In 2004, the American magazine 'Time' included Ferran Adria i Acosta on the list of the 100 most innovative people in the world. He has published several books and gives lectures around the world. On 17 December 2007 the University of Barcelona awarded him an honorary doctorate. He will continue his work in an even more experimental way at the creative centre El Bulli Foundation that opens its doors in 2014. For nearly twenty years now Hedwig Van Impe has shown consistent ways to support and collaborate with artists, curators and architects. At the end of the nineties he commissioned a building to his friend, the remarkable Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass. As a self-proclaimed anarchitect he is the author of La Dividida, his latest accomplishment.
A book by Remei Giralt that shows how the architectural complex of La Dividida was conceived as a result of uniting two apparently unrelated disciplines.
The building is the result of a cross-fertilisation between himself and Ferran Adria. With an architecture based on conceptualism and the balance between the final work and the ideas that underpin it, the architect focused on Adrià’s work, fascinated by his way of erasing the limits between gastronomy and art. He developed inspiring and fresh ways of seeing and contextualising contemporary art through his performative sculptures, Statuements, a fusion of the words 'statue' and 'statement', which he has created for many years now. The contemporary aspects in Flemish and Spanish Renaissance art impassion him.
In the creative spot, La Dividida, Hedwig Van Impe goes on to formulate new proposals in which different artistic and art related disciplines are mixed, manipulated, reinterpreted etc...in order to imbue them with new meaning. After analyzing and soaking up the Catalan chef’s creative universe, Van Impe selected four formulas to set the basis for La Dividida: fragmenting to achieve victory, perceptions to generate surprise, weightlessness as a mental state for liberation and the combination of humble and precious materials. The sum of these elements gave rise to an “architecture of earthly delights”, an architectural podium that, adjusted to human scale, creates harmony between everyday life and work.
Editorial.- LANNOO PUBLISHERS. Kasteelstraat 97, B-8700 Tielt (Belgium).
Hardcover.- 200 pages.
Language.- English and Nederlandse.
Size.- 29cm x 29cm.
ISBN-10.- 9401409919
ISBN-13.- 978-9401409919
Remei Giralt Simeon studied Philosophy and Arts, specialising in medieval literature at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. She is a freelance curator and writer. With over fifteen years of experience in the domain of contemporary arts she has explored all aspects of exhibition research, production and management. She has developed a particular interest in the relationship and exchange between historical and contemporary art. She continues her task as a writer and cultural witness at the creative centre, La Dividida, located along the magical line in Catalonia, Spain.
