Vatican
City, 3 December 2013 (VIS) - “Santiago Calatrava: the
metamorphosis of space” is the title of the exhibition dedicated to
the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, which opens tomorrow
afternoon in the Braccio Carlo Magno, in the colonnade of St. Peter's
Square.
The
exhibition, which is open until 20 February 2014, has been organised
by the Vatican Museums and the Pontifical Council for Culture, and
gathers together around 140 works representing Calatrava's complex
and varied artistic oeuvre. It consists primarily of a group of
architectural models, accompanied by their preparatory studies, as
well as watercolour paintings, the result of an entirely different
creative impulse. The display also includes a rich collection of
sculptures, both monumental and of smaller dimensions, in materials
such as bronze, marble, alabaster and wood.
The
juxtaposition of works representing such different artistic codes
follows various criteria for guiding the observer towards various
levels in the interpretation of architectural volumes and the vision
of space and forms, typical of Calatrava's work.
Thus,
the large architectural model of the Greek-Orthodox church of St.
Nicholas, planned for Ground Zero, is displayed alongside evocative
watercolour drawings in which the gaze of the artist ranges from the
study of the mosaics and the dome of Santa Sophia in Istanbul, to the
face of Christ, the ideal model for the centrally planned church. The
twisted veils of the sports centre for the University “Tor
Vergata” in Rome are accompanied by three paintings of crouching
figures, as a study of forces in equilibrium.
The
model of the cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York also forms
part of the exhibition. Its magnificence contrasts with the model of
the Los Angeles Chapel, in the form of a cabin, dedicated to the
Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra. The cabin, the first
church of the community of Franciscans in Baja California, is the
model for a chapel immersed in space, in water and in the air,
rejecting the physical border between sacred and collective space.
The
catalogue, by Edizioni Musei Vaticani, is presented by the director
of the Museums, Antonio Paolucci, and includes contributions by
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for
Culture, Antonella Greco, professor of history of architecture in the
Faculty of Architecture of the “La Sapienza” University of Rome,
and Micol Forti, director of the Contemporary Art Collection of the
Vatican Museums.
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