WITH LOVE FROM SPAIN
The exhibition results from the research conducted in The Escandinavia Project and is made in cooperation between The Utzon Center and the Aarhus School of Architecture.
It introduces 11 Spanish architecture firms whose projects show remarkable inspiration from the Nordic masters. Images, models and drawings give an insight into the architecture of Linazasoro & Sánchez, Nieto Sobejano, Paredes Pedrosa, Luis Martínez Santa-María, Javier García-Solera, Tabuenca & Leache, BAAS, Harquitectes, TEd’A arquitectes, Aulets and Carles Oliver (IBAVI). It includes three spatial architectural installations specially created for the purpose of the exhibition: The Clearing, by Luis Martínez Santa-María; The Charcoal Cabin, by Aulets; The Enclosure, by TEd’A arquitectes.
The anteroom of the exhibition shows objects of memorabilia. Small portraits of the Nordic masters, assemblies in wood, photos of Hammershøi paintings, films from study trips and personal scribblings and sketches give insight into the sources of inspiration of the Spanish architects. In one corner of the exhibition, books and magazines sent from libraries in Barcelona and Madrid invite to go into the depth that literature provides. The collection contains older publications, originally written in Danish or English, but in Spanish versions. New publications about Nordic architecture testify that the interest in the soft modernism of the Nordic countries persists. Moreover, the exhibition has made it possible to put the architects into dialogues with each other. Here tell each other how they meet the North, how they have worked with its inspiration, and how this inspiration is expressed in their works of architecture.
Architectural models and hand drawings offer a revisit to Munkegårdsskolen of Arne Jacobsen, 1957, and Can Lis by Jørn Utzon, 1972. The school was one of the most important destinations for Spanish architects pilgrim journeys from the South to the North. Likewise, Can Lis has had considerable influence on especially the Majorcan architects. The students at the Aarhus School of Architecture have examined relations between the Jacobsen school and the Spanish twin projects. They have also contributed with drawings showing similarities and differences between Can Lis and Majorcan architects’ twin projects.
