo-museum; a fact that reveals the difficulties of the dialogue the six upper levels and the basement. In the intervention, which has between container and content. involved the articulation of a new program of mixed uses, the Main items would be: culture, art, history and politics. typology of the building has been verified as a flexible matrix, as The Palazzo would be a tabernacle where to find values of that indicated by Carlos Martí, where different strategies end up by civilization, which had been filtered by a fascist ideological tool. This configuring it, really, in time56. building should be stand up in the post-exhibition district. It would This situation, derived from a public-private strategy, be the core of the future model of the Italian City, that was born in has meant that the area destined for exhibitions is quite insignificant this context and place, and that would be renamed as Museo della in the building, although, being on the ground floor, it has a leading Civiltà44. feature because it is the place to receive all those who have climbed During the Second World War it was partially used the monumental stairways. This level shares space with the commu- by the German occupation troops. After that tragedy, in 1951, the nication kits allocated to the offices. The podium floor, the one that possibility of using it as the headquarters of the National Library had a more suitable configuration to support an exhibition program, was studied. In 1953, after partial restoration works, it was the site on is destined to other dependencies of the company such as the coffee irrigation and transformation of lands within the International Agricul- bar57. It is necessary a reflection, still pending to materialize, around tural Exhibition. In 1956 it became the place of the Federazione dei how this podium level should build a public plan in continuity with the Cavalieri del Lavoro. In 1959 it will also use by the Military Aviation. rest of the EUR. This question would be decisive for the building itself In 2001 the offcial competition was published to adapt it as Museo and the whole district. Nazionale dell’Audiovisivo that did not materialize45. Between 2006- The first exhibitions held have focused on Italian issues 2008 there is a comprehensive rehabilitation financed by public and on the universe and culture of the brand itself, which now, holds institutions which were monument managers46. In 2013, Armani used the exploitation of the property. The first one, of 2015, honored its this property as a set for an important event47. This year will also be a location, Una nuova Roma. L’Eur and the Italian Palazzo della Civilttá turning point in the biography of the Palazzo della Cività Italiana. italiana58. Later, Fendi: the artisans of dreams, arrived in 201659, whe- Since its founding, as an icon for EUR 42, its functions re some of the most unique creations linked to the artisanal work of had been established within the orbit of cultural programs but with the firm were exhibited. Giuseppe Penone: Matrice, 2017, showed an a notable variety of them. We must highlight that in the same area, anthological sample of the work of the last 50 years of the artist and today we can find museum centers such as the National Museum of the most transcendent of this series60, and Fendi Studios, 2018, de- Art and Popular Traditions, the National Museum of Prehistory and veloped during Rome Film Festival and which serves to reveal some Ethnography “Luigi Pigorini” or the National Museum of Medieval of the contributions from the company to the world of celluloid61. All Art that coexist with business headquarters such as Poste Italiane. of them reached an important diffusion in generalist media although This neighborhood presents a unique reality defined by the dialogue they have verified diverse arguments and far from the ambitious RA 21 257

exhibition that sought to treasure the Palazzo in its genesis. Let us become an architectural body devoid of relevant activity neither remember Mussolinni´s effort to build an exhibition complex in for its district nor for the whole city. This situation, critical for a which to showcase the determining values of a civilization. A work construction conceived as iconic, had been distilled by all the agents developed for a successive years where some of the most relevant involved in its management and by a series of administrative inertia personalities of culture, art, architecture and politics of the moment that had marked its evolution over time. The articulation of a new were involved. A proposal that should be perennial in time. From an strategy, public-private, respectful of the existing typology and free open approach, these current exhibitions, of a temporary nature, of political accents, has led to the Palazzo’s functional recovery while contrast with those existing in museums located in the same district re-launching its singular value within global business coordinates. and we could consider that these ones cover a more popular and The definition of an expositive, measured and temporary reality, ephemeral intellectual space. Undoubtedly, this interpretation should combined with another of a productive nature has meant the effecti- be done from our time and where a certain dose of “spectacular” and ve reactivation of this place. appearance characterize these proposals62 that have also reached This reality, under construction, does yield some first places like the Ara Pacis in Rome and the Victoria and Albert Mu- positive data for its rehabilitation as a place of work and enjoyment seum in London. of citizens and as an architectural emblem, rediscovered internatio- We can study, in both situations, that discourse cente- nally. This is a case of how the architectural object can overcome its red on specific themes of the country, a blurred connecting thread initial premises to participate, decisively, in the construction of a new that links, weakly, past and current museum discourses. Rémy Zaugg public and global city. points out: “Any architectural element that does not respect the right angle will disturb the immediate and direct perceptive relationship. The architecture will interfere ... It will be a place full of subjectivity, Fernando Moral-Andrés where the expression of the work will be violated or distorted”63. This Architect by University of Valladolid, Master “Architecture: text also refers to a continuity in time that has not been undermi- criticism and project” by School of Architecture of Barcelona and ned by the new tenant: the uniqueness of the building has not been Ph.D. by Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He obtained the In- dematerialized for better museum or commercial development. The ternational Research Fellowship “Jorge Oteiza” by Public Universi- conceptual and aesthetic values of construction have endured, in ty of Navarra. He is Director of the Department of Architecture substance and in form. of the Nebrija University, member of the Consolidated Research The exhibition issue has maintained its presence in the Group “Art and City” of the Universidad Complutense of Madrid complex but subordinated to the corporate functions. The iconic as well as collaborating researcher of the Dipartimento PDTA of reality of the building will also be affected by the settlement of the Sapienza-Università di Roma (Italy). He has been a professor at Fendi house in its place. A global image of the building is being IE University and has participated in academic programs at IIT projected, free of any political stain, by using different tools, as a key (USA), March-Moscow School of Architecture (Russia), Harbin vehicle for the construction of the Fendi brand internationally. Institute of Technology (China) and Architectural Association Since its effective installation in this location, this fashion (UK). His papers have been published in renowned journal such company has begun a systematic incorporation of the Palazzo’s cha- as Arquitectura Viva, EGA: architectural graphic expression racteristic shapes to all its campaigns and sales centrer. In that year and Springer publishing house, among other references. He is 2015, it commissioned the architect Emilia Serra and the designer the author of Oteiza: disoccupied architecture and has Urban Andrea Mancuso to develop a new project: FENDI and “Analogia Tensions in preparation. His work as a curator is reflected in Project”, Traces of Palazzo Civiltà Italiana64. A work that feeds on exhibitions such as ‘Mecanoo architecten: the Dutch mountains’, the structure of the building to generate some pieces (volumetric ‘Abalos + Sentkiewicz: 6 verticalscapes’ and ‘Eduardo Souto de variations) of different condition and scale that continue to influence Moura: Projects and Competitions’. He has collaborated with the the presentation of the values and paradigms of a global brand. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and carries out his arcade is the protagonist of this process that will identify shop win- professional activity from the agency Tattica. His work has been dows, interiors and spaces of the company in any city in the world. finalist of the ICCL Sustainable Construction Awards, XII Spanish This project is added to other more kitsch and mass Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BEAU) and Triennial of the reach strategies where the arches and their developments are not Konsthall Virserums (Sweden). addressed from a refined aesthetic project howeve as a recognizable hallmark. We could achive several examples of this situation at FEN- This work has been supported by the Research Grants of the DI store in the Ginza district of Tokyo and the Pop - Up Store in Dubai. Nebrija University abroad (Sapienza - Università di Roma) The first one is located in a privileged corner of a generic building. This paper is linked to the results of the research project of the Here, a new vitreous facade, has been arranged as a dihedral arcade National Plan I + D + i Knowledge Generation 2018: Art, Architec- in four levels. The second one is based on the construction of a cube, ture and Heritage in the processes of construction of the image of around six meters on each side, with six levels of arches destined of the new cultural enclaves (from the District to the Territory), ( to the exhibition of the company’s products. A kind of simplified Ref. PGC2018-094351-B-C43) Ministry of Science, Innovation and replica of the headquarters. This reality is amplified by the publica- Universities. tion and distribution of different images and catalogues where the models of the house colonize the Palazzo. In a way, all this one was already advanced by Federico Fellini in the dream world of Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio 1962, where the historic building had been reproduced to face the scale of the actress Anita Ekberg65. The reference to Walter Benjamin is inevitable and the debate between the cultural value of the work and its visibility is crucial to be able to reach a case like the one exposed66. The history of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana has been intense as we can discover in its biography. The different functions planned for its development, mainly museum and exhibitions, had 258 RA 21

Notes 2019, accessed, january, 10, 25. Idem, p. 103. 2016, Vol. 21, n. 28, 2016, p. 167. 01. KERING, “Un écrin de luxe”, 2019. en http://www.kering.com/fr/ma- 26. DUQUE, Félix, Arte público 41. CASCIATO, Maristella, gazine/un-ecrin-de-luxe. 2018, 10. FENDI, “Foglie di Pietra”: una y espacio político, Akal, Madrid, PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della accessed, December, 15, 2018. escultrua de Giuseppe Penone”, 2001, p. 83. Civiltà Italiana… op. cit., 2002, en https://www.fendi.com/es/ p. 197. 02. PALAZZO GRASSI, “About fendi-roma/proyectos_especia- 27. CASCIATO, Maristella, Pinault collection” en https:// les/Giuseppe-Penone--Foglie- PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della 42. Idem, p. 198. www.palazzograssi.it/en/about/ di-Pietra , 2018, acceso, 10 de Civiltà Italiana. Architettura e collection/, 2019, accessed, julio, 2018. construzione del Colosseo Qua- 43. Idem, p. 203. January, 10, 2019. drato, Federico Motta Editore, 11. KALLIS, Aristotle, “The “Third Roma, 2002, p. 244. 44. Idem, p. 200. 03. AZIMI, Roxana, “La Co- Rome” of Fascism: Demolitions llection Pinault s´installera en and the Search for a New Urban 28. Idem, p. 245. 45. Idem, pp. 243-245. 2018 a la Bourse de Com- Syntax”, en The Journal of merce a Paris”, in https:// Modern History, 2012, vol. 84, 29. Camilla Verrecchi, FENDI 46. EUR, “Palazzo della Civiltà www.lequotidiendelart.com/ n. 1, p. 43. Corporate Press, provided Italiana”, en https://www.eurspa. articles/9029-la-collection- differents documents with this it/it/asset-property/patrimonio/ pinault-s-installera-en-2018- 12. GAROFALO, Francsco, information , February, 6, 2018. edifici-storici/palazzo-civilta- a-la-bourse-de-commerce- VERESANE, Luca, Adalberto italiana, 2015, accessed, July, a-paris.html, 2016, accessed, Libera, New York: Princeton 30. CASCIATO, Maristella, 23 2018. November, 10, 2018. Architectural Press, New York, PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della 2002, p. 53. Civiltà Italiana… op. cit., 2002, 47. FRIEDL, Peter, “The Haunted 04. EUMIESAWARD19, “Prada p. 47. City”… op. cit., p. 14. Productive Headquarter”, en 13. KALLIS, Aristotle, “From https://www.miesarch.com/ CAUR to EUR: Italian Fascism, 31. FRIEDL, Peter, “The Haunted 48. EUR, “Profilo”, en https:// work/4106, 2019, acceso, 20 de the “myth of Rome” and the City”, en https://www.documen- www.eurspa.it/it/azienda/profilo, enero, 2019. pursuit of international primacy”, ta14.de/en/south/6_the_haun- 2015, accessed, July, 23, 2018. en Patterns of Prejudice, 2016, ted_city, 2017, accessed, 05. MOORE, Rowan, “Fondation vol.50, n. 4-5, p. 375. Februaru, 10, 2018, p. 7. 49. REECE, Damian, “LVMH Louis Vuitton, Paris review – pays $225m to take control of everything and the bling from 14. Idem, p. 359. 32. CASCIATO, Maristella, Fendi”, en https://www.telegraph. Frank Gehry”,en https://www. PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della co.uk/finance/2743316/LVMH- theguardian.com/artandde- 15. Idem, p. 367. 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SHAW, Catherine, “Q&A: no”, in Journal of the Society of PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della https://www.docomomoitalia.it/ Fondation Louis Vuitton Artistic Architectural Historians, 2004, Civiltà Italiana… op. cit., 2002, patrimonio-a-rischio-il-palazzo- Director Suzanne Pagé on Frank vol. 63, n. 3, p. 320. p. 198. della-civilta-italiana/, 2013, Gehry’s Genius”, en https://www. accessed, July, 23, 2018. metropolismag.com/architec- 20. KALLIS, Aristotle, “The 38. Idem, p. 197. ture/fondation-louis-vuitton- “Third Rome”…op. cit., p. 54 52. VV.AA., “La nuova sede di artistic-director-suzanne-page- 39. LAYUNO, Ángeles, CHAVES, Fendi nel “Colosseo qua- frank-gehrys-genius/, 2015, 21. Idem, p. 52. Miguel Ángel, “La creación del drato”, en https://www.ilpost. accessed, october, 9, 2018. espacio expositivo moderno”, in it/2015/10/23/foto-quartier- 22. Idem, p. 63. Creatividad y sociedad: revista generale-fendi/, 2015, accessed, 08. TOD´S, “Tod´s for Colos- de la Asociación para la Creati- July, 23, 2018. seum”, en https://www.tods. 23. ROCA, Marisol, “EUR: Es- vidad, 2013, n. 20, p. 5. com/it-it/stories/tods-for-co- posizione Universale di Roma a 53. CONSTANZI, Marco, “Marco losseum.html, 2018, accessed, 1942. 124 · Monographic · Model 40. LAYUNO, Ángeles, “Con- Constanzi Architects”, en http:// January,10, 2019. general view, 1940”, in Dialnet, cepto y representación espacial www.marcocostanzi.com, 2013, 2006, accessed, July, 20, 2018. en la arquitectura expositiva del accessed, October, 1, 2018. 09. URBAN VISION, “Fontana moviento moderno. Refelxiones della Barcaccia”, en http://www. 24. GAROFALO, Francsco, sobre la retícula, el vacío y la 54. ROSA, Francesca, “Patri- urbanvision.it/en/restauri-spon- VERESANE, Luca, Adalberto transparencia”, EGA: revista de monio a rischio: il palazzo della sor/fontana-della-barcaccia, Libera… op. cit., p. 107. expresión gráfica arquitectónica, Civiltà Italiana”, en https://www. RA 21 259

