lina bo bardi's drawings compose concrete poetry at tchoban foundation exhibition in berlin

lina bo bardi – concrete poetry

From June 1st to September 22nd, the Tchoban Foundation’s Museum of Architectural Drawings in Berlin hosts the Lina Bo Bardi – Concrete Poetry exhibition, featuring 40 drawings by the renowned architect, showcased together in Europe for the first time. The exhibits come from the collection of the Instituto Bardi, founded by Lina Bo and Pietro Maria Bardi. These works served as sketches and designs for six realized projects by cultural institutions: Casa de Vidro, Solar do Unhão, MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Teatro Oficina, SESC Pompéia and Casa do Benin. The drawings enter into a dialogue with photographs by the artist Veronika Kellndorfer, who researches Lina Bo Bardi’s architectural legacy and its societal narrative.

SESC Pompeia, Lina Bo Bardi | photo by Veronika Kellndorfer

exploring lina bo bardi’s Drawings at Tchoban Foundation

Displayed at the Tchoban Foundation’s Museum of Architectural Drawings (find more here), the works drawn from the Bardi Institute, represent the conceptual groundwork for some of Lina Bo Bardi’s most iconic projects. These spaces, depicted in the drawings, serve as hubs for social and cultural interaction, showcasing architecture’s potential to nurture community and spark creativity. Complementing these pieces are photographs by Veronika Kellndorfer, whose deep dive into Lina Bo Bardi’s legacy and modernist architecture spans decades.

The exhibition highlights how, through her drawings, Lina Bo Bardi conveyed her architectural philosophy with poetic simplicity, treating each project as a holistic work of art. Her innovative use of materials such as glass and concrete, despite their structural differences, seamlessly integrated to shape Brazil’s modern architectural identity. For Bo Bardi, drawings were an indispensable means of expressing the foundations of her thinking and illustrating the resulting premises. However, they were not intended as stand-alone works of art or documents for analyzing construction projects, objects, or planned work procedures. Instead, they functioned as visualizations of ideas and guides for manufacturing. Simultaneously, they capture a vital existence that can be interpreted metaphorically in the physical structures of architecture as the atmosphere, meaning, and vitality of space.

Casa de vidro, Lina Bo Bardi | photo by Veronika Kellndorfer

Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Lina Bo Bardi | photo by Veronika Kellndorfer

Marcelo Ferraz e Lina Bo Bardi | image of the Bardi Institute

Teatro Oficina, perspective 1984. watercolor, ballpoint pen, hydrography, graphite on cardboard 33,2 x 48,0 cm | drawing © Lina Bo Bardi, photo © Henrique Luz

Museu de Arte de São Paulo, perspective of the building with explanation of the porticoes and the substructure ca. 1957–1968. graphite, colored pencils, ink on cardboard | drawing © Lina Bo Bardi, photo © Henrique Luz

Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Perspective from the Belvedere, 1965. Pastel paint on tracing paper 49.9 x 69.5 cm | drawing © Lina Bo Bardi, photo © Henrique Luz

Museu de Arte de São Paulo perspective, circa 1957–1968. watercolor, stereography, graphite, colored pencils, ink on paper offset 28 x 19,5 cm | drawing © Lina Bo Bardi, photo © Henrique Luz

the Tchoban Foundation in Berlin | image courtesy of the Tchoban Foundation

project info:

exhibition name: Lina Bo Bardi – Concrete Poetry
curator: Tereza de Arruda, M.A., Art Historian

exhibition design: Hülsenberg Studio
graphic design: Annika Paetsch
location: Tchoban Foundation. Museum for Architectural Drawings. Christinenstraße 18a, 10119 Berlin
dates: June 1st – September 22nd, 2024

in partnership with the Bardi Institute

under the patronage of the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin