Smiljan Radic : Bestiary

We are greatly honored to present for the first time in the Czech Republic the work of the highly respected figure of contemporary world architecture, Smiljan Radic from Santiago, Chile, who is increasingly drawing attention thanks to his extraordinary approach to architecture and distinctive creative perspective. His unique work stands out not only in his native Chile but also within the context of contemporary architecture as a whole.
Behind these mentioned aspects lies primarily the original Chilean landscape, which Radic has firmly rooted in himself and which significantly resonates in his work. With an inseparable emphasis on the context of the place, he succeeds in sensitively embedding his buildings into the given environment. In the context of his poetic work, it is also worth noting the unconventional use and combination of materials. Although his buildings often oscillate between opposing qualities such as strength – fragility, abstraction – reality, durability – transience, they always convey a natural homogeneity.
Within the author's work, it is necessary to emphasize poetry, fables, and fairy tales, as they are often the original inspirations for the projects themselves. For example, in 2010, Radic was influenced by Oscar Wilde's fairy tale "The Selfish Giant" when creating an experimental model called "The Castle of the Selfish Giant," which he later expanded into the realization of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (2014).
Smiljan Radic was born in Santiago in 1965. He studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile. He then continued his studies at the Instituto Universitario di Architettura in Venice. After being awarded the first prize at the International Competition for Eleftheria Square (in Heraklion, Crete), he worked on the development and realization of a project in Greece in collaboration with architects Nicolas Skutelis and Flavio Zanon. In 2000, he won a competition for the Barrio Cívico de Concepción project and later received the award for Best National Architect in the age group up to 35, granted in 2001 by the Chilean Association of Architects. He has given countless lectures, and his writings have been published in magazines such as Casabella, A+U, Quaderns, Detail, 2G, Electa, Lotus, and Arq, and also in two monographic catalogs published in Spain (El Croquis) and in Chile. In 2007, he was invited as a visiting professor at the University of Texas. In 2008, he lectured at Harvard with his long-time collaborator, sculptor Marcela Correa.
He has also participated in numerous exhibitions. Notably, he presented an installation called "The Boy Hidden in a Fish" at the Venice Biennale in 2010. In the same year, he exhibited "Refuge," a work built on a square base measuring 1800 mm, as one of seven architects presented at the exhibition "Global Ends: Towards the Beginning," held for the 25th anniversary of TOTO GALLERY·MA in Tokyo, "The Wardrobe and the Mattress" (in collaboration with Marcela Correa) at Maison Hermes – Tokyo 2013 or at MoMA New York 2016.
In the aforementioned Tokyo TOTO Gallery, he also premiered the exhibition "Bestiary" last year, which Radic now presents in a slightly modified form at the České Budějovice Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture.
BESTIARY offers modern bestiaries created according to Radic's imagination through the presentation of 20 models symbolizing various fictional creatures, complemented by a collection called "Dead at Home," consisting of twenty-eight drawings.
These are models of works such as "The Castle of the Selfish Giant," "House for the Poem for the Right Angle," "The Boy Hidden in the Egg," etc.
Vera Grimmer notes in one of the catalogs: "In the works of Smiljan Radic, themes appear and disappear, only to return, as in a musical composition. His chamber music is sometimes so quiet that it is barely audible; it is not louder than footsteps in the dark, but then suddenly erupts into the fortissimo of heavy granite stones' harmony."
The exhibition is held in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, with the Faculty of Architecture and Art of the Technical University of Liberec and with the kind support of the Embassy of the Republic of Chile. The project was supported from the funds of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the cultural programs DIRAC 2017.