Exhibition Architecture: Portugal Beyond the Borders of Portugal
Lapidarium of Bethlehem Chapel
Bethlehem Square 5a, Prague 1
Duration of the exhibition:
April 17 – June 4, 2009
Opening:
on Thursday, March 18, 2009, at 6:00 PM at the Lapidarium of Bethlehem Chapel
Organizers:
Gallery of Jaroslav Fragner
Faculty of Architecture CTU
Order of Portuguese Architects
Czech Architecture Foundation
Embassy of the Portuguese Republic
Camões Institute - Portugal
Architecture: Portugal Beyond the Borders of Portugal is a borrowed project; the exhibition was inaugurated last month at the leading Berlin gallery Aedes by the Portuguese President, Prof. Dr. Aníbal Cavaco Silva. It is precisely at his initiative that Portuguese architecture has returned to Germany after many years since its major exhibition at DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum (German Museum of Architecture) in Frankfurt in 1997.
The exhibition was prepared by the Portuguese Chamber of Architects, focusing on projects by Portuguese architects abroad. The curator, Portuguese architect Ricardo Carvalho, aimed to highlight the strong reach and influence of contemporary Portuguese architecture in the international arena and to emphasize its vitality and modern formal expression.
Architects represented in the exhibition:
Álvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Inês Lobo and Pedro Domingos, Atelier do Corvo, Gonçalo Byrne, Ricardo Bak Gordon, José Adrião, SAMI Arquitects, Aires Mateus, Carrilho da Graça, Promontório Arquitectos, João Mendes Ribeiro, ARX Portugal, RISCO, Graça Dias and Egas José Vieira, Pedro Reis, Flávio Barbini and Maria João Silva Barbini.
The exhibition highlights the characteristics of Portuguese architecture – as an expression of building culture, where architects are capable of critique and integration with a special sensitivity to the regional context of building projects and their differing requirements. Throughout the establishment of intercultural dialogue, it has successfully maintained its individual value and impressiveness.
The inauguration of the exhibition by the Portuguese president additionally manifests confidence in the country's building culture and underscores the important position of architecture as a means of expression of contemporary urban and cultural life within a sociocultural context.
The fact that Portuguese architecture is returning to Germany at the initiative of the president points to two things: on one hand, the growing recognition of architecture as a means for a country to affirm itself in the world, especially with the awareness of the great prestige of some of its best architects, like Álvaro Siza. On the other hand, it illustrates the local architectural reality, limited by its peripheral existence, its own specific tradition, and the insurmountable distance from the main centers of thought, production, and dissemination of architecture.
Local Portuguese reality, once celebrated by international critics, has resigned to itself in a silence stemming from its modus operandi, unable to compete due to its view of contemporary architecture. However, one could say that this incapacity, instead of causing Portuguese architecture to simply fade away or dissolve into global trends, today strengthens the natural power of its well-trodden paths and activities – not so much due to accepting itself as regional, distant, or resistant to time, but rather because it can adapt to all conditions and circumstances and discovers itself anew and differently each time.
What unites these selected projects in the exhibition is the manifestation of a distinctive way of creation, a demonstration of the ability to respond to all challenges, transforming the testimony of architectural activities in every corner of the country.
For many, this exhibition will mean just a confirmation of this peripheral curiosity or vitality; for others, it will be an inspiring opening of new worlds. In other words: an example of how architecture can adapt, assert, and legitimize itself in a global world, made up of so many numerous and different worlds.
www.gjf.cz
Bethlehem Square 5a, Prague 1
Duration of the exhibition:
April 17 – June 4, 2009
Opening:
on Thursday, March 18, 2009, at 6:00 PM at the Lapidarium of Bethlehem Chapel
Organizers:
Gallery of Jaroslav Fragner
Faculty of Architecture CTU
Order of Portuguese Architects
Czech Architecture Foundation
Embassy of the Portuguese Republic
Camões Institute - Portugal
Architecture: Portugal Beyond the Borders of Portugal is a borrowed project; the exhibition was inaugurated last month at the leading Berlin gallery Aedes by the Portuguese President, Prof. Dr. Aníbal Cavaco Silva. It is precisely at his initiative that Portuguese architecture has returned to Germany after many years since its major exhibition at DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum (German Museum of Architecture) in Frankfurt in 1997.
The exhibition was prepared by the Portuguese Chamber of Architects, focusing on projects by Portuguese architects abroad. The curator, Portuguese architect Ricardo Carvalho, aimed to highlight the strong reach and influence of contemporary Portuguese architecture in the international arena and to emphasize its vitality and modern formal expression.
Architects represented in the exhibition:
Álvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Inês Lobo and Pedro Domingos, Atelier do Corvo, Gonçalo Byrne, Ricardo Bak Gordon, José Adrião, SAMI Arquitects, Aires Mateus, Carrilho da Graça, Promontório Arquitectos, João Mendes Ribeiro, ARX Portugal, RISCO, Graça Dias and Egas José Vieira, Pedro Reis, Flávio Barbini and Maria João Silva Barbini.
The exhibition highlights the characteristics of Portuguese architecture – as an expression of building culture, where architects are capable of critique and integration with a special sensitivity to the regional context of building projects and their differing requirements. Throughout the establishment of intercultural dialogue, it has successfully maintained its individual value and impressiveness.
The inauguration of the exhibition by the Portuguese president additionally manifests confidence in the country's building culture and underscores the important position of architecture as a means of expression of contemporary urban and cultural life within a sociocultural context.
The fact that Portuguese architecture is returning to Germany at the initiative of the president points to two things: on one hand, the growing recognition of architecture as a means for a country to affirm itself in the world, especially with the awareness of the great prestige of some of its best architects, like Álvaro Siza. On the other hand, it illustrates the local architectural reality, limited by its peripheral existence, its own specific tradition, and the insurmountable distance from the main centers of thought, production, and dissemination of architecture.
Local Portuguese reality, once celebrated by international critics, has resigned to itself in a silence stemming from its modus operandi, unable to compete due to its view of contemporary architecture. However, one could say that this incapacity, instead of causing Portuguese architecture to simply fade away or dissolve into global trends, today strengthens the natural power of its well-trodden paths and activities – not so much due to accepting itself as regional, distant, or resistant to time, but rather because it can adapt to all conditions and circumstances and discovers itself anew and differently each time.
What unites these selected projects in the exhibition is the manifestation of a distinctive way of creation, a demonstration of the ability to respond to all challenges, transforming the testimony of architectural activities in every corner of the country.
For many, this exhibition will mean just a confirmation of this peripheral curiosity or vitality; for others, it will be an inspiring opening of new worlds. In other words: an example of how architecture can adapt, assert, and legitimize itself in a global world, made up of so many numerous and different worlds.
www.gjf.cz
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