Some Siza

Naturally while driving around Portugal we visited a bunch of Alvaro Siza buildings

first off was the 1956 Boa Nova tea house

otherwise know as Casa de Chá

dark wood and leather interiors

lookout to fabulous rocks and atlantic waves

instead of tea, great cocktails

slashed view

a bit further down the coast, also in Leça da Palmeira area of Matosinhos

We visited the iconic, legendary 1966 Swimming pools, a project I have been looking at in books for ever.

The entrance is typical spooky Siza, with ultra low ceiling (I mean almost-you-dont-pass low)

long corridors and weird hangers of the dressing rooms area

walls to turn corners around
peeking out to the pools

   

formed by connecting rocks with concrete walls

just the best hangout for seagulls wanting to cross over to New York

Then, more realistically, the great Serralves foundation, with another spookily aggressive low entrance

and fantastic play of light between volumes

The Museum at Santiago de Compostela was closed, 

though we got to see the funny steel supported stone wall.

"Study for the End of the World No2" Jean Tinguely

I could not resist badly recording this at Reina Sofia's New Realisms: 1957—1962 exhibition

A visit to SGAE Central Office by Anton Garcia Abril

Passing by Santiago de Compostela, we could not but visit Anton Garcia Abril's fantastic SGAE

A building made of gigantic rocks

Galicia is of course the land of Menirs

I took these photos without humans as usual, though the scale was just impressive

well, almost without humans

right next door, a more orderly but equally impressive cousin

MUSAC UNPLUGGED

During the research for Modelos para Armar, we went through a series of spatial typologies, from which a selection ended up being used for the actual exhibition. Here is a few images of the entire research:

Avenidas, two large walls splice the space of musac into three super-narrow drawing galleries

Large Walls, appear as objects in the middle of the space, at random geometries

Levitating Walls, a space where some of the white exhibition walls are floating just a little bit

Tropical Gallery, this ended up being used without a roof, 

and it became more interesting 

since we could play with the fakeness of the room within the room

Jungle of Columns, this was used exactly as the drawing for Fernando Bryce's Kolonial Post,

The Mountain, a series of rooms and plinths arrange as an enormous pile inside Musac super-tall last room. The visitors would ascend while looking at small wall-based works or objects on the plinths, and once they reached the top they would go through a tiny door inside a deep space. We ended up using a miniature version of this for the fantastic drawings of Leonnilson

Big Oval, this was also built as in the drawing, though the "Art Fair Favela" that surrounded it became a series of dark video rooms, and in fact the transition between light and dark worked much better.

Plinth Room, a series of gradually enlarged plinths for objects, 

that end up being big enough to become a small video cabin.

Armadillo Favela, a series of slapped together concrete-board walls, that function almost like a fortress in the middle of the space.

Musac curators: Agustín Pérez Rubio, María Inés Rodríguez, Octavio Zaya
AA|STUDIO design team Andreas Angelidakis, Sotiris Vasiliou
Coordination MUSAC: Eneas Bernal, Carlos Ordás

Modelos Para Armar: An Abbreviated Tour

MODELOS PARA ARMAR Pensar Latinoamérica desde la Colección MUSAC,

 featuring works by Carlos Amorales , Alexander Apóstol, Julieta Aranda, AVAF, Fernando Bryce, Erick Beltrán, Iñaki Bonillas, Tania Bruguera, François Bucher, Luís Camnitzer, Raimond Chaves, José Damasceno, Dr. Lakra, Matías Duville, Sandra Gamarra, Carlos Garaicoa, Mario García Torres, Diango Hernández, Juan Fernando Herrán, Federico Herrero, María Teresa Hincapié, Leonilson, Jorge Macchi, Gilda Mantilla, Gilda Mantilla y Raimond Chaves, Teresa Margolles, Hernán Marina, Ana Mendieta, Mujeres Creando, Óscar Muñoz, Rivane Neuenschwander, Damián Ortega, Álvaro Oyarzun, Nicolás París, Jorge Pineda, Caio Reisewitz, Rosângela Renno, Pedro Reyes, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Martín Sastre, Melanie Smith y Rafael Ortega, Valeska Soares, Javier Téllez, Meyer Vaisman , Carla Zaccagnini, 

and 

curated by Agustín Pérez Rubio, María Inés Rodríguez, Octavio Zaya 

opened this past weekend at MUSAC. 

Angelidakis studio was responsible for the layout of the exhibition, 

continuing our ongoing project of making architecture with exhibition walls.  

Damien Ortega y the great Meyer Vaisman

the spaces starts without any architectural intervention, since the works themselves offer a brief panorama of Model Kits: The Favela, The City, the Industry, the Car, the Metaphysical, the Labyrinth.

Jorge Macchi 

Pedro Reyes

followed by Oscar Munoz

leading through awkward spaces
 

to a bright oval room for Ana Mendietas' simulated violence

walls pushed to reveal openings

Fernando Bryce's Kolonial Post installed in a jungle of column walls

Eric Beltran

up a path between small rooms that leads to the smallest superwhite room

 containing Leonnilsons' Sua montanha interior protetora and 3 more fantastic works

from a little window you can see Valeska Soares

and a great piece by Carla Zachagnini that involves a series of stamps made from texts on Latin America, which have appeared in the local press. Everybody at Musac will use these stamps over the coming months to infiltrate the piece out to the world.

stepping outside to Federico Herrero's Patio (Musac)

Alvaro Oyarzun and Rivane Neuenschwander

leading to white room in a jungle 

Raimond Chaves y Gilda Mantilla with plants coming in from the outside

great Avaf outside

which is just another inside

Diango Hernandez

Matias Duville (observed by Mr Bryce and Mr Apostol)

low ceiling reading rooms

  and back to the beginning of 

Meyer Vaisman's Vedre por fuera, rojo por dentro (el armario del mis padres)