Saul Steinberg – Architecture by line

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Exhibitions

 

Saul Steinberg – Architecture by line and other voices on paper

25 September – 29 November 2014
Avec
Ingo Giezendanner, alias GRRRR
Nathalie du Pasquier
Nigel Peake
Madelon Vriesendorp
Wesley Willis 


CONFÉRENCES :

24 septembre 2014
Conférence inaugurale
Nathalie Du Pasquier, artiste, Milan

Introduction
Cyril Veillon, curateur
Professeur Nicola Barghieri, LAPSIS, EPFL

28 octobre 2014
Ingo Giezendanner, artiste, Zurich
Stephen Felmingham, artiste et professeur, Londres

6 novembre 2014
Luca Merlini, architecte et professeur, Paris et Lausanne

18 novembre 2014
Nicholas Lobo Brennan, architecte, Zurich

A l’occasion de l’exposition, un livre d’artiste est publiĂ© par les Ă©ditions Nieves Ă  Zurich. Il rassemble pour la premiĂšre fois, sous forme de leporellos distincts, les quatre longs dessins que Steinberg a rĂ©alisĂ© pour le Labyrinthe des enfants Ă  la Triennale de Milan en 1954.

Le dessin est un outil idĂ©al pour exprimer des idĂ©es ou des points de vue sur l’architecture sans avoir recours aux mots. Les lignes qui se mĂȘlent deviennent des formes, puis des images identifiables, permettant ainsi un dĂ©cryptage rapide de sens parfois complexes.
L’artiste amĂ©ricain Saul Steinberg (1914 – 1999), particuliĂšrement connu pour ses oeuvres publiĂ©es dans The New Yorker, se dĂ©finit lui-mĂȘme comme un « Ă©crivain qui dessine ». Un « Ă©crivain » muet, certes, mais qui ne manquait pas d’opinions lorsqu’il s’agissait de porter un regard critique sur son environnement urbain et bĂąti. En ce sens, il peut ĂȘtre considĂ©rĂ© comme un prĂ©curseur du postmodernisme, et certains thĂ©oriciens de l’architecture l’ont perçu comme l’un des critiques les plus importants de ce domaine, sans parole.
L’exposition Architecture by Line tisse des liens entre l’oeuvre de Steinberg et l’architecture. Y seront Ă©galement prĂ©sentĂ©s les travaux d’une sĂ©lection d’artistes internationaux qui, sans avoir nĂ©cessairement de filiation avec Saul Steinberg, ont, par le truchement du dessin, questionnĂ© la perception des espaces que nous concevons et que nous habitons.

Cette exposition montre que les reprĂ©sentations visuelles des artistes ont souvent anticipĂ© la pensĂ©e architecturale, voire qu’elles la subvertissent. L’art est-il nĂ©cessaire Ă  l’émancipation de l’architecture ?

Avec le soutien de la fondation Jan Michalski.

Commissaire : Cyril Veillon
avec la collaboration de Benjamin Sommerhalder, Nieves, Zurich.
Logistique : Jean-Robert Gros
Administration : Pascale Luck
Assistant : Thomas Paine
Edition des textes : Aurélie Buisson
Conseils : Sheila Schwartz, The Saul Steinberg Foundation
Images : The Saul Steinberg Foundation, NY

Remerciements :
Beth Venn, CEO, The Saul Steinberg Foundation
Paul T. Young, architecte, Chicago

Saul Steinberg
Photo by Arnold-Newman, 1951

Vues de l’exposition

With
Ingo Giezendanner, alias GRRRR
Nathalie du Pasquier
Nigel Peake
Madelon Vriesendorp
Wesley Willis


LECTURES:

September 24, 2014
Inaugural lecture
Nathalie Du Pasquier, artist, Milan

Introduction
Cyril Veillon, curator
Professor Nicola Barghieri, LAPSIS, EPFL

October 28, 2014
Ingo Giezendanner, artist, Zurich
Stephen Felmingham, artist and professor, London

November 6, 2014
Luca Merlini, architect and professor, Paris and Lausanne

November 18, 2014
Nicholas Lobo Brennan, architect, Zurich

On the occasion of the exhibition, an artist’s book has been published by Nieves in ZĂŒrich. It brings together for the first time, as individual leporellos, the four long drawings Steinberg produced for the Children’s Labyrinth at the Milan Triennale in 1954.

Drawing is the perfect medium to shape and express ideas and viewpoints on architecture without using words. Lines come together to make forms, which in turn become coherent images that enable the viewer to grasp even the most complex intentions and meanings.
The American artist Saul Steinberg (1914-1999), well known for his long collaboration with The New Yorker, considered himself to be a ‘writer who draws’. A ‘speechless writer’ perhaps, but one who had a great deal to say about the buildings and cityscapes that came under the scrutiny of his critical eye. In this sense, he was a forerunner of postmodernism, and although he did not write essays many theorists of architecture see him as an important critic of design and construction.
Architecture by Line weaves links between Steinberg’s two-dimensional oeuvre and architecture. Included also will be works by a selection of international artists, who do not necessarily share any filiation with him but who, by their use of drawing, question the way people see and inhabit the places that architects design.
The exhibition shows how visual impressions captured by artists may anticipate architectural thought, and even short circuit it. In doing so it poses a vital question: is art the vehicle by which architecture is set free?

With support of the Jan Michalski foundation.

Curator: Cyril Veillon
with the collaboration of Benjamin Sommerhalder, Nieves, Zurich.
Logistic: Jean-Robert Gros
Administration: Pascale Luck
Assistant: Thomas Paine
Texts editing: Aurélie Buisson
Research advisor: Sheila Schwartz, The Saul Steinberg Foundation
Images: The Saul Steinberg Foundation, NY

Special thanks to:
Beth Venn, CEO, The Saul Steinberg Foundation
Paul T. Young, architect, Chicago

Saul Steinberg
Photo by Arnold-Newman, 1951

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