Nos années de solitude

Catalogo della prima biennale di orleans con saggio introduttivo a cura dell'autore allegato in pdf, che prosegue con selezione immagini e schede sui singoli progettisti invitati. For the second edition of the Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans, as curator I worked around the construction of the exhibition and the catalogue, I decide to have six sections to tell tales of solitude from around the world, in places where architecture is still a form of engagement with reality and a “promise” for freedom: Des rêves vus de près [Dreams Seen Up Close] looks back on the resistance of the Brazilian group Arquitetura Nova confronting the Brazilian dictatorship (1964–1985) ; Mes réalisations parleront pour moi [My Creations Will Speak for Me] offers an interpretation of the Algerian œuvre of the french architect Fernand Pouillon ; L'étrangère sur terre [This land's unknown] brings together Arabic artists and architects whose work contributes to Arabic movements of emancipation from authoritarian discourses and systems; De la solitude à la désolation [From Solitude to Desolation] delivers an uncompromising analysis of contemporary Mexico; and the collective installation L'architecture comme animal mutant [The Architectural Beast] is a system of hybridization in which all architectural creatures free themselves of their creator. The event affirms its position as a collections biennial. The MAXXI collection therefore takes pride of place, while a monograph entitled Homo Faber: un récit [Homo Faber: a Narrative] presents the work of one of the star architects of the Frac Centre-Val de Loire collection: Günter Günschel. Between these landscapes, works by artists and architects (including John Hejduk, Absalon, Karen Lohrmann & Stefano de Martino, John Cage, Takk, Santiago Borja, Ahmed Mater, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, Lacaton & Vassal, and Julie Nioche) constitute an open-ended primer on the notion—at once feared and desired—of “solitude”.