docomomoitalia.it/patrimonio- 64. ANALOGIA, “Analogia Images 10. View Fendi offices at Palazzo a-rischio-il-palazzo-della- Project”, en https://analogiapro- 01. Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, della Civiltà Italiana, EUR, Rome, civilta-italiana/, 2013, accessed, ject.com/#/traces-of-palazzo- detail entry façade, EUR, Rome. 2015 (Image: Eduardo Pérez / July, 23, 2018. della-civilt/, 2016, accessed, (Photo: author). Vitra) December, 20, 2018. 55. VV.AA., “Conozca la nueva 02. Presentation of the 11. View exhibition areas, sede de Fendi: el Palazzo della 65. VV.AA., “Boccaccio ‘70 rehabilitation project of the actually at Palazzo della Civiltà Civilta Italiana en Roma”,en (episodio “Las tentaciones del Paris Stock Exchange as the Italiana, EUR, Rome. (Image: https://archivo.gestion.pe/ doctor Antonio”, en http://www. new headquarters of the Pinault author) tendencias/fendi-se-mudo-al- federicofellini.it/es/node/2778. Foundation, Paris, 2017 (Tadao majestuoso-palazzo-della-civil- Acceso, 20, diciembre, 2018. Ando, architect, Pinault family 12. Exhibition view, “Una nuova ta-italiana-roma-2147563, 2015, and Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, Roma. L’Eur e il Palazzo della accessed, July, 23, 2018. 66. BENJAMIN, Walter, La obra appear in this image). Civilttá italiana”, EUR, Rome, de arte en la época de su repro- 2015. (Image: Fendi) 56. MARTÍ, Carlos, Las varia- ducción mecánica, Casimiro, 03. Restoration process, ciones de la identidad. Ensayo Madrid, 2010, pp. 23-25. Fontana della Barcaccia, Piazza 13. Exhibition view, “Fendi: the sobre el tipo en arquitectura, di Spagna, Rome, 2014. (Image: artisans of dreams”, EUR, Rome, Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona, Urban Vision). 2016. (Image: abbanews) 1993, p. 191. 04. “La foglie di petra”, by Giu- 14. Exhibition view, “Giuseppe 57. SILVESTRINI, Valentina, seppe Penone, Largo Goldoni, Penone Matrice”, EUR, Rome, “Roma, apre il nuovo Fendi Roma, 2017 (Image: Artribune). 2017. (Image: Corriere della Caffè”, en https://icondesign.it/ Sera). places/fendi-caffe-roma/, 2017, 05. Façade X Mostra della Rivo- accessed, January, 11, 2019. luzione Fascista, Vía Nazionale, 15. Exhibiiton view, “Fendi Roma, 1932 (Image: Archivio Studios”, EUR, Rome, 2017-18. 58. PARAREDA, Marta, “Fendi y Centrale dello Stato). (Image: Fendi / LVMH). el arte contemporáneo italiano”, en http://www.theluxurytrends. 06. Esposizione Universale 16. “Analogia Project”, various com/fendi-y-el-arte-contempo- di Roma, 1938, Roma. (Image: details, 2015. (Images: Analogia raneo-italiano/, 2017, accessed, Open House Roma, 2015). Project). July, 17, 2018. 07. Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, 17. Fendi store Ginza, Tokyo 59. INOSTROZA, Ignacia, by E. Lapadula, G. Guerrini y M. 2017. Pop-up store Dubai, “Fendi: the artisans of dreams”, Romano, Rome, 1939 (Image: 2016 (Images. Lighting Design en http://www.harpersbazaar. Museum of Modern Art, NY). Awards, The Impression). cl/cultura/fendi-the-artisans- of-dreams/, 2016, accessed, 08. Mostra Autarchica del Mina- 18. Anita Ekberg, set place, “Le January, 11, 2019. rale Italiano, Italian Afric Pavilion, Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio”, Rome, 1938 (Image: Vincenzo directed by Federico Fellini, 60. VV.AA., “Giuseppe Penone Aragozzini / Lombardia Beni Rome, 1962 (Image: arch it). Matrice”, en https://www.electa. Culturale). it/prodotto/giuseppe-penone- matrice/, 2017, accessed, 09. Mostra de la Civiltà Italiana, January, 11, 2019. sketches for the Esposizione Universale di Roma-1942. 61. GARRIGUES, Manon, “13 (Images: CASCIATO, Maristella, expositions mode à voir avant PORETTI, Sergio, Il Palazzo della la fin de l’année”, en https://www. Civiltà Italiana. Architettura e vogue.fr/culture/a-voir/story/ construzione del Colosseo Qua- expositions-mode-hiver-2017- drato, Federico Motta Editore, paris-balmain-oscar-de-la-ren- Rome, 2002, pp.194-203) ta/383, 2017, accessed, January, 11, 2019.

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63. ZAUGG, Rémy en LAYUNO, Ángeles, CHAVES, Miguel Ángel, “La creación del espacio expositivo moderno”, en Crea- tividad y sociedad: revista de la Asociación para la Creatividad, 2013, n. 20, p. 29. 260 RA 21

12 THE PAVILION AS AN In the 1920s, German industry underwent EXHIBITION STAND growth comparable to the pre World War I period, all thanks to the Weimar Republic’s About architecture expansionist policy that left behind the years of austerity suffered by Germany due (in the Barcelona Pavilion) to the war. This industry needed to showcase its products not only within the country but also in Europe, Exhibition as a form and so it opted for a format of industry-specific exhibitions in artificial environments emulating reality. This period bore witness to of research Stuttgart’s Glas Raum glass pavilions and Berlin’s Café Samt und Seide, both dating from 1927, when Mies van der Rohe and his artistic Francisco Muñoz and romantic partner, Lilly Reich, were designing for the most influential businessmen, making this format a clear form of research Mies van der Rohe was thinking about architecture when in 1929 not just into the possibilities of the materials used, but also into the he designed the German Pavilion for the Barcelona World’s Fair, a architecture achieved through them. The radicalism of stressing its building that set out to portray the new Weimar Republic. Without possibilities, in a clear strategy of “over-exposing the product by a programme as such, and with hardly any time, its ultimate saturation”, served as an intellectual basis for what would later be the purpose was to showcase itself as the culmination of a previously leap “into the void” of a design such as the Barcelona Pavilion. dormant research project studying a series of exhibition stands or curved glass walls were eloquent examples from the paradox of a for German industry. It was a temporary museum for a new genre form transformed into content. Focusing and delocalising spaces to of architecture that depicted the myth of “permanent void” once it showcase a piece, as if it were a work of art, were here subverted in a was disassembled, with fourteen images considered as examples mixture of abstraction, understood as segregation of elements, of a new spatial arrangement. Barcelona City Council was thinking which unwittingly (or otherwise) paved the way for a new genre of about architecture when it decided to reconstruct the Pavilion in the 1980s, while each year a call is made out to architects and ar- architecture. Overexposing entails blurring the boundaries between tists to think about architecture by holding a series of temporary the exhibitor and the exhibited. When the exhibitor is of the same installations, highlighting the paradoxical value of the exhibited nature as the exhibited, thereby losing its apparent neutrality, the exhibitor and the (in)visible void ABOUT the key characteristics spectator experiences a significant, emotive, recognisable and that (un)define it. memorable confusion. A calculated design that mobilised the senses for its compression. When in 1929 Mies van der Rohe was commis- sioned by the German government to design a space portraying the new state2 at the Barcelona World’s Fair, his approach was to take the maximum advantage of these “test tube” exhibitors and make the architecture itself the object to be exhibited. Proof of the speculative nature of this process was the non-existence of a closed project throughout its construction and, on the other hand, an evidentiary model-based3 manipulation of the different arrangements of the walls, the roof, the floor plan and the water surface that define this work. The travertine flooring4 itself was an abstract grid of real-scale control of the elements. A type of architecture that stemmed from this local constructive order whe- rein each material considered its own grid pattern. It was as if the OVER-EXPOSED. Every exhibition involves a call to talk symmetrical veins of the marble or golden onyx walls were echoes THE GENESIS OF A ABOUT what is being exhibited. Alluding of other balances of the elements. Canvases of condensed matter PAVILION ABOUT ARCHITECTURE to this does little but underline the need to fused into multiple reflections of glossy surfaces that normalised emphasise and highlight the object on a museum setting typical of exhibition installations, which drew on show. Placing something on top of the infinite replicas to dematerialise in a continuous overexposed something else is, basically, to delocalise space. the object in order to intensify its exhibition by alienating it in that However, “blindness” was the first category that Bonta context. A classic museum. But what happens when the theme addressed when talking about the Barcelona Pavilion in his ‘Anatomy subject to exhibition is architecture? Or what’s more, when form of the Interpretation Process’. He attributes it to how much this work and content are blurred, are their roles exchanged? Or is the was overlooked by everybody (including specialists) in the short framework that makes it possible simply the product of multiple time that its “exhibition” lasted5. Although it was not exactly like independent elements1 floating in an infinite space that paradoxica- that6. Instead, maturity was required to consider it one of the “great lly is ultimately the object on show? The latter is the case of Mies achievements of the twentieth century”7. Maturity about something van der Rohe’s architecture. A type of architecture that could be non-existent, physically, given that the Pavilion was disassembled. branded as “museographic” by nature. OVER-exposed. While visibi- Maturity, in using fourteen8 photographs to perceive a value that lity and transparency are famous characteristics of his work, made it worthy of that consideration9. Bonta explains it best by equally so are the mechanisms of a column, reaching the condition saying that when a work of architecture departs from culturally esta- of an object shown in equality with an accompanying chair or blished patterns, it is not enough to see it in order to understand it. “A sculpture. His genesis was an extraordinary fusion of architecture process of collective clarification must take place, meaning has to be stemming from the exhibition spaces of trade fairs and the value of verbalised, and new interpretive canons are to be set up”10, he added. each one of the key materials and elements. But it’s also a profound And that is something that runs through all Miesian architecture and, reflection ABOUT the void as a guiding axis of the modern project. by extension, modern architecture. It is inevitable to link its birth and This is the summarised genealogy of a Pavilion created to subsequent development to this kind of exhibition object. “If Mies showcase a new type of architecture, which today remains an adhered to some sort of logic, he did it in the logic of appearance. An unfinished project. oxymoron between the real and the virtual”. RA 21 261

Proof of this is the exhibition between late 1947 and The “unlimited” SANAA installation at the Pavilion con- early 1948 at the MoMA in New York by his leading mentor in Ame- sisted of transparent acrylic curtains arranged in a spiral inside the rica, Philip Johnson11. On this occasion, appealing to the ambiguity space known as the “throne room”19. The strategy was to “change the previously used on the German Electric Utilities Pavilion at the original with soft reflections that slightly distort the pavilion”20. The Barcelona World’s Fair, an open-plan and closed prismatic container “play on reflections” becomes even more intense by boosting the is “wrapped” by a group of large-scale photographs that construct reflective properties of the materials themselves and those caused an unreal atmosphere that dissolves the clear limits of the box. The by the curved wall (fig. 03). When curved surfaces are present, these same strategy was transferred to the MoMA wall panels, where an reflections progressively multiply to dissolve the centre. The only one image covering the entire height of the room simulated the black- that existed in the Pavilion21. On the onyx wall, the axial symmetry and-white dramatised vanishing point of the horizontality typical of the grain of the material is distorted by the cloud of reflections of of the Barcelona Pavilion. A trompe l’oeil that uses a photograph to the acrylic. Conclusion: a pavilion more homogeneous in its maze- show a fluid, unlimited space, conceived from the logic of appearan- like nature. A maze inside another maze, where limits appear and ce, of what may be exhibited, rather than from real life. disappear. They are added or they are cancelled out. Where there The final part of the story was about to arrive. We’re is no visual closure, only a distorted closure. The array of reflections talking here about the past thirty years or so, ever since the Pavilion shown dissolve the space into an evanescent atmosphere, isotropic was reconstructed in 1986 by three Catalan architects who un- in its infinity. derlined the intimate nature of this building as an exhibition space. The installation by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Taglia- Its innermost DNA12. The very ups and downs of this commission bue22 alludes to this weightless nature around the existing and ficti- from Barcelona City Council to commemorate the centenary of its tious columns as if they both remember this paradoxical condition of architect’s birth underlined the symbolic burden that surrounded “binding” rather than “holding”. The panels of the exhibition formed the Pavilion. The refusal of Mies van der Rohe’s family led by his floating ribbons bearing printed documentation of the project on dis- grandson Dirk Lohan, or the truly resounding resistance of Philip play, forming unclosed centres or alternative plans that did not touch Johnson13 himself, were only defused by Mies van der Rohe himself the floor or the ceiling(fig. 04). In the spatial maze, the disorientation in a letter to Oriol Bohigas describing his interest in overseeing the of the walkways unites with the levitation of these elements. There’s reconstruction himself. Every detail of this work is in itself a sign of no gravity in this space, just like in the roofs of the Scottish Parlia- what it means to design a work of architecture for architecture. An ment Building alluded to by this exhibition. The supports are tensors object that engulfs its content, which is nothing else than a void that in their meagre materiality; in any case proof of the recognition of the powerfully synthesises this new style of architecture. The arrival in existence, not of them, but of the weightless void which they portray. this final stage of a series of artistic interventions has resulted in this Titled “The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. Second Recons- hypothesis. truction”, the installation by photographer Jordi Bernadó23 consisted of the simple action of disassembling, moving and placing the two EXHIBITIONS THAT For over fifteen years, a total of twenty-six sets of doors which existed outside of the place. This was an advo- ARE TEMPORARY temporary installations have taken place, at cacy of Mies van der Rohe’s “view” of his building as a contemporary AND...SPATIAL a rate of one or two per year. The surprising and intuitive vision of its understanding as an ephemeral construc- thing about these exhibitions is the tion, considering it a “representation pavilion”, as its intention was unanimity of the results faced with the to evoke thoughts and not its permanent physical materialisation in variety of characters and the artistic the space. Mies was convinced that the construction wouldn’t last licence on display. What’s more, each of them has proved to be in time and that only the idea and its images would remain. By using persistent in the visualisation of the space. Some “active interpreta- plans and materials, “Bernadó interprets that the German architect tions”14 that should be exalted include thinking ABOUT the unlimited, designed the Pavilion without doors (fig. 01) and ordered it to be pho- the weightless, the unfinished and the immaterial as defining tographed without doors”24. The unfinished nature was a necessary qualities. “Non-exclusive” denials of attributes of the architectural condition. Essential in the process. style15. The criteria that shaped the form had, for Mies van der Rohe, “On translation: Paper BP/MVDR”25 calls on the written remained largely unresolved. Only the “negative” layout of the space and graphic memory kept by the MoMA as the only temporary as “non-material” could resolve this non-formal “paradox” that reference for which the Pavilion was known for years. Two devices ultimately led to the possibility of a space-effective construction installed next to the file holders in the wall of light were used to independent of its boundaries. incorporate the time elapsed between the original and the replica. Muntadas (fig. 05) understands that the current reconstruction is EXPOSED SPACE. Starting with the unlimited, the true limit incomplete, lacking the history of this journey that made it possible, ABOUT UNLIMITED, found in the Pavilion is influenced by the and somehow accepts the impossibility of a temporary reversibility WEIGHTLESS, UNFINISHED AND human scale itself, which ends up in the as the Smithsons admitted, when they suspected that “this illusory IMMATERIAL hands of the materials themselves. A nature of invention is the most vulnerable when reconstructing the ARCHITECTURE dilation that keeps the dimensional myth: the exact touch of the time, the real smell of the period and the relationships invariant, and therefore, the impact of minds and hearts cannot be reconstructed. The change of form, but not the size. Xavier Veilhan’s installation entitled “Architec- mentality that the original achieved cannot be recreated”26. tones” has an impact on this questioning of our perception by In an attempt to show the other realities of a recent yet manipulating the size of a reproduction of the 2.45-metre-high Georg historical piece, Andrés Jaque highlights everything that is usually Kolbe statue “Dawn” (fig. 02). As the only figurative element, its hidden (fig. 06) and that is somehow responsible for the idyllic image alteration results in Mies van der Rohe’s Pavilion failing to take on a known to everyone. “PHANTOM, Mies as Rendered Society” under- certain scale16. When we look at a photograph of his works, we need lines the issue of the passage of time in modern architecture and that human reference made in the space. Nothing emanating from especially in the Pavilion. The impossibility of ageing and deteriora- there is in that register: no doors, no windows. “There’s no sense of ting considers the unfinished as a parenthesis of suspension. A mo- human scale to construction when you visit Barcelona...”17, “like when ment frozen in time, which unlike Muntadas erases the ghosts of the Mies van der Rohe asked Miss Farnsworth to pose in front of her future. The complexity of the “shaded” works required to keep this house to give it some scale”18, because you always run the risk of machinery in perfect condition was expressed by Jeff Wall’s huge being in front of a model. photograph entitled “Morning Cleaning” (1999), in which an attendant 262 RA 21

is in the process of cleaning the glass-panelled walls. All bright, new, Francisco Muñoz Carabias aseptic, inhuman for its immortality. Professor of Composition I and II and History of Architecture at The installation entitled “With Milk ___find something the School of Architecture of the University of Alcalá de Henares everybody can use” explores the ever-changing sense of this (Madrid). Professor of the subject of Project Workshop 3. Archi- element, water, which is renewed every day without anyone ensuring tecture at the University Alfonso X El Sabio (Madrid). Coordinator the process and which in the Pavilion has a markedly static condition, of this subject and PFG and the MPAA. MASTER OF ADVANCED triggering reflections27. Weiwei’s “ready-made” proposal consists ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS of the UAX. Member of the GIGAC of replacing the water in the larger pool with milk (fig. 07) and in the research group “Geometries of Contemporary Architecture” at smaller pool with coffee. Regardless of the reflections on the timeless ETSAM-UPM. Doctorate by UPM-ETSAM with the thesis “The meaning of a building, the installation alters the reflection mecha- paradox of Mies: The invisible symmetries through the Pavilion nism of these elements, which in the Pavilion are a mobilisation of of Barcelona” within the PhD in Architectural Projects with the space, as Hilberseimer said. The Pavilion becomes more unlimited qualification of outstanding cum laude. Founder of the TRAZA on the plinth of the pool, with the reflection of the indirect light being ARQUITECTURA workshop studio. Author of various residential increased in this case by the action of the horizontal “white plane”. and endowment projects, some of them the result of competitons. On the contrary, though, it reduces the spatial widths triggered by Orcid ID 0000-0001-5628-0548 the reflection of water. In the small pool, in contrast, the “toasted” ResearcherID: F-8505-2019 colouring of the coffee reduces the effects of light-dark and the shades in the reflections of the marble. “Glass was a material of similar paradoxes”28, because that was the idea, another piece of glass, in this case, reflective. The key idea of the project still lies in its (im)materiality, because any of them, including water, can produce similar visual effects29. Equating materials in immateriality30. “Spectral Diffractions”(fig. 08), the sound installation by Edwin van der Heide, uses a reflective immaterial symmetry to “exhibit” as a sound creator. A system of forty loudspeakers, placed on the roof, uses various frequencies to broadcast the partial sound of a human voice, intertwining between them and generating sound patterns similar to those found in the Pavilion itself. These partial frequencies, heard separately, don’t seem whatsoever to come from a voice but, given the highly reverberant nature of the materials, the listener hears overlays of simple sound waves and, as they move through the space, can at times hear the sound of this voice, reas- sembled from its key components31. Finally, Anna & Eugeni Bach transformed the Pavi- lion into each and every one of these negative qualities with their project “Mies missing materiality”, eliminating any exposure of their materials. Covering all its surfaces with a white vinyl that makes it a 1:1 scale model (or 1:20) of itself (fig. 09), “they highlight the represen- tative role of the building; both the original and the replica, depicting the former”. Without a doubt, these temporary exhibitions are re- presentations of an idea ABOUT architecture, of an idea and ABOUT space. RA 21 263

Notes 08. Mertins, Mies, p. 139. on more negative criteria than 27. Constant, “The Barcelona 01. The pavilion was conceived positive ones” Pavilion as landscape garden: as an image of the new Ger- 09. Ibid, p. 2. Modernity and the picturesque”, many that meant the impulse 15. Carter, Mies van der Rohe p. 49. made towards modernity by 10. The content of the exhibition at work, p. 24. the Weimar Republic. In fact its is well known thanks to the book 28. Riley, Terence y Ábalos, denomination was “Repräsen- Mies van der Rohe by Philip 16. Martínez Santa-María, Iñaki, “M Mies, Solà-Morales and tationspavillon”. Justified in the Johnson, published as a catalog El árbol, el camino, el estanque, the” adventure “of circulation weak argument of serving as the by MoMA in 1947. This is the ante la casa, p. 67. and reflection”, en Teorías de la reception of the Kings of Spain first book about the German arquitectura, 1a ed. (Universidad and authorities. architect, so it became the 17. Espuelas, Fernando, Madre Politécnica de Cataluña, 2003), canonical account of his person Materia (Madrid: Lampreave, p. 50. 02. Mertins, Mies, p. 146. “Mies and his work. 2009), p. 82. uses not only sketches (mostly 29. For Descartes, space is iden- made by his assistant, Sergio 11. de Solá Morales, Ignasi, 18. Planned as the setting for the tified with extension, and exten- Ruegenberg) but also a flexible Cirici, Cristian, y Ramos, signature in the guestbook by sion is linked to material objects, model with a plasticine base to Fernando, Mies van der Rohe: El the Kings of Spain. according to which everything test alternative configurations, Pabellón de Barcelona, ed. Gus- there is matter, Einstein’s moving small glass or plastic tavo Gili (Barcelona, 1993), p. 19. SANAA, Intervención en el idea is different because the panels around, along with glued 30. For fifty-seven years he was Pabellón de Mies van der Rohe, impossibility of emptiness does cardboard strips on Japanese known for a series of images. ed. Actar (Barcelona, 2010), p. 8. not occur because everything colored papers, to simulate He himself is a representative is extension ( material objects alternative visual and spatial image of modern architecture. 20. de Solá Morales, Cirici, according to Descartes or only effects”. Its reconstruction, materialized y Ramos, Mies van der Rohe: fields) but because where there image of the original. Ignasi El Pabellón de Barcelona, p. is no matter there is some kind 03. That the supply company Solâ-Morales defended his 14. “The figures that the onyx of field, magnetic, electric or Köstner & Gottschalk elabora- reconstruction not as a copy but produced, its bright and diffuse gravitational. ted in Germany before sending as a “reinterpretation”. color and its large dimensions piece by piece to Barcelona. It (235x135x3 cm each slab) 30. In the words of the author: constitutes a whole open puzzle 12. Muñoz Carabias, Fran- turned this rich material into a “To describe and analyze a where the 1.10 x 1.10 m module cisco, La paradoja de Mies: Las true jewel that caused, perhaps sound we can break it down tries to colonize the entire simetrías invisibles a través del stronger than any sculpture, into its sinusoidal overtones. podium by assembling and Pabellón de Barcelona. Tesis a center of interest in the fluid This implies a hierarchy of that adjusting infinite corrections doctoral. 2016. ETSAM-UPM. circulate inside the building”. sound over its overtones. “The seeking to adapt to reality and Philip Johnson, in an emotional installation tests an autono- not vice versa. letter, tries to convince Oriol 21. The Barcelona Pavilion is mous control of the different Bohigas, responsible at the time the place chosen to present overtones, with the purpose 04. Although J.P. Bonta speaks of town planning, not to rebuild the project of the Scottish of reversing this hierarchy. of a year, the truth is that it the Pavilion in these arguments: Parliament building. They The overtones are treated as was six months his physical “I would rather remember the had previously presented the independent entities (such as existence. Source: Ignasi de pavillion from photographs them installation designed for the the material elements of the Solá Morales, Cristian Cirici, y try to build a building which I week of the Venice Architecture pavilion) that can form certain Fernando Ramos, Mies van der feel could in no way be accurate Biennale. dynamic relationships, but also Rohe: El Pabellón de Barcelona, enough to represent Mies’ ideal”. maintain an autonomous or ed. Gustavo Gili (Barcelona, In Johnson’s opinion, Mies’s ideal 22. From March 13 to April 21, “intermediate” state. 1993). was a compendium of images. 2014. The emblem building of archi- 05. Solá-Morales describes a tectural modernity and the most 23. Bernadó, Jordi, Segunda significant number of favorable paradoxical, whose conception reconstrucción. Second re- reviews from the beginning, and was closely linked to space, construction. Exhibition catalog. that it was a known work without had to remain in the virtuality of (Barcelona, Fundación Mies, reaching its current status of fourteen images manipulated by 2014). myth. Mies himself. 24. March 6 - May 5, 2009. 06. Bonta, Anatomía de la 13. As indicated on the page of interpretación en arquitectura. the Foundation. https://miesbcn. 25. Smithson, Alison, Smith- Reseña semiótica de la crítica com/es/totes-les-activitats/ son, Peter, Changing the art of del Pabellón de Barcelona de intervention-es/ living (Gustavo Gili, 2001), p. 36. Mies van der Rohe. 14. Muñoz Jiménez, María 26. Hilberseimer, Mies van der 07. They were sixteen, of which Teresa, Cerrar el círculo y otros Rohe, p. 25. “The space seemed only Mies authorized fourteen. escritos (Madrid: CoAM, 1989)., to be in motion, flowing from one They have thirteen in the Mies “La casa Tugendhat: El canon part to another, the fusion with van der Rohe Foundation in de lo moderno”, p. 256. “The the stagnant water and finally Barcelona. unhindered deployment of the with the outer space”. Miesian space occurs, indeed, 264 RA 21

