ExperimentaDesign Lisboa/Amsterdam
 
 
DATE
7 SEP - 2 NOV 2008
12H - 20H

LX FACTORY
R. Rodrigues Faria, 103
Alcântara
Lisboa
[map]

Bus: 56, 60, 714, 720, 727, 732, 738, 751
Tram: 15E, 18E
Train: Linha de Cascais (Alcântara-Mar)

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT
LX Factory

PRICE
Standard: 3,5€
-25 / +65: 1,5€
Mondays and World Architecture Day: free admission

Guided tours: + info

WARM-UP EXPERIMENTADESIGN LISBOA 2009

 
 
Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007 is a Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB) initiative in collaboration with Experimenta. One of the world's most prestigious contemporary art centre and in a building designed by Zumthor himself, KUB hosted the opening of the exhibition in 2007. Its presentation in Lisbon as part of the launch of the 2009 Biennale represents its first outing in an international itinerary.

It features 29 projects and buildings represented by an impressive collection of documents from the Zumthor Atelier archives: drawings, sketches, plans and models. Powerfully representative and impacting also on a physical level, six large-scale models and two video installations propose a new way of showing and appreciating architecture in an exhibition context.

Stretching out over 2000 m2, the exhibition shows Zumthor's work from an anthological perspective, offering a a privileged insight into his creative process. It focuses on the painstakingly precise methodology behind the development of his ideas, from the earliest stages onto the implementation phase, revealing the intricate reasoning that structures the conception, formulation and testing of his projects.


Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007 (Exhibition view).
© 2008 ExperimentaDesign / Photo: Luis Silva Campos
In keeping with the author's philosophy that architecture should, above anything else, be experienced and inhabited, Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007 enables the visitor to come into contact with the buildings in alternative ways. The film installations replicate, in real time and lifesize, the physical experience of walking through Zumthor-designed spaces.

Unique in its depth and breadth, Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007 constitutes a reference in both Zumthor's career and the study of contemporary architecture.
 
 
To experience Zumthor's work, two video installations were created showing twelve life-size buildings, shot from six different angles. At the exhibition, the viewer will feel transported to the reality of the architectural spaces. The installations (re)create the distances, shapes, light and sound of Zumthor's buildings, in a fully enveloping sensation that manages to erase the physical absence of the constructions themselves.

Shot in 40-minute segments, the projections are shown in loop, in a non-stop flow of images. At different times of day, the exhibition visitor can find him or herself “visiting” Kunsthaus Bregenz, the Thermal Bath Vals or any other of 12 featured buildings.


Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007.
Exhibition view - Filminstallation by Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch.
© 2008 ExperimentaDesign / Photo: Luis Silva Campos
SIX SCREENS, SIX PROJECTORS, SIX CAMERAS
On the film installation by Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch at the Kunsthaus Bregenz

[...]Six stationary cameras directed simultaneously at six points of a building for forty minutes produce a constant stream of images in which the structure appears from frequently to randomly as part of the surroundings or as the spatial setting for a particular living or recreation situation in the building’s interior. The magic of the images will come from the interaction of these six film sequences as they are simultaneously projected exactly as they were filmed onto six large screens.

The screens are freestanding and face in different directions throughout the room. The projectors in the exhibition space have been set up exactly as the cameras had been while shooting the building.

The directions from which the films were shot also conform to the alignment of the film projectors; the films were all shot at eye level and with normal lenses. The playback situation at the Kunsthaus therefore corresponds 1:1 with the shooting situation on location.

Since one sees all six films simultaneously and experiences them together from different angles in a way that would not be possible in real life, the visual and acoustic impressions start to overlap and consolidate. The installation conveys a feeling of the presence of the buildings in their surroundings and in everyday life, a feeling of the life taking place in and around them. And that is a lot.

Peter Zumthor