meeting architecture at the british school at rome

meeting architecture at the british school at rome
british school at rome
view of the exhibition ‘adam caruso and thomas demand, madame wu and the mill from hell’
october 29th to november 19th 2013
first appointment of meeting architecture
photo: daniela pellegrini

‘meeting architecture’ is the british school at rome‘s new programme. curated by marina engel, its curriculum is set to run for several years and will host lectures, exhibitions and performances by key players in the fields of architecture, art, film and sound, focusing in particular on the nature of collaboration between architecture and other creative processes.

its development draws from the 1956 exhibition held at london’s whitechapel art gallery ‘this is tomorrow’, which saw artists, architects, musicians and graphic designers working together on a seminal art exhibition. since its happening, the practice of interdisciplinary processes has become a characteristic of british culture. on a broader contemporary level, architects are increasingly being commissioned to design art spaces, galleries and museums, along with concert halls, performing arts spaces, fashion sets, technological institutions etc., which has pushed them to understand and accommodate the activities of other disciplines so that their own work is successful as a result.

british school at rome
view of the exhibition ‘adam caruso and thomas demand, madame wu and the mill from hell’
october 29th to november 19th 2013
first appointment of meeting architecture
photo: daniela pellegrini

‘meeting architecture’ will explore these collaborations, including the rarer examples where architects and artists conceive and design projects together, rather than the architect finishing the building and employing an artist only afterwards to decorate the final structure. it will also bring to light the fact that little consideration or attention has been put on the fact that many film directors, directors of photography and scenographers has been trained as architects, and that this trained background has has an influence on their film work.

throughout the duration of ‘meeting architecture’ a number of different themes and questions will addressed including: what are the convergences and divergences in sources of inspiration, working methods and aims?; how does one understand the creative process of other callings help to develop the practice of one’s own discipline?; how can one define creativity in architecture?; does architecture as a practice risk losing its autonomy and ethical status with so many interdisciplinary crossovers?

thomas demand and adam caruso open the programme with a conversation and study exhibition. ‘madame wu and the mill from hill’, highlights the anglo-canadian architect and german artist’s ongoing collaboration, presenting for the first time, an analysis of selected works they have conceived together. the show includes thomas demand’s exhibition at the nationalgalerie, berlin (2009); nagelhaus, the redesign of the escher-wyss-platz, zuric (2007-2010); and demand’s house, near berlin, that was just completed this summer, represented through a selection of models, photographs, drawings and films.

future participants include: reinier de graaf (OMA), amos gitai, david and peter adjaye, cecil balmond and daniel libeskind, vivien lovell, eric parry and richard deacon, wouter vanstiphout (crimson architectural historians), richard sennett, thomas schütte and alfredo pirri and many others. discussion moderators include: francesco garofalo (architecture), mario codognato (architecture and art) irene bignardi (architecture and cinema), martin brody (architecture and sound).

‘meeting architecture’ reflects the multi-disciplinary nature of the british school at rome, and of many of the other foreign academies in rome in which a variety of scholars and professionals from a range of disciplines live and work collectively. it is run in partnership with the royal collect of art that will host lectures in london of which thomas and adam caruso will participate on december 5th, 2013.

martin mörck, illustration, nagelhaus, project for escher-wyss-platz, zurich by thomas demand and caruso st. john
© martin mörck, copenhagen

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