Images 13 01. Jordi Bernadó. The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. Second The museum of innocence: Reconstruction. 13/05/2014 – 21/04/ 2014. © Mies van der the construction of a story Rohe Foundation. Jaime Ramos 02. Xavier Veilhan. Archi- tectones Barcelona Pavilion. Ana Santolaria 26/06/2014 – 31/08/ 2014. © Mies van der Rohe Foundation. ITThe Museum of Innocence is a novel and a museum created by Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk that tells the story of two 03. SANAA. Intervention in young lovers in Istanbul through the objects of everyday life. The the Pavilion. 26/11/2011 – 18/01/ Museum of Innocence project is a collection of objects arranged in 2012. © . © Mies van der Rohe the form of a novel and displayed in a museum, calling attention to the importance of the narrative both in the building of the collec- Foundation. tion and in endowing the museum with spatial form. 04. Enric Miralles y Benedetta It is a tale of passion, told through the objects that trigger the charac- Tagliabue. Exhibition: Scottish ters’ memories in different places in the city. For this reason, it is also Parliament Project. © Mies van the story of a time and a city. In particular, it is a reflection on the im- der Rohe Foundation. portance of our houses, of the people who live in them, their objects and their stories, and how they can be turned into museums. 05. Muntadas. On Translation: Paper BP/MVDR. 05/04/2009 – 05/05/ 2009. © Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

06. Andrés Jaque. PHANTOM. Mies as Rendered Society. 13/12/2012 – 17/01/ 2013. © Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

07. Ai Weiwei. With Milk ___find something everybody can use. 09/12/2009 – 30/12/ 2009. © Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

08. Edwin van der Heide. Spectral Diffractions. 11/06/2014 – 14/06/ 2014. © Mies van der Rohe Foundation. - “You know that I’ve been taking away things from this house, Aunt Nesibe,” I said, with the ease of a patient who can at last smile about an illness 09. Anna & Eugeni Bach. Mies he was cured of long ago. “Now I’d like to buy the house itself, the entire Missing Materiality. 8-11-2017 building.” < 28-11-2017. ©Adria-Goula. - (…) - Kemal, my son, I can’t leave this house and all its memories… - We will turn the house into a place where we can display our memories, Aunt Nesibe”1.

(fig. 01)Kemal Basmaci, the protagonist of the novel The Museum of Innocence, is a young businessman from a wealthy family. His distant cousin Füsun Keskin, on the other hand, is a girl from a humble family, the daughter of a retired teacher and seamstress. At the beginning of the story, one afternoon in 1975, Kemal encounters his cousin, now a very attractive young woman, and falls completely in love with her. The Museum of Innocence (2008), a work by the acclai- med Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, narrates the obsessive relationship between these two young people from Istanbul, painting in the process a portrait of the social and cultural landscape of a period in time through the objects of everyday life. The Museum of Innocence is the story of a life and a passion, narrated through the objects that trigger the characters’ memories in different places in the city. For this reason, it is also the story of a time and a place. RA 21 265

A LOVE STORY Kemal Basmaci and Füsun Keskin begin because Füsun’s possessions and life deserved to be exhibited “with their prohibited love affair by meeting the same brilliance, depth and power”8 as any other piece of national regularly in secret, in a small apartment history. A house filled with memories is transformed into a “sentimental owned by Kemal’s aunt. The family uses museum” showing “case by case and box by box [how] he obser- Merhamet Apartment to store old furniture, ved Füsun over dinner for eight years and the attention he paid to antiques, clothes and other dusty domestic everything about her –her hand, her arm, her smile, how she twirled her objects that fill the space, a collection full of memories of a common hair, how she put out her cigarette, her frown, her kerchiefs, her bobby childhood and past, whose unique atmosphere from the very first pins, her shoes, the little spoon she held in her hand”–, in such way that pages becomes the backdrop of their romance. However, the “when looking at the pieces, whoever walked through the museum will relationship abruptly ends after the celebration of Kemal’s feel respect […] and will mix their own memories with our love”9. engagement to his official fiancée, and Füsun disappears. From this moment, Kemal knows that Füsun is not coming back COLLECTION AS “I wanted to collect and exhibit the ‘real’ and he begins a desperate search for his cousin and anything that NARRATIVE objects of a fictional story in a museum and reminds him of her. The next twenty-four chapters describe in detail to write a novel based on these objects”10. how Kemal wanders through the city, along the streets and through The Museum of Innocence is the squares he used to visit with Füsun, gazing into the shop windows really a story about a collection. It is prima- of stores where they used to stop or buying her favorite rolls from rily a collection of objects –a necklace, a the bakery, with the hope of finding her. In his obsession, Kemal often pair of yellow shoes, a Jenny Colon bag, the bobby pins, the cigarette visits Merhamet Apartment to remember the moments of joy spent butts, the coffee spoon– from daily life, personal objects with great with Füsun, finding comfort in the objects gathered there and the emotional weight. Yet it is more than that. It is also a collection of the memories they evoke “when taking each of the objects in my hand, places where the story unfolds –Merhamet Apartment, the Keskins’ and in that I found solace”2. house, anzelize Boutique, Inci Patisserrie– that paints a subjective For a short period of time, Kemal tries to forget about picture of the city, cataloging it and making it one’s own. All this is his cousin and reclaim his life. To do this, he decides to stop visiting intertwined with the narrative events, the story behind them, which the apartment and “caressing the things that reminded me of her”, gives meaning to the whole. This, in turn, demonstrates the ability to in addition to “remov[ing] from my mental map a number of streets focus on peripheral details and make them essential, resting the gaze and places”3. In doing so, he creates a map of red, orange and yellow inspirationally on “everything that we have become accustomed to streets depending on the intensity of the memory they evoke, not seeing”11. As in the works of Georges Perec, it is a way of descri- thereby avoiding passing by them (fig. 02). Still, in spite of his efforts, bing the ordinary in an extraordinary way. Kemal is unable to overcome his obsession. So, 339 days after last At first, Orhan Pamuk conceived of the novel as a seeing her, Kemal obtains the new address where Füsun lives with catalog, “a sort of encyclopedic dictionary in which not only objects her parents, Tarik Bey and Aunt Nesibe, and goes to see her. When and places but also concepts would be the subject headings”12. His he arrives to Çukurcuma house, he discovers with utter frustration original idea was to write “a novel in the form of detailed notes about that his cousin has married someone else. At that moment he reali- every object exhibited in a museum”, as if to “present each object to zes that if he wants to see Füsun, he will have to claim to be a distant a museum visitor, and describe the memories that this object evoked relative and friend of the family. in my protagonist”. However, later “a love story burst into it”13, and this For exactly seven years and ten months, Kemal visits the forced him to rearrange everything. Keskins’ house regularly to see Füsun while simultaneously gratifying The secret of the novel’s success lies in the emotional his obsessive passion for collecting all the objects that she has connection to the things that are collected. In other words, “we touched. Kemal’s zeal for collecting began in Merhamet Apartment can only envisage a novel through the juxtaposition of objects that when he discovered the intangible qualities of objects and their awaken within us an emotional and poetic response”14. “A relation- relationship to the memories and sensations they awaken. As Walter ship with objects that doesn’t emphasize their functional, utilitarian Benjamin says, “holding them in his hands, [the collector] seems to value but that studies them and loves them as the stage of one’s be seeing through them his distant past as though he was inspired”4. destiny. […] Each remembered and thought thing, everything one is The collector becomes obsessed with the idea of collecting the cognizant of, becomes the pedestal, the frame, the base, the lock of objects that belong to the beloved in order to preserve the memories their properties”15. For this reason, when the protagonist of the novel of moments spent with her. At first, Kemal begins by taking Füsun’s discovers the power of objects to unleash memories and feelings, lipstick from the bathroom, a bobby pin that fell from her hair, a pen. this becomes his driving force. The author was convinced that by Yet, little by little, on each of his visits he takes other things which he focusing on objects and telling a story through them, his characters meticulously stores in Merhamet Apartment: a salt shaker, a little would be much more realistic. As a result, from the start, it was es- spoon, some cards, a little porcelain dog, a box of matches, a perfu- sential that these objects were real, that they actually existed. me bottle, going so far to accumulate even 4,213 cigarette butts that Here is where we find the most important and interes- Füsun had smoked (fig. 03). ting quality of the Museum of Innocence: the collection of objects At the end of the novel, Füsun dies in a tragic accident. is real. Indeed, it is on display in an actual museum in Istanbul that In the midst of his grief, Kemal realizes while observing his collection opened its doors in 2012. In fact, we could say that the project of that “if he could tell [his] story, it would alleviate his suffering”5. He the Museum of Innocence emerges essentially from the collection. understands “that he had to compile in a single place everything The project is the collection. Later, the novel weaves a fictional connected to Füsun, both what he had accumulated over the course tale around it, and the museum ultimately exhibits it. Orhan Pamuk of nine years without knowing it at first and what was in her bedroom envisaged from the start a project in which collecting and displaying and everything the house contained but he didn’t know where it actual objects formed part of a fictional story. For this, the first thing could be”6. This determination leads him to travel all over the world he did was to begin gathering small objects that, later, would have to visiting 5,723 “little museums” and museum houses “where objects of form part of his story. The idea was to create a universe of objects the past are embedded as if they were his soul”7, and where he finds that would fill both the museum and the novel(fig. 04). Since the inspiration for his own project. mid-1990s, Pamuk had been collecting the things that the Keskin He therefore decides to buy the family home from his family would use, imagining at the same time how at some point they aunt and turn it into a museum to display his collection of objects, would end up in a museum. 266 RA 21

“Sometimes I’d spot a teacup I wanted in an acquaintance’s house or inside In the summer of 1999, Pamuk finally bought an old the old cupboards where my mother kept the pots and pans she no longer house in the neighborhood of Çukurcuma. It was a small two-story used, her porcelain, her sugar bowls, and her trinkets for display, and one building, elegant but decadent, on a 590 square-foot plot of land with 16 day I’d take it without telling anyone that it was destined for the museum” . a courtyard. What attracted him most was its position on a corner with a wall and balconies facing two streets, its winding stairway and Many of the things he wanted for his novel were posses- “even its smallness”23. When he saw it, he was sure that “Füsun had sions linked to his life and his family, objects that had left an imprint certainly lived here”24. In it he imagined the Keskins’ life in detail: on and that could be integrated into the story: his father’s old ties for the first floor, the living room, the kitchen and the room where Aunt Kemal’s father or his mother’s knitting needles for Aunt Nesibe. But, Nesibe knitted and read the newspaper Tarik Bey. On the second mainly, he spent many years scouring flea markets and antique floor were her parents’ room, the room Füsun shared with her hus- shops in Istanbul and other cities searching for objects that moved band and the bathroom. Pamuk vividly imagined the stories of the him emotionally and could be used in the novel. actual objects that would inhabit the house during the novel and that “I’d place an object before me and it would tell a part of later would actually be displayed there. my story”17. In this way, as he gradually accumulated objects for his For several years, due to political pressures, Pamuk had museum, the story continued to evolve in his mind. to set aside the museum project, until, in 2008, after completing the Pamuk did not see himself as a traditional collector. His novel, he was able to recover it. Still, it had always been clear to him aim was not to compile series but rather his “enthusiasm was that of how to transform Çukurcuma house into a museum and invest it with a designer, one who transforms each piece into an element of a novel the personality it needed to transmit, instructions that he has his or a museum”18. Thus, the drawings in which Pamuk sketched what protagonist put into practice. the display cases would look like in the museum, filled with notes The main idea revolved around preserving the shell about the objects that go in each one, their position and lighting, are of the building and adapting the interior to its new use. A new vitally important (fig. 05). They are drawing plans for a collection. His longitudinal stairway was added, as well as a central opening that own work is, in reality, a demonstration of how a genuine collector spanned the entire house and would enable viewing the collection is similar to a curator, a planner whose creation is precisely the from any point of the exhibition (fig. 07). Kemal Bey, inspired by narrative that endows a series of apparently banal and ordinary houses in which people live with their collections and which, when objects with value and becomes a collection. In the same way as, as their occupants die, become museums, moves with his collection to Pamuk says, “when selecting a series of things by instinct, turning live in the Keskins’ attic while it is being turned into a museum. “I was them into a story and imagining how they could fit into the lives of the now, by the presence of my bed, my room, my very self, trying to turn characters, we’ve already begun to write the novel”19, the collection a museum back into a house. What could be more beautiful than to was created. spend one’s night surrounded by objects connecting one to his dee- The narrative is spun like a fine thread around all the pest sentimental attachments and memories!”25. From his attic post, pieces of the collection, establishing infinite relationships bet- Kemal wants to look down and see all the objects he has collected, to ween them. It is truly intriguing “the way in which objects removed experience each one of the pieces in the depth of the space and “feel from the kitchens, bedrooms, and dinner tables where they had their stories flickering inside him”26. In some way, as in the inspiring once been utilized would come together to form a new texture, an story of Ali Vâsib Efendi27, Kemal himself, while protagonist and crea- unintentionally striking web of relationships”20. The protagonist of tor of the collection, becomes another element of the exhibition. the novel, like its author, is fully aware of this reality. Kemal trans- The Museum of Innocence can be regarded as a spiral fers to the Çukurcuma museum-house all the possessions that he space closely tied to a story. It can be seen as a spiral drawn on the has been accumulating over the years and unites “those objects floor of the actual museum at the foot of the hollow space that cros- with the others, with the ones he had found on [his] travels, the ses the building. Pamuk realizes that the line that connects moments ones from the Keskins’ house, the ones he had discovered in junk- –Time, in Aristotle’s philosophy–, cannot be a straight line but rather strewn dwellings or thanks to acquaintances that were mixed into a spiral. As a result, the visitor, when looking down in the Museum [his] story”21. It then dawns on him that, despite being uprooted of Innocence and seeing all the objects in the collection floating in from their origins and separated from the lives of which they space, understands that just as the line that connects moments is formed a part, like migratory birds that silently spread throughout Time, the line that unites objects gives rise to a story. And for the the world, all of these objects were communicating with each author this is “the greatest happiness a museum can bring: to see other and were going to end up together in a single place. And Time turning into Space”28. they do so with an added value: by arranging them carefully and It is for this reason that the museum is organized like a passionately, by reimagining them as pieces from an actual story, story. The objects are exhibited in ordered display cases that follow in the display cases of a museum they acquire a meaning which the chapters of the book: each chapter is a glass case. As a result, they previously did not possess. The objects departed from one one can visit the museum as in the novel, recreating the fiction. The house as ordinary things and returned to a museum transformed display cases are separate wooden boxes, each containing the ob- into a precious collection. jects that belong to a specific chapter. They are exquisitely arranged, with a small, delicate set design in each one cared for down to its NARRATIVE AND “The house was part of my collection –its last detail. Every object is gracefully weighed and measured. Some SPACE biggest, most expensive, and most visible are the focal point while others form part of the scene but all exist in piece”22. The house is, finally, the centerpie- a methodical state of static equilibrium. The experience of walking ce of the collection (fig. 06). It had to play a through the museum and viewing the display cases is like seeing fundamental role both in the fictional tale three-dimensional paintings, still lifes from the 21st century combi- and in real life. Orhan Pamuk devoted years ned with the collage, diorama and mini-theaters of the 19th century. to long strolls through the various neighborhoods of Istanbul until one One inevitably recalls the toys room at the Museu Frederic Marès29 day he found it. Even before starting to write the novel, finding the in Barcelona, with its series of mini-theaters in wooden boxes that right piece that he would use as the setting of the Keskin household suddenly light up and give life to a marvelous collection of scenes. and would later turn into a museum was a pivotal decision. Deciding One also cannot help but discover in these glass cases Pamuk’s where it was located also meant determining where the museum fascination with the shop windows of stores in Istanbul where the would be. composition of the items on display is flawless (figs.( 08, 09 and 10). RA 21 267

The lighting system also plays an extremely important Jaime Ramos Alderete role, since it is light that makes the object come to life: “each object Architect, PhD candidate, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid has to be softly lit from inside the glass cases in a way that adequa- Architect with honors by the ETSAM (2013). Master in Advanced tely reflects the attention I paid to them”30, Kemal says. The resulting Architectural Projects at ETSAM (2015). Mentor Professor of whole is a kind of Chamber of Wonders where the visitor beholds all Projects VII and VIII at ETSAM (2014-2015). Member of the Habitat the objects at once, more or less lit in a dark atmosphere and appea- Culture Research Group (UPM). Collaboration in the international ring to float in the trebled space created by the central opening. The research project Master Plan and Architectural Project buildings visitor moves through a space of floating objects that envelop him. for UNCUYO (Mendoza). He is currently doing his doctoral thesis Looking at the objects spurs his imagination in such a way that he “The studiolo. Towards a space of the mind” under the direction of is able to “read the never written” that is, “perceive the intimate and Alberto Campo Baeza. He has lectured at several universities and secret relationship of things, the correspondences and analogies”31. has various awards in international competitions. He frequently In other words, he discovers the common thread that runs through all collaborates with Vicens + Ramos studio while developing his the pieces of the collection. “This new way of relating images shows professional activity on his own. instead of explaining, and for this reason […] it is inexhaustible and will Orcid ID 0000-0002-9577-7925 have as many readers as visitors”32. The museum that Pamuk proposes deliberately seeks to distinguish itself from the large art centers found in many cities. Ana Isabel Santolaria Castellanos His goal is to tell a personal story through the characters and their Architect, PhD candidate, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya objects that depicts the daily reality of life in Istanbul in the 1970s. Architect by the ETSAB (2013). Master in Theory and Practice of It is, in other words, an intimate museum on a human scale. Rather the Architectural Project at ETSAB (2014). Collaboration grant than constructing stories of national history the museum focuses MECD (2012-13) for the realization of the project: Rehabitar. on individual stories, since the true challenge lies in telling the story “Use of the unique buildings of Barcelona”. Scholarship FI-DGR of a country with the same quality as that of the people who live in AGAUR (2015) with predoctoral contract in the Department of it. While the history and meaning of the objects in the museum are Architectural Projects for the realization of the thesis “House, personal, they are also shared, insofar as they are common everyday story, collection”; and collaboration in the competitive project objects with which anyone can identify. For this reason, the Museum MINECO Atlas of re-use in Barcelona, published in 2018. of Innocence tells one story –that of Kemal and Füsun– but tells Assistant professor in the Department of Architectural Projects many other stories as well, those of the city of Istanbul and all the (ETSAB) in the subjects “Rehabitar, la casa y la calle” (2013-17) visitors who feel identified with it. and “Escenarios Urbanos”(2016 -17). Member of the HABITAR The Museum of Innocence is also a domestic museum. Research Group (UPC). Currently, assistant professor at the Though a museum, it is located in a house and filled with utterly ordi- Cátedra Blanca Madrid (ETSAM) in the experimental workshop I nary things. In other words, it is a domestic space where the objects “Materia y Espacio” and II “Hormigón Concreto” (2018-19). of ordinary stories are on display in their context, and as a result the Orcid ID 0000-0001-5377-2205 objects themselves already tell a story and become an “exhibition”. This invites us to reflect on our own houses as well, particularly on the importance of the people who inhabit them, their objects and their stories –and how our own homes could in reality be museums. “We need to imagine a new type of more humble, mo- dest museum that focuses on the stories of individual human beings, does not uproot objects from the environments to which they belong, and is able to turn the neighborhoods and streets it is in, and the homes and shops nearby, into integral components of its exhibitions. We will all gain a deeper understanding of humanity when modern curators turn their gaze away from the rich “high” culture of the past –like those first novelists who tired of writing sagas about the lives of kings– and observe instead the lives we lead and the homes we live in, especially outside the Western world. The future of museums is inside our own homes”33. (Translated by Kevin Krell) 268 RA 21

Notes Images 01. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la 22. Pamuk, O., The innocence 01. (Front page) Interior of the Inocencia, Debolsillo, Barcelona, of objects, cit., p. 33. Museum of Innocence. 2017, p. 604. 23. Ibid. p. 30. 02. Box n. 31: The Streets That 02. Ibid. p. 196. Reminded Me of Her 24. Ibid. p. 31. 03. Ibid. p. 206. 03. Box n. 68: 4.213 Cigarette 25. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la Stubs (detail) 04. Benjamin, W., Desembalo Inocencia, cit., p. 618. mi biblioteca. El arte de colec- 04. Box n. 58: Tombala cionar, Centellas, Palma, 2015. 26. Ibid. p. 620. 05. Project sketches for boxes 05. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la 27. Prince Ali Vâsib Efendi, a n. 25 and 73. Inocencia, cit., p. 596. descendant of the Ottoman dynasty, returned to Turkey 06. Exterior of the Museum of 06. Ibid. p. 599. after being in exile for fifty years Innocence. in search of a job that would 07. Ibid. p. 607. allow him to stay. Orhan Pamuk 07. The Keskins’ house floor met him in 1982, at a family plan (left) and the Museum of 08. Pamuk, O., “A modest reunion. There it was suggested Innocence floor plan (right). manifesto for museums”, in The that he could find work as a innocence of objects, Abrams, docent at a museum in Ihlamur 08. Box n. 25: The Agony of New York, 2012. pp. 54-57. Palace, where he had lived as a Waiting child. He could explain his own 09. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la life by guiding visitors through 09. Box n. 38: The End-of-Sum- Inocencia, cit., p. 633. the rooms where he had spent mer Party his childhood, surrounded by his 10. Pamuk, O., The innocence own things. 10. Box n. 14: Istanbul’s Streets, of objects, Abrams, New York, Bridges, Hills and Squares. 2012, p. 15. 28. Pamuk, O., The innocence of objects, cit., p. 253. 11. Didi-Huberman, G., Atlas : ¿como llevar el mundo a cues- 29. The Sentimental Museum tas?, Museo Nacional Centro de in the Museu Frederic Marés in Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2010, Barcelona is a direct inspiration p. 274. for the Museum of Innocence. Orhan Pamuk visited it several 12. Pamuk, O., The innocence of times, ultimately stating that it objects, cit., p. 15. was the place where he best un- derstood how his own museum 13. Pamuk, O., “Una mirada a had to be. mis fuentes de inspiración”, El País, 23 mar 2015, [en línea]. 30. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la Inocencia, cit., p. 633. 14. Ibid. 31. Didi-Huberman, G., op. 15. Benjamin, W., Desembalo cit., p. 15. mi biblioteca. El arte de colec- cionar, cit., p. 32. Ibid. p. 15

16. Pamuk, O., The innocence of 33. Pamuk, O., “Los objetos objects, cit., p. 21. viajan por rutas misteriosas”, El País, 17 nov 2012, [en línea]. 17. Pamuk, O., “Una mirada a mis fuentes de inspiración”, cit.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Pamuk, O., The innocence of objects, cit., p. 52.

21. Pamuk, O., El Museo de la Inocencia, cit., p. 617. RA 21 269

14 course underlying the work of an architect, and in addition enables us to place it in the context of the exact time of its development. Practically all the documentation used has come from the actual mu- 3 exhibitions, 2 curators, and seum archives: on one hand the digital archive, open and accessible through the Internet, where one finds press releases, photographs, 1 museum: Kevin Roche John and in some cases even catalogs; and on the other hand the physical documents kept in the museum, where the information extends to a Dinkeloo and Associates motley collection of publicity fliers, instructions regarding exhibition setups, correspondence between curators and authors, interviews, through the MoMA, NYC. and a range of other items that tell the researcher about the manage- ment, procedures, and interests behind each show. Studying these Laura Sánchez documents has light on the concepts that the curators wished to emphasize in the work of KRJDA; ideas which undoubtedly linked In the 1960s and 1970s, the Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Asso- up with the concerns of the moment, and which to a great extent ciates had a great repercussion in the international architecture were the architects’ point of contact with the public at large. scene. The three MoMA exhibitions the firm participated in, cons- The first matter to consider is the variety of exhibitions that tituting the guiding thread of this article, attests to that. Through the article refers to, summed up in the following table (fig. 02). The first detailed analysis of these three shows I wish to demonstrate how one took place in 1968 and was collective. It was focused on a typological important architecture exhibitions are as sources in research, study of museums, a field where KRJDA stood out from the start. representing, as they do, the times in which they were held, and The second exhibition, held in 1970, is better understood serving as a thermometer of the discussions of the period. The as a monographic presentation of architecture in the United States objective here is to reconstruct the theoretical framework into at that moment in time, embodied in three American greats: Roche, which the museum exhibited the work of KRJDA, and the process Rudolph, and Johnson. Shortly afterwards, in 1979, a third exhibition, of connecting the firm to the debates and professionals of the particular moments. once again collective, delved into questions of style and theory. Featuring many architects, it sought to throw light on the connections between architecture of the period and the beginnings of modernity. Detailed examination of these three exhibitions unveiled a theoreti- cal framework upon which the work of KRJDA rests. On 25 September 1968, the exhibition “Architecture of Museums”, under the curatorship of Ludwig Glaeser, opened to the public. On view for almost two months (it closed on 11 November), were models, photo murals, and other graphic documentation on 71 museum buildings. Most of them had gone up in the 1950s and 1960s, but there were also a number of historical examples, and even unbuilt projects for locations in some twenty-two countries. Glaeser deemed it fitting to include the Oakland Museum, still a few months short of completion, and two other KRJDA projects that were never built: the structurally daring Air Force Museum (1964) and the small Orangerie (1968) that the firm designed for one of its clients3. But it was the Californian museum that most drew attention and sparked intense debate, thanks, too, to a horizontal display element containing a large model, a mural-sized photograph, and a selection of drawings with other information. Once the works of architecture and their authors were The purpose of the exhibition was not only to draw considered worth studying and presenting in museums, architectural attention to the selected buildings dedicated to art, but also to discourse took on new aspirations of cultural importance that trans- contribute to the then-ongoing debate on the function that museums cended the bounds of the actual profession. should serve in society4. According to the curator, the museums In this regard, without a doubt, the most influential insti- selected, besides being excellent architectures, “suggest an am- tution has been New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). So many biance congenial to the immanent values of the collection and to the exhibitions held there have opened up new roads for architecture contemplative moments of the viewer”5. since 1932, when a curatorial department devoted to architecture The exhibition began in the 18th century with the Ce- and design kicked off, under Philip Johnson, with the exhibition “Mo- notaph for Sir Isaac Newton by Boullée (1783), continuing with some dern Architecture: International Exhibition”. The 1960s and 1970s, works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, such as the Altes Museum (1830), the focus of this article, were busy decades for the department, to then focus on great pieces of the 1950s and 1960s, including which put together a variety of shows, alternating collective displays mythical buildings by architects like Marcel Breuer, Louis I. Kahn, conceived around ideas or typologies with retrospectives on indivi- Alvar Aalto, Oscar Niemeyer, and Aldo van Eyck. Among the exam- dual architects. ples of around the same time as the Oakland Museum, the curator These two decades were also the peak years of Kevin highlighted pieces like the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse by Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (KRJDA) in the world scene, I.M. Pei (1968), the Joseph I. Nirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. and their presence at the MoMA between 1966 and 1981 verifies it1. by (although it would not be completed until 1974), No fewer than three exhibitions, organized by two different curators, and the interventions carried out by Michael Graves in the Newark in a museum that during those fifteen years paid tribute to figures like Museum from the late 1970s on. James Stirling, Frei Otto, Charles, Eames, Louis Kahn, Mies van der The Oakland belonged to the group of ‘invisible’ or Rohe, Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, and more2. buried museums, along with the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem This text aims to demonstrate the importance of exhi- (1965) by Frederick Kiesler and Armand Jartos, the Art Gallery in bitions as a research source that throws light on the theoretical dis- New Canaan (1965) by Philip Johnson, the Gallo-Roman Lapidary in 270 RA 21

Buzenol-Montauban, Belgium (1960), by Constantin L. Brodzki, the We get a good understanding of Arthur Drexler’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (1962) by SOM, the Louisiana objectives, and his interest in these architects, by looking at the first Museum in Humlebaek, , by Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm question he asked Kevin Roche in the preliminary interviews he con- Wohlert (1958), and, though set within a totally different context, the ducted with all three in order to gain insight into their thinking: Museum of the Treasury at San Lorenzo Cathedral in (1956) by Franco Albini6. “Let me quickly give you an idea of the kinds of questions I have been MoMA’s four-page press release gave the Oakland asking Philip and Paul. With Philip I was particularly interested in his attitude Museum a ten-line paragraph, highlighting it over the rest of the insti- toward structure now because most of his work has been concerned with tutions featured. Only the notes on Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, the articulation and sometimes the decoration of structure and I wanted him to talk about this and the way he saw it now, and with Paul I was again and Frank Lloyd Wright got similar space. Besides a short des- interested not so much in structure as in comparable formal problems. I cription, Ludwig Glaeser put in a good word on the KRJDA project, am more interested in getting from each of you attitudes about the art of praising the building’s innovative typology and its capacity to blend architecture, not necessarily about the problems of the world except that with the surroundings: I was interested in both Philip and Paul’s and I think yours also, about your reactions as to what is going on in the schools now and your own feelings “Oakland is not only an exceptional museum scheme but also unique as about how you would teach architecture if you suddenly found yourself in 14 an architectural solution. Rather than striving to design a monument to that unfortunate position” . culture, the architects have buried the building under its own landscape. The building thus acknowledges its urban function by being in effect a park, Drexler’s reasons for including KRJDA were explained in but also acknowledges its expanded function as a museum by providing a curator’s texts that accompanied the items on display: congregating place”7.

The importance that this museum took on in the exhibi- “The work of Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo may appear at first sight to tion was reflected in the reviews that the written press devoted to the be simply and unusually precise handling of conventional steel and glass show. A case in point is the article that Ada Louise Huxtable wrote for construction. But Roche has been increasingly interested in problems of The New York Times on 25 September 1968. Titled “Architecture: A urban scale; he has sought to enlarge the apparent size of urban buildings so that they may visually stabilize their surroundings and be recognized Museum is also Art, Exhibition Shows”, it came with a picture of the from great distances. Where most architects would strive for a broad range 8 Oakland Museum and spoke of its innovative character. of dimensions –from the smallest visible texture to large elements– Roche tends to enlarge the scale throughout, as with the four corner towers of “In terms of design and environment, Oakland may be one of the most the Knights of Columbus Office Building in New Haven, producing a kind of thoughtfully revolutionary structures in the world”9. giant order that is astonishingly effective in the urban scene”15.

Another reason why the Californian museum stood out Hence, the first important idea behind the exhibition had was the fact that it was halfway between the two poles of the exhi- to do with scale, taken from the angle of the urban environment and bition: museums that take on the role of neutral containers giving all the presence therein of buildings, and putting forward the efficiency protagonism to the art works on display (such as Mies van der Rohe’s of large forms at all levels. Berlin gallery), and museums that present themselves as works of art Secondly, Drexler emphasized technical questions in themselves (epitomized by the Guggenheim of New York)10. The behind KRJDA buildings, specifically the firm’s work and research Oakland was admired for reconciling those extremes. Its landsca- in glass, which enabled them to put gardens inside buildings, and ping character, terraced and original, made it a beautiful to gaze at, in doing so, change the character of interior spaces; a feature of its but the neutral interior spaces maximized visitors’ enjoyment of the work which they continued to develop throughout its career. actual exhibits. In 1970, just four years after KRJDA was formally esta- “Another characteristic of Roche’s work is the building conceived almost blished, the MoMA put together a retrospective on three practicing entirely as a glass envelope –roof as well as walls– and he has used glass architects: Philip Johnson, Kevin Roche, and Paul Rudolph. This to make more apparent the often gigantic spaces –sometimes more like time the curator was Arthur Drexler, who the previous year had greenhouses than conventional rooms– that he now seeks to incorporate in most of his large buildings. Thus the indoor garden of the Ford Foundation taken over as head of the Department of Architecture and Design. on 42nd Street has evolved into the forty story high glass-enclosed vertical Drexler selected twenty-five projects to share with the public, from 1 room of the United Nations Development Project”16. October 1970 to 3 January 1971, by means of models, drawings, and photographs. Drexler also stressed the landscaping aspects of The exhibition mainly featured projects yet to be built KRJDA’s work, represented by two projects that stretched out in the which, by the curator’s criteria, reflected a commitment to the idea territory and have always been commended for the way they are in- that architecture ought to produce artistic objects11. Arthur Drexler tegrated into it: the Oakland Museum again, and the Cummins Engine wanted to tell the public about the level of excellence that North Company Manufacturing Plant in Walesboro, Columbus. American architecture had reached during those years, a level he considered above that of any other place in the world. And he chose “Notwithstanding his preoccupation with bold and conspicuous forms, Roche a trio of architects who in his opinion had much contributed to this has occasionally taken up a theme more related to landscape design than American scene. to architecture proper. His Oakland Museum in California is essentially a terracing of the site; his recent design for the Cummins Engine Company Manufacturing Plant in Indiana places most of the building underground, so “This exhibition reviews twenty-five current projects by three architects that it appears as a slight and relatively inconspicuous interruption to the flat who are making major contributions to the American scene. (…) All of them landscape”17. reflect a commitment to the idea that architecture, besides being technolo- gy, sociology, and moral philosophy, must finally produce works of art if it is 12 Roche’s proposals, as Drexler further emphasized, were to be worth bothering about at all” . valuable in their use of known or traditional tools to create unexpec- Again, many of these projects were still under construc- ted situations. tion or in early design stages, and this was reflected in the exhibition title: “Work in Progress: Architecture by Philip Johnson, Kevin Roche, “Many of Roche’s buildings present details or spaces familiar enough Paul Rudolph”13. in other contexts, but in his interpretations they take on semi-surreal RA 21 271

overtones. The restraint and sobriety with which these effects are stated do not disguise Roche’s underlying perception of the fantastic in twentieth The last show analyzed took place in 1979, from 23 Fe- century urban life”18. bruary 1979 to 24 April. Arthur Drexler, still at the helm of the MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design, curated “Transformations The exhibition presented nine projects by Philip Jo- in Modern Architecture”, another choral exhibition, with photogra- hnson, two of them completed, eight by KRJDA, four of them built, phs of over 400 buildings, that in the same year became a hugely and six by Paul Rudolph, all unfinished. All in all there were fourteen successful book edited by the museum itself. models: six from Johnson, five from Roche and Dinkeloo, and three The exhibition maintained that architecture of the from Rudolph19. Logically, because it was semi-monographic, this 1960s and 1970s was an expounding of ideas first put forward in the exhibition was the one that involved the most exhaustive research on 1920s and 1930s24. Obviously, because the research encompassed the work of KRJDA, and the one from which we can extract the most so many architects, mentions of Roche and Dinkeloo were few, but amount of theoretical substance from. As we can see, the allusions it is interesting to note how they were included and with what other and concepts assessed are many. projects and architects they were associated with. The KRJDA projects included in “Work in Progress” Three categories were established: architecture as an were the Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company in Columbus, the invention of sculptural form, architecture as structural form, and United Nations Development Center (UNDC) in New York, the vernacular architecture. KRJDA’s work only comes under the second Computer Technology Museum in Armonk, New York, the Cummins category, which, in words coming from the museum, was defined in Engine Company Manufacturing Plant in Columbus, the College this manner: Life Insurance Company of America in Indianapolis, the Knights of Columbus Office Building in New Haven, the New Haven Coliseum, “Structural form deals with what the architect Mies van der Rohe called and the new campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Of the ‘skin and bones’ architecture: a steel or concrete skeleton structure that is first five, models were presented, some of them expressely made for covered by a glass or metal skin. This type of architecture relies on struc- the occasion to convey the idea of a transparent and technological ture to communicate visual information about a building, regardless of its 20 intended use. The current development of this kind of architecture returns envelope of glass, as in the College Life Insurance building . The to the earlier emphasis on the skin, as can be seen in today’s ubiquitous ‘mi- other four models were of completed buildings. rror’ buildings. Utilizing tinted and reflecting glass, they communicate Little Figure 07 documents the list of projects selected (along or no information about themselves and carry architectural abstraction to with projects considered precedents in each category) and its its furthest point. A special feature of this exhibition is a room devoted to distribution according to the previously expressed ideas. The first color transparencies of these mirror buildings, in which ‘substance demate- group, encompassing the glass enclosures and the public spaces rializes and objective technique culminates in the subjective contemplation 25 formed indoors, included the Irwin Union Bank (which replaced the of ws and sunlight’” . initially chosen Worcester Bank), the United National Development Center and the Computer Technology Museum, and the precedents In accordance with the definition of this second cate- named were the Ford Foundation and the exhibition areas in the Na- gory, the concepts that in the eyes of Arthur Drexler endorsed the tional Fisheries Center and Aquarium in Washington, D.C., the latter work of KRJDA had to do with the interactions between structure designed in collaboration with Charles Eames but never executed. and skin, the development of glass envelopes and the consequent The second category focused on landscape and drew attention formal abstraction. This idea is very close to the concerns expressed to the project for for the Cummins Engine Company in by the architects themselves in their comments and buildings alike. Columbus. The precedents offered were the Oakland Museum and, It would be good to recall John Dinkeloo’s interest in an improved because of its horizontality, the Richard C. Lee High School in New construction industry, and specifically in the development of new Haven. The last section sought to highlight groupings of elements, materials. Reflective glass, so present in this exhibition, was precisely referring to the use of mass and scale. Here were the College Life In- one of Dinkeloo’s major contributions to the history of architecture. surance, the complex formed by the Knights of Columbus tower and But as this article has shown, such penchant for the the New Haven Coliseum, and the Rochester Institute of Technology, development of technology was not the only theoretical virtue that undertaken in collaboration with other architects. At the outset the the MoMA attached to the works of KRJDA, or better, its discourse. intention was to have a category on pavilions, which would have On the contrary, the New York museum pointed out parallelisms shown the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center and the with different works and architects of the same time as Roche and Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, with the small Orangerie as Dinkeloo, and gives them a theoretical support that is synthesized in precedent. This fourth section was shelved21. the following table. In the interviews conducted before the exhibition, the By way of summary, through these three exhibitions it curator made clear his interest in architecture being understood as would be possible to establish three main blocs of ideas associated an artistic expression, a position which Roche had always distanced with KRJDA: typological innovation, reflected in the novel Oakland himself from. Roche pointed out that he accepted architecture as Museum and the creation of interior green spaces; technical and an art, as it had evidently been in history, but with the nuance that material innovation, with special attention on the many potentials of thinking of architecture solely from an artistic angle was to miss mi- glass; and careful engagement of the work with the landscape and sunderstand its true nature. His discourse was more pragmatic and surroundings. All this, in full force during the period being studied, upheld the idea that the greatest challenge of architecture in those confirms the importance and leading role that these architects years was to provide large numbers of people with the chance to played in the American architecture scene since the start of their live a life of better quality22. In Roche’s opinion, cultivation of the best professional careers. relationship between architecture and art lay in making both express the conditions of the moment of their conception, and offer solutions.

“I guess that at one time painters painted because there was a reason to paint, other and above the things that they felt they had to do –it was really a social reason and then they developed their techniques and expressed their art abilities or capabilities inside that reason. And I think that is a very legitimate approach to the problem of architecture”23. 272 RA 21

Laura Sánchez Carrasco 06. The works exhibited and 15. Taken from the panels Architect by ETSAM since 2007 and Ph.D in Architecture by the division in different groups accompanying the exhibits, UPM since 2017. She is currently an associate profesor in the according to the concepts that obtained through the MoMA’s Department of Architectural Composition at ETSAM, where she represented were taken from: digital archive. Ref. web 03. teaches Introduction to Architecture, among others subjects. Her The Museum of Modern Art Ar- research, disseminated through articles and conferences, focuses chives, NY. Collection: Pl. Series. 16. Taken from the panels on the architecture of the United States after World War II, speci- Folder: II.B.648. accompanying the exhibits, fically in the work of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. obtained through the MoMA’s She has also been a member of the research team of various 07. Words of Ludwig Glaeser in digital archive Ref. web 03. state-funded research projects. She combines teaching and the press release sent by the research work with professional practice and has been awarded MoMA to the media. Ref. web. 17. Taken from the panel placed in several architectural competitions. 02. at the entrance to the exhibition, signed by Arthur Drexler. Ref. 08. The other image included in web 03. the article is of the Neue Natio- nal Gallery in Berlin by Mies van 18. Taken from the exhibition’s der Rohe. initial panel, signed by Arthur Drexler. Ref. web 03. 09. Ada Louise Huxtable, “Architecture: A Museum is also 19. Taken from the checklist for Art, Exhibition shows”, The New exhibition, available at the digital York Times, 25 de septiembre archive of the MoMA. https:// de 1968. www.moma.org/d/c/checklists/ W1siZiIsIjMyNjcwMyJdXQ. 10. “The Art of Making the Magic pdf?sha=9c246fcfce1522ea Box”, Progressive Architecture 11 (noviembre 1968): 56. 20. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY, Collection: MoMA 11. Press release sent by Exhs. Series. Folder: 940.12. the MoMA to the media for publication on 1 October 1970. 21. The Museum of Modern Art Ref. web 03: https://www. Archives, NY, Collection: MoMA moma.org/d/c/press_releases/ Exhs. Series. Folder: 940.18. W1siZiIsIjMyNjcwNCJdXQ. pdf?sha=c393818cff7547cc. 22. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY, Collection: MoMA 12. Extract of the informative Exhs. Series. Folder: 940.6. poster placed at the entrance to Notes 04. Press release sent by the the exhibition, signed by Arthur 23. Words of Arthur Drexler 01. The period of time chosen MoMA to the media. In this same Drexler. Ref. web 03. when interviewing Kevin Roche. for this research is focused on note a pass for the press was The Museum of Modern Art the 15 years in which the two ori- established on 24 September 13. In this exhibition it was Archives, NY, Collection: MoMA ginal partners, Kevin Roche and 1968 at 2 p.m., one day before already evident that the figure Exhs. Series. Folder: 940.6. John Dinkeloo, worked together, the opening to the public. Logi- of Kevin Roche worked better until the last one passed away in cally, on the 25th of the same in the media world than that of 24. “Photographs of more than June 1981. month, the newspapers wrote John Dinkeloo (the same can be 400 buildings, many of which about this exhibition, most of said of Philip Johnson and John seem to reject familiar notions 02. The exhibitions deve- them, mentioning explicitly the Burgee). On 14 September 1970, of what modern architecture is, loped at MoMA since 1929 contribution of KRJDA to the because of concerns expressed illustrate the exhibition’s claim until nowadays is published and show. Ref. web. 02: https://www. by Kevin Roche, Arthur Drexler that the history of modern open-accessed at the website moma.org/d/c/press_releases/ wrote John Dinkeloo a letter architecture during the last two of the musuem. 32 displays W1siZiIsIjMyNjU4MCJdXQ. to explain the reason for the decades involves the elabora- about architecture took place pdf?sha=c473970ca3ec5494. exhibition’s title. In fact, in the tion of ideas first propounded during the fifteen years in which Read: 4 April 2016. exhibition’s central panel and in 30 or 40 years ago”. Press this research is focused. Ref. all the texts accompanying it, releasl sent by the MoMA to the web 01: http://www.moma.org/ 05. “In addition to their architec- definitely including the catalog, media. Ref. web 04: https://www. learn/resources/archives/ar- tural excellence, the examples what appears is the full name moma.org/d/c/press_releases/ chives_exhibition_history_list. chosen suggest an ambiance of the practice. The Museum W1siZiIsIjMyNzIwMSJdXQ. Read: 3 June 2016. congenial to the immanent of Modern Art Archives, NY, pdf?sha=313626d5cebd628a. values of the collection and to Collection: MoMA Exhs. Series. 03. The works included in the contemplative moments of Folder: 940.11. 25. Press release sent by the the exhibitions were found in: the viewer”. Words of Ludwig MoMA to the media. Ref. web. The Museum of Modern Art Glaeser in the press release 14. The Museum of Modern Art 04. Archives. Collection: Pl. Series. sent by the MoMA to the media. Archives, NY, Collection: MoMA Folder: II.B.648. Ref. web. 02. Exhs. Series. Folder: 940.6. RA 21 273

Images of the image can be seen the 15 01. Model and picture of the Knights of Columbus Office Buil- Oakland Museum in the exhibi- ding in New Haven, by KRJDA. tion “Architecture of Museums” Building the “Archive” at the MoMA (1968). Photogra- 08. Summary chart with the phic Archive. The Museum of concepts associated to KRJDA’s 856 Architecture Exhibitions Modern Art Archives, New York. work in every exhibition and the IN867.5. Photograph by George relationships that the curators in Barcelona Cserna. established between the prota- gonists of this paper and other Nuria Ortigosa 02. Summary chart with the professionals or buildings. By analyzed exhibitions, including the author. Building an “archive” of this kind involves compiling all the KRJDA’s works shown on them. architecture exhibitions ever held in Barcelona throughout its By the author. history. This compilation or archive focuses on what has been seen and less on how, on the content rather than the medium, on 03. The Oakland Museum the abstract behind the display, without overlooking the moments when both have an intentional relationship. This “archive” is display, with the Neue Natio- approached from the perspective of the proactive architecture nalgalerie (Berlin) by Mies ven project, as an active and useful resource and not from a historical der Rohe and the Guggenheim and conservationist perspective. Museum (NYC) by Frank Lloyd Wright in the background. From the exhibition “Architecture of Museums” at the MoMA. Photo- graphic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. IN867.5. Photograph by George Cserna.

04. John Dinkeloo and Kevin Roche in front of the model of College Life Insurance building at the dinner organized by the MoMA before the opening of the exhibition “Work in Progress: Architecture by Philip Johnson, Kevin Roche, Paul Rudolph”. Image from: The Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY. Collection: PI. Series.Folder: II.B.829. The ‘archive’ Building an ‘archive’1 of this kind involves compiling all the architecture exhibitions 05. Models and pictures of ever held in Barcelona throughout its KRJDA’s works shown at the history. This compilation or archive focuses MoMA in 1970. The models on what has been seen and less on how, on highlight transparency and glass the content rather than the medium, on the enclosures at UN Plaza and abstract behind the display, without overlooking the moments when College Life Insurance buildings. both have an intentional relationship. In addition to centralizing Photographic Archive. The Mu- information which today is spread throughout the city and at times is seum of Modern Art Archives, unknown to people who want to research architecture exhibitions New York. IN940.2. Photograph and have access to a specific archive, the “archive” is compiled with by Alexandre Georges. the intention of charting subsequent relationships that enable studying them and most importantly, through this being capable of 06. Arthur Drexler distributed being proactive regarding what the material refers to. KRJDA’s works in four blocs of Between January 1939 and December 2018, at least ideas that can be understood 856 architecture exhibitions have taken place in Barcelona. These with this document of the exhi- range from monographs about architects or important projects bition preparation. The last one, of a style or period to household fairs, local and international pavilions, was finally dismissed. architecture, awards, contests, landscape, urban plans, criticism Image from: The Museum of and even more experimental exhibitions somewhere between art Modern Art Archives. Collec- and architecture. The 856 compiled exhibits could be visited in at tion: MoMA Exhs. Series.Folder: least forty-five different exhibition spaces in the city –indoors and 940.18. outdoors, public and private, cultural and educational, permanent, temporary or circumstantial. They vary from occasional locations, 07. Photo mural in the exhibition where an exhibit could only be seen one time owing to some special “Transformation in Modern Ar- reason, such as the Diocesan Museum during the Year of Gaudí, to chitecture” (1979). In the middle other venues such as Tinell Hall, which has housed twelve of these 274 RA 21

exhibitions, especially in the early years –hence its importance– at had over the course of its history. Furthermore, if it is assumed that a time when the current exhibition spaces did not yet exist and the magazines exert influence over the construction of architecture (as exhibitions, due to their infrequency, often had more of an impact. evidenced by such research as La arquitectura en España a través Others include the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MA- de las revistas especializadas (1950-1970): El caso hogar y arquitec- CBA), with twenty-three exhibitions, and the Barcelona Architects’ tura by Candelaria Alarcón and Domus 1948-1978. La conformación College (COAC), which has housed at least 530 exhibitions, where del espacio interior doméstico a través del mobiliario by Julia Ca- the bulk of architecture exhibits in Barcelona during these years have pomaggi), architecture exhibitions, which among other things are a taken place. And while it would be impossible and even undesirable2 means of dissemination, should also share this hypothesis regarding to mention all the sources consulted to complete the compilation, this same influence. Moreover, the evolution of art and architecture the most important contributions were made through the Activities during the 20th century cannot be understood without considering Bulletin of the COAC historical collection, hundreds of catalogs the important contribution that exhibitions have made, for, despite of exhibitions held in Barcelona, records of exhibitions in different their ephemeral nature, they have helped promote pivotal and museums and halls in the city, press releases, digital databases and experimental shows6. Architecture does not travel but magazines, even private conversations with people in this field. photographs and models do. The large number of exhibitions held in Different essential information was collected from each Barcelona over the last eighty years, along with the extensive variety listed exhibition3: the opening and closing date of the exhibits as well of exhibition spaces in the city, indicates that architecture exhibits as their duration, which was useful in obtaining a general idea of their form an equally significant part of contemporary culture as other average length; and the curator and organizing institution, if there is artistic disciplines more traditionally associated with exhibition visits. a catalog prepared exclusively for the exhibit, providing specifics in case of flyers, handbills or special editions of magazines or articles – A distant reading Collecting or creating an “archive” is, generally in architecture and urban planning booklets and the official according to Hans-Ulrich Obrist7, a way of magazine of the COAC. Similarly, all the available publications of generating knowledge and ineluctably a each exhibition regardless of their origin or medium as well as any way of thinking in the world. And, while this relevant observations and data were collected. “archive” is not based on a chronological Interest in the subject does not lie exclusively in the compilation but on the commonalties of all large number of exhibitions held in Barcelona. It also has to do with the exhibitions held in the city from the end of the discovering what we can learn about the city through the exhibitions up to the present day, it is undoubtedly true that initially it was as a whole, with being able to determine what models it has looked necessary to organize them chronologically, to date them to know to shape its architectural identity and address its primary concerns. what they entailed, and to speculate and visualize the cultural activity The archive can be approached from the perspective of a proactive of the city situated in time. For this, as stated above, it was necessary architecture project, as an active and usable resource and not from to prepare a graphic chronology (fig. 01) in which several very basic an historical and conservationist perspective. Also, the “archive” but not for this reason unimportant or unnecessary elements can be is not intended to be a passive collection of the past but an active observed at first glance, ones which otherwise would be inaccessible system of statements. It is conceived along the lines of thought today. of Michel Foucault, where the word “archive” refers neither to the On the one hand, architecture exhibitions in Barcelona, series of documents, records or data that a culture preserves as a despite certain ups and downs coinciding primarily with some no- memory and testament to its past nor to the institutions charged table moments –such as, for example, the low cultural production in with preserving them. Rather the archive is what enables establishing the years prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games– have been on the law about what can be said, the system that governs appearance the rise. At the same time, in the first decades after the Spanish Civil as unique events4. In addition, the archive, as opposed to the inten- War, the number of architecture exhibitions was very low, between tional collection or gathering of documents, functions as a muted one and seven a year. In fact, it is precisely for this reason that they repository in which documents are organized and stored. It is only acquired more importance and had such an impact at the time when through the use of this material that we will be able to reconfigure they took place, even setting the course to be followed in later years. the past, with the understanding that the present and the future are Contrary to what has occurred more recently, exhibitions in the city contained in it and form part of it. In the words of Manuel Borja-Villel, have increased to such a point –between thirty-eight and thirty-three director of the Queen Sophia Museum, “archives are the museums of in 2006 and 2007, respectively– that some architecture exhibitions the future”. And at a time when we are celebrating the one hundredth have appeared that are of more questionable and dispensable anniversary of the first modern Spanish architects of consequence interest. who reached professional maturity in post-war Spain such as Alejan- This increase in the number of exhibitions in Barcelona dro de la Sota, Miguel Fisac, Josep Maria Sostres and José Antonio along with the wide variety of exhibit spaces mentioned above only Coderech, it makes sense that the role of the archive is more crucial highlights the ever-increasing quantity of institutions that believe in today than ever. the necessity of transmitting knowledge about architecture. Archi- This archive of Barcelona architecture exhibitions is not tecture exhibitions are now not only significant thanks to biennales merely a digital compilation of documents consisting of catalogs, and triennales. Today, we also find them in museums with different articles and press releases. It is also entails the physical gathering5 connotations –educational, political, critical, existential– beyond the of these documents, as well as different and necessary graphic mere presentation of architecture projects. Currently, other types of materials that enable bringing these exhibitions together. Added to shows are becoming more common, from installations to architectu- this is a series of panels that extract the information stored in each of re festivals such as the 48h Open House architecture festival, which the compiled exhibits and serve as a kind of thought machine. On the tend to experiment more with the space and, in a certain sense, one hand, the simultaneous compilation and observation as a whole force us to ask ourselves where, in this case, should the evolution of of the exhibitions they contain place value and encourage us to architecture exhibitions be heading. reflect on the importance of the act of the exhibition itself. Ultimately, Studying a city by compiling all of its exhibitions, in spite this unconsciously shapes part of our collective ideation and as a of what was mentioned above, does not mean doing so through an result our critical and design faculties. In this way, the archive situ- inflexible chronology or that the “archive” presented here is one with ates the exhibitions as a valid medium for studying the city and its a rigid classification and specific order. To the contrary, studying the architecture, its architectural currents and the influence they have city through the lens of the entirety of its exhibitions means paying RA 21 275

attention to the different arguments expressed in regard to these ex- The second (fig. 04), more “inspired” panel contains hibits as a whole. It means examining the city in a way similar to what images of exhibitions that enable the free circulation of association Franco Moretti does in Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for of ideas. These, in contrast to the first, reflect exhibitions that do not Literature History. Here, instead of focusing on very specific works follow a single theme or unique format. Instead they present an im- repeatedly studied by other authors, Moretti even dares to represent portant common characteristic: uncommon exhibitions characteri- the history of literature graphically and carry out a cross-sectional zed by a departure from the canonical architecture exhibition where reading of this history and the published volumes as a whole. Or as in one form or another “classic” projects appear in the form of panels the writer himself describes it, to engage in “a distant reading” where or models11. These are exhibitions that frequently attribute value to instead of being an obstacle, distance represents another form of other aspects of already known elements, inviting us to question the knowledge. meaning of the things around us. They are often capable of relating concepts or objects that otherwise would not be intertwined or Good neighborly Cultural memory is not inert. Rather it is imposing order on a preexisting collection of things. relations active, capable of recovering the footprints The second panel brings together images from such or enneagrams of the past. Because of its exhibitions as Zenithal Light 9m2 (+ 0 -) by Elías Torres, held in the evocative capacity, cultural memory is able Urania Gallery in 2000, Requiem for the Staircase curated by Óscar to define, as occurred during the Renais- Tusquets and held in the Barcelona Center for Contemporary Cul- sance, the art and literature of the present8, ture (CCCB) in 2001, and Species of Spaces12 curated by Frederic in our case the exhibitions and architecture of today. Atlas Montornés and held at MACBA in 2015. These exhibitions force us to Mnemosyne by Aby Warburg serves as a good reference point. It reflect on very specific and common elements in architecture such consists of the compilation of images –under what Warburg called as the ceiling, stairs and room. In the case of Elías Torres, the exhibi- the “law of good neighborly relations”– in independent panels (fig. tion invites us on a journey through the possibilities of illumination 02) that map a network of relations that enabled him to study his with a series of ordinary objects that have no apparent connection subject. The ones shown here are two of a series of panels that to light. The exhibition consisted of eleven customized cardboard reveal some of the different but not the only arguments or possible boxes with a series of openings in which, as seen in the images in the project trigger factors that can be extracted from the “archive”. panel, the following instruments are embedded: colanders, punc- Specifically, the next two panels as opposed to others are presented tured egg cartons, lids, funnels and grilles. The result is a kind of array –although only the second one is examined in depth– because they of skyscrapers filled with skylights and light contraptions. The lights represent two very distinctive examples of the possibilities of the inside the boxes and the exterior of the projectors turned on alter- “archive”. Seeing them as a whole also enables exemplifying the work nately in such a way that when the exterior light came on, as if it were methodology of the collection. This “archive”, visual and beyond the daytime, and the interior of the boxes was seen through the viewfind- interpretation of the linear history of the architecture exhibitions in ers, the effect of the zenithal light could be observed crossing the Barcelona, is by definition incomplete, entailing an open system of collection of objects. However, when the interior lights came on, as crisscrossing associations always receptive to the inclusion of new if it were night, and the exterior of the boxes was seen, the effects information. In fact, if someone with other interests consulted the produced by these little pseudo theaters crossing the artifacts of the same compilation of exhibitions, she would probably find other zenithal light could be seen. To be able to see the covers of the boxes equally valid projects according to her own interests9. These panels (filled with objects) better, a staircase was attached to one of the always contain crosscutting themes that allow for bringing walls that allowed visitors to go up, one at a time, to see the rooftops. exhibitions from different periods together. In the words of Elías Torres, this exhibition offers “suggestions so that The panels are, as Warburg explains, “a machine for whoever observes it can discover other –multitudes– possibilities thinking about the images, an artifact designed to make correspon- of having light enter from above in the interiors of the buildings” and dences jump out, to evoke analogies”. They are a gathering of diffe- how to handle this. rent types of images, thereby creating an ensemble of relationships Meanwhile, Requiem for the Staircase explores the fif- outside of any chronological or thematic order –though not without teen different existing types of stairs, according to Tusquets –in-line meaning– that responds to “subjective” historical thought activated stairs, three-section stairs, stairs that emerge from the wall, for ins- from the present10. In some cases they are representative of the tance. It includes in an interesting catalog that contains such diverse exhibitions they bring together –in general, and as noted above they examples as stairs painted by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, the do not analyze the assembly but rather the content. For this reason well-known instructions for climbing up a staircase by Julio Cortázar, there is a place both for images of the exhibited material and other stairs in cinema such as in famous shots by Hitchcock, architecture textual or more “theoretical” documents, articles, press releases and projects such as the Malaparte house and stairs by Carlos Scarpa. catalogs. In other cases, they contain evocative images and could This exhibition draws a parallel with the twenty-five books devoted correspond to the same discourse behind the expository display. to the study of stairs published by Friedrich Mielke, to which Rem The panels also indicate, always in the upper right corner, the identi- Koolhaas under the title Stairs dedicated part of the main pavilion of fying number of the exhibitions they contain. the 2014 Architecture Biennale of Venice, which focused on the basic This first one(fig. 03), through an initial selection and elements (Elements) used daily by architects and the general public subsequent filter of exhibitions whose original central theme was anywhere and at any time. national architecture independent of its period or country, shows the The more complex discourse of Species of Spaces is change of course not only in terms of exhibitions but also in the poli- divided into two parts: one open and another compartmentalized. tical orientation that the country underwent after World War II. While This, in turn, encourages the viewer to reflect on the neutrality and the national panorama was on the whole out of step with the inter- homogeneity required in an exhibition space. Species of Spaces national exhibition trends of this period, the clearly catalytic nature achieves this through the opposite of what is usually imagined: of the moments in which they occurred is perhaps one of the most through a space subdivided into a series of rooms of the same scale, interesting features of the exhibitions that took place in Barcelona. more domestic setting than museum, thus calling into question Internationally, contrary to what occurred in this city, after World War the open white museum hall to which we have grown accustomed. II architecture exhibitions became more political and existential, see- This subdivided part entails intrinsically, even without taking into king to communicate to the general public the challenge of resisting consideration the exhibited works, an architecture exhibition in itself. the rapid change that the world was experiencing. On the one hand it is a reinterpretation of the book by Georges Perec 276 RA 21

on which it is based. And on the other it forces us to think about the Nuria Ortigosa extensive versatility of homes with the same rooms without pre- Architect from the ETSA of the University of Granada (2012) and established uses. Master in Theory and Practice of the Architecture Project from the Requiem for the Staircase, based on the chapter ETSAB-UPC. PhD Candidate and Member of HABITAR, a research devoted to stairs in the previous book by Tusquets entitled Todo Group of the Department of Architectural Projects of the ETSAB- es comparable (Everything is Comparable), comprises along with UPC, in which she is doing his PhD on Architecture Exhibitions in Zenithal Light 9m2 (+ o –) and Species of Spaces a manifesto in Barcelona 1939-2017. She has participated in several competitive favor of these architectural elements in exhibition form. What is truly projects such as Atlas of architectural exploitation. Critical study interesting here is that it is precisely our paying attention to these of buildings that have changed their use in Barcelona (MINECO elements, despite their mundane quality, that allows us to talk about 2013) or Food and urban public space. Barcelona as a case study architecture. (Recercaixa 2016). She has worked as a collaborating architect at Similarly, other exhibitions appear that are more the re- MAIO Architects between 2015-2018 and assistant editor of num- sult of architecture criticism such as Nonument held at the CCCB in ber 271, About Buildings & Food, of the Quaderns d’arquitectura 2014, the installation in the German Pavilion entitled Phantom: Mies i urbanisme magazine of the Collegi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya as Rendered Society (2013) by Andrés Jaque and Moving by Lydia (COAC), where she has recently published the article Food at Zimmerman. In the case of Nonument it is not a simple exhibition home and an interview with the architect and urban planner Caro- of the monuments that make up a city in the aesthetic sense but a lyn Steel. She currently works as a hired researcher and teaching reflection on the role these monuments currently play and if it makes assistant for Professor Xavier Monteys at ETSAB-UPC. sense to continue creating these artifacts in today’s cities. Andrés Jaque, meanwhile, finds in the pavilion an important role in relation to the emergence of its architecture as a social construction. The basement and, consequently, this exhibition –consisting in broadly showing everything in the basement of the pavilion– expresses the reflective perspective its curator gives to societal structures. Yet also makes clear the impossibility of the existence of the commonly known pavilion without its underground level, emphasizing the totality of the architecture –both the functional and the aesthetic. Alongside this installation is the floor design of the Lisboan rabo- de-bacalhau type dwelling. In this construction while the “main” part consists of a series of rooms more related to representation and the street than domestic life, the supposedly “secondary” entrance through the kitchen is sometimes more interesting than the one previously established as the primary access. The most interesting aspect of Moving/Metaphor, a video exhibition by Lydia Zimmerman that examines the moving of the Cercle Artistic Sant Lluc, is being able to convey and interpret moving as something more than the mere fact of changing the scenery of things. A move speaks to us about the city, the changes taking place in it and the times associated with these changes. It is a scenario in which the free association of ideas tends to operate forcefully, to the point of being able to change our perception of the space we inhabit, constituting an entire world of boxes, without an- ything standing out above the rest. During a move our perception of things is disrupted. Moving therefore is a metaphor for what happens when our perception is displaced to an unknown location outside of our daily routine. These panels are not the only ones nor are they the most valid. They are simply inspiring. They are powerful and enrich our critical capacity and our ability to carry out projects. They make images apparently unrelated to them appear: rabos-de-bacalhau, encyclopedias of stairs, colanders. Most importantly, they fulfill several of the objectives of this “archive”: they confirm that it can be viewed from the proactive stance of an architecture project and that studying it will facilitate proposing interesting practices in architec- ture exhibitions. The archive, we come to realize, is not a matter of the past. Rather it generates a machine of creativity based on the past, with the assumption that the present and the future are its most important products. It is no accident that in Greek “moving” means “metaphor”. RA 21 277

Notes Images 01. The concept of archive is 09. This article is based on a 01. Chronology of the Architec- conceived following the thought research that, rather than a con- ture Exhibitions held in Barcelo- of M. Foucault explained below. clusive topic, is a starting point na, 1939-2017. for future research that opts 02. Silvestre, Federico L., for the exhibition system as the 02. Detail of the panel number 2013. Recorridos y paseos basis of its work and possible 79 of the Mnemosyne Atlas of de papel en: Gottlob Schelle, application to other cities with a Aby Warburg, 1925-1929. Karl. El arte de pasear. Madrid: strong expository nature. Díaz&Pons. 03. Detail of the first panel of the 10. Guasch, Anna Maria. op.cit. Archive of Architecture Exhibi- 03. According to the Real Dic- p. 25. tions held in Barcelona. cionario de la Lengua Española, Catalogue: 1. Register in a cata- 11. proj- 04. Detail of the second panel log books, documents, species ects are understood generally of the Archive of Architecture or other elements. as material and constructive Exhibitions held in Barcelona. projects. Its development is 04. Guasch, Anna Maria, 2015. carried out by means of plans, Arte y Archivo. Madrid: AKAL, being the most usual form of p. 47. representation, the floor plants, sections and elevations. 05. The acquisition of the physical material of the Archive 12. Species of Spaces was of Architecture Exhibitions designed by MAIO Architects held in Barcelona is currently in (Alfredo Lérida, Maria Charne- process. co, Guillermo López and Anna Puigjaner) in 2015. 06. Ábalos, Ana, 2015. Alison and Peter Smithson: The Transient and the Permanet. Valencia: Universitat Politècnica de València, p. 33.

07. Obrist, Hans-Ulrich, 2014. Ways of curating. Nueva York: FSG.

08. Rampley, Matthew, 2000. The Remembrance of Things Past. On Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 